Influencing Consumers' Selection
of Domestic Versus Imported Products:
Implications for Marketing Based
on a Model of Helping Behavior
Janeen E. Olsen
Louisiana State University
Kent L. Granzin
University of Utah
Abhijit Biswas
Louisiana State University
Recent marketing campaigns have urged American consum-
ers to "Buy American." Marketers can improve the success
of their campaigns if they understand the network of influ-
ences that lead American consumers to help threatened do-
mestic workers. Consumers' cooperation in purchasing do-
mestic products may be viewed as a form of help for
American workers whose jobs are threatened by the success
of imported products. This study presents a model designed
to explain consumers' willingness to help these workers.
Survey data were subjected to structural equation analysis
to test the model. Results confirmed willingness to help is
influenced by the salience of the problem, identification
with the workers, inequity of the situation, felt similarity
with the workers, empathy with the workers, and the costs
of helping. These findings suggest ways to market the Buy
American theme.
American consumers now have more opportunity to
choose between domestic and imported products than ever
before, given the trend toward increased globalization of
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
Volume 21, Number 4, pages 307-321.
Copyright 9 1993 by Academy of Marketing Science.
All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
ISSN 0092-0703.
JAMS
business and many nations' adoption of freer trade policies
(Terpstra and Sarathy 1991). In the United States, the clear
majority of American-made products face direct foreign
competition. Companies are responding to the challenges
brought by foreign competition in a number of ways, such
as improving the quality of their products, pressing for
tighter import restrictions, and developing promotional
campaigns to motivate consumers to buy domestic products
(Hirsch and Milbank 1992; Stemquist and Phillips 1991).
Concurrently, other interested parties such as labor unions
and industry trade associations are sponsoring their own
"Buy American" campaigns, and are finding some success
(Dillin 1992).
Some scholars point to the detrimental aspects of such
campaigns for both consumers (McGee 1989) and the
threatened industries themselves (Rugman and Gestrin
1991). Nonetheless, the increasing frequency of these mar-
keting campaigns suggests marketing scholars should inves-
tigate the nature of the process by which consumers decide
to respond favorably to the Buy American appeal (Ettenson,
Wagner, and Gaeth 1988). This study considers one aspect
of the process by characterizing consumers' support for
threatened workers as "helping." The context of this re-
search is the American textile industry, where industry
groups have been currently using television campaigns to
promote Buy American attitudes (Peterson 1991). Their ad-
vertisements depict scenes of plant closings and unemploy-
ment caused by foreign competition, asking consumers to
307 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
help threatened workers by purchasing apparel made in the
United States.
Research has suggested that consumers show a bias in
favor of products produced in their home country (Bilkey
and Nes 1982). Three types of effects, representing three
different theoretical approaches, have been identified to
explain this country-of-origin bias (Obermiller and Span-
genberg 1989). The first approach is the one most of-
ten encountered in the marketing literature and considers
country-of-origin effects from a cognitive, information pro-
cessing perspective. Country-of-origin serves as a cue to
inform consumers about a product's quality (Dickerson
1982; Narayana 1981), risk (Lumpkin, Crawford, and Kim
1985), performance (Han and Terpstra 1988), or other im-
portant characteristics. Consumers tend to rely on country-
of-origin cues most when the information about the product
is lacking, but as consumers acquire the information they
need to make a purchase decision, perhaps through product
trial or advertising, and become more familiar with a partic-
ular product, country-of-origin is relied on less (Johansson,
Douglas, and Nonaka 1985; Ofir and Lehmann 1986). In
some cases, knowing a product's country-of-origin may mo-
tivate consumers to acquire more information on which to
base a purchase decision (Hong and Wyer 1989).
The second source of country-of-origin bias considers
overall affective responses consumers may have toward par-
ticular countries and their effect on purchase. For example,
consumers who hold negative impressions of China, per-
haps because of reading about human rights abuses, may
decide to avoid Chinese products, or consumers of French
ancestry may show special fondness for products from
France. Research has shown that consumers tend to prefer
products coming from countries with cultures, levels of de-
velopment, and political systems similar to their own
(Crawford and Lamb 1981; Wang and Lamb 1983).
The normative processes that affect consumer choice of
domestic products are the third theoretical approach taken to
study country-of-origin bias (Obermiller and Spangenberg
1989). In this approach county-of-origin reflects the norma-
tive pressures a consumer feels to buy domestic products,
regardless of the product or country in question. Consumers
may feel that they should buy American products in support
of their country and fellow workers; these feelings have
been labeled consumer ethnocentrism (Shimp and Sharma
1987). It is the source of these beliefs that is the focus of this
study.
The purpose of this study is 1) to propose a model that
features a carefully selected set of influences on consumers'
willingness to choose American-made over imported prod-
ucts, 2) to test this model empirically, and 3) to draw mar-
keting implications from the findings. This research consid-
ers consumers' willingness to buy domestic products as a
form of "helping behavior;" that is, as action taken to assist
workers who are victims of foreign competition. To develop
a model for subsequent empirical investigation, the concep-
tualization drew from the extensive literature in the behav-
ioral sciences that deals with helping behavior. The concep-
tualization adapted numerous findings reported in this
literature to the present marketing context to create a model
proposed to explain consumers' willingness to purchase
American products. The empirical test then focused on that
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
particular threat to American workers that comes from im-
ported clothing. This report further suggests implications of
the empirical findings for sponsors of Buy American cam-
paigns.
As a cautionary note, the extent to which such Buy Amer-
ican campaigns benefit the nation and its consumers re-
mains a controversial subject in some quarters, in the vein
of such debatable issues as distribution of cigarettes, censor-
ship of cable TV, and the speed of making new drugs avail-
able to the market. Controversy aside, this study concerns
the marketing issue of promoting a certain type of purchase
behavior to consumers, not its social, economic, ethical, or
developmental implications for the United States and its
individual citizens.
CONCEPTUALIZATION OF A HELPING MODEL
FOR EXPLAINING CONSUMERS' WILLINGNESS
TO HELP WORKERS IN DOMESTIC INDUSTRIES
This section presents a helping model that portrays a set
of proposed influences on American consumers' willingness
to help American workers by buying domestic products.
The model integrates various contributions from the litera-
ture involving helping behavior, which is alternatively re-
ferred to as altruism or prosocial behavior. In addition, the
conceptualization integrates an additional behavioral con-
cept found important in scholarly marketing research into
the present context, the concept of the ethnocentric or, alter-
natively, the ethno-national affinity of the consumer.
The model characterizes a helping situation as involving
a victim and a (potential) helper who may provide assis-
tance if sufficiently motivated. In the present case, the vic-
tim is American industry and its workers, whose livelihood
is currently threatened by growing imports of foreign prod-
ucts (Konrad, Mitchell, and Zinn 1992). The (potential)
helper is the American consumer, who can choose to aid the
workers by buying domestically produced products.
Figure 1 presents a graphical portrayal of the model,
where the flow of influence runs from salience through
willingness to help. The mode of presentation in this section
will be to discuss each of the eight constructs of the model
in turn and, for each endogenous construct taken as an
effect, justify influences from antecedent constructs proposed
to cause that construct. These proposed relationships will then
be formally stated as hypotheses for empirical testing.
Salience
Salience is an exogenous construct that connotes the ex-
tent to which the need for help is recognized as important by
the (potential) helper. In helping research, salience has
taken such various forms as the importance, seriousness,
severity, clarity, and closeness of the situation to the helper
(Piliavin et al. 1981). To illustrate, salience may reflect the
perceived extent of the victim's need for help (Bar-Tal
1976). In the present context, salience reflects the perceived
threat to American industry and its textile workers, who
thus become victims needing help. As an exogenous vari-
able, salience of the situation has no antecedent relation-
ships.
308 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
FIGURE 1
A Model of the Process Leading to Consumer Help for American Workers
ETHNO-
NATIONAL
IDENTITY
+ / I /
+/-
1.ENCE ~ +]- bE PERCEIVED ~,
Ethno-national Identity
American consumers' identification with domestic work-
ers can be viewed in various ways. Shimp and Sharma
(1987, p. 280) used the term "consumer enthnocentrism" to
refer to "the beliefs held by American consumers about the
appropriateness, indeed morality, of purchasing foreign-
made products." They stated that ethnocentric American
consumers reject foreign products because they believe
these imports harm the U.S. economy and its workers. Con-
versely, nonethnocentric consumers may evaluate foreign
products on their worth in an objective fashion, or they may
even prefer them for their foreign heritage.
Consumer enthnocentrism therefore reflects a normative
sense of the group identity that can motivate American con-
sumers to Buy American. Waheeduzzaman and Marks
(1989) further clarified the nature of consumers' propensity
to identify with their own society, using the term "ethno-
national affinity" to refer to a person's attachment to a refer-
ent group, such as the domestic society. They emphasized
that this identification provides a force toward compliance
with national norms and standards in a consumption-related
situation.
This concept of identification with a referent group trans-
lates directly into the context of helping behavior. The im-
portance of recognizing a helper's felt association with oth-
ers has been substantiated by helping research, where group
identity has been characterized in various forms, including
mutuality, we-feeling, we-ness, and common fate. Re-
searchers have found group identity to reflect the salience of
the situation. Dovidio and Morris (1975) showed we-feeling
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
~ / // ~ 1 ~ +
~ COSTS WILUNGNESS
TO HELP
is heightened by the helper's sensitivity to the needs of the
victim. Piliavin et al. (1981) showed we-ness increases in
the face of a perceived threat. Kramer and Brewer (1984)
found people are more prosocial when they are given salient
information that portrays them as part of a larger (superordi-
nate) group that shares a scarce resource. Thus, the model
proposes that salience exerts a positive influence on a con-
sumer's ethnocentric identification with, and expression of
norms relevant to, American workers. Here, this group
identity will be termed Ethno-national Identity, to concep-
tually integrate the construct into the evolving model of
helping behavior.
HI: Greater salience engenders greater ethno-national
identity.
Perceived Equity
According to Walster, Walster, and Ber~cheid (1978), a
state of equity exists when the participants in a situation
receive gains that are equal in consideration of (i.e., propor-
tionate to) their contributions, or conversely, when they
make contributions commensurate with their gains. The per-
ception of equity reveals the nature of the situation (Piliavin
et al. 1981), the nature of the perceiver (Hatfield, Walster,
and Piliavin 1978), and the social influences on the per-
ceiver (McClelland and Rohrbaugh 1978; Morgan and Saw-
yer 1976). In this study, perceived equity involves whether
consumers feel American workers are making a reasonable
contribution to resolve their unfavorable situation; that is,
whether they are doing their share to gain success in the
309 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
international marketplace. If consumers perceive workers
are not making sufficient effort to help themselves, equity
exists; that is, workers are gaining their just due. If consum-
ers perceive workers are making sufficient effort, inequity
exists because they are unfairly disadvantaged. In the latter
case, consumers will be motivated to act to create equity
(Walster, Walster, and Berscheid 1978).
Previous helping research shows people tend to be more
aroused physiologically, cognitively, and emotionally to re-
spond to the need of others when they perceive the situation
to be more salient (Geer and Jarmecky 1973; Hatfield, Wal-
ster, and Piliavin 1978; Krebs and Russell'1981; Piliavin et
al. 1981). The implication for the present study is that when
consumers find the situation to be salient, they will be stim-
ulated to assess the equity of the situation, which is a cogni-
tive response (Krebs and Russell 1981). That is, salience
stimulates a consumer to perceive either greater equity or
greater inequity; which assessment occurs depends on fac-
tors not examined in this research; for example, the con-
sumer's internalized norms of equity (Krebs and Russell
1981; Rushton 1981). In contrast, consumers will be cog-
nitively indifferent to a situation that is not salient to them.
Researchers stress that social influences affect the percep-
tion of equity; in fact, equity theory requires the perceiver to
recognize a relationship with another for equity theory to
apply at all (Hatfield, Walster, and Piliavin 1978). Specifi-
cally, social influences can influence an individual to per-
sonally accept reduced utility (here, less desirable apparel)
to obtain a more even distribution of utility to others (he.re,
continued employment) (McClelland and Rohrbaugh 1978).
In fact, the standard for equitable outcomes that one im-
poses depends on the nature of this relationship; for exam-
ple, whether friends or nonfriends are involved (Morgan
and Sawyer 1976). The issue here is one of group identity.
Jasso (1983) says a person's sense of distributive justice
(equity) is interdependent with the group with which he/she
identifies. Lerner and Meindl (1981) state that when operat-
ing within the context of assessing and creating justice, a
person emphasizes his/her identification with the recipient
of help and tends to favor his/her own kind rather than
"them." Specifically, people are more disposed to give to
friends than to strangers (Krebs and Russell 1981).
Here, the pertinent form of identification is ethno-
national identity, as introduced in the preceding section.
The studies cited above indicate that people give more fa-
vorable consideration to in-group members. Therefore, it
appears a consumer with stronger ethno-national identity
will evoke an equity norm more favorable to the workers;
the helper will be more likely to perceive the unfavorable
condition of inequity when he/she holds a higher sense of
ethno-national identity.
1-12: (a) Salience influences perceived equity, but no
direction of influence can be proposed, and (b)
greater ethno-national identity brings a decrease
in perceived equity (i.e., it accentuates the per-
ception of inequity).
Similarity
Similarity is the helper's perception of sharing charac-
teristics with the victim; it reflects perceived likeness of
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
helper and victim. Research has found the positive influ-
ence of perceived similarity on helping is heightened by the
salience of the issue (Piliavin et al. 1981). People are more
stimulated to consider whether they are kindred to the vic-
tim in helping situations important to them, and they are
more aware of attributes common to those in distress when
the circumstances are of nontrivial importance (Stotland
1969).
H3: Greater salience heightens one's feelings of sim-
ilarity to the victim.
Emp~hy
Hoover, Wood, and Knowles (1983) presented empathy
in a helping situation as a form of awareness that is "the
ability to understand how a situation appears to another
person and how that person is reacting cognitively and emo-
tionally to the situation." Piliavin et al. (1981) argued that
severity of the situation (here, salience) accentuates this
feeling of empathy.
The influence of salience also acts indirectly through sim-
ilarity by intensifying empathic feelings for other persons
who are perceived to be similar to the helper (Krebs 1975).
Supporting a direct link between similarity and empathy,
previous research indicates empathy increases when the
helper perceives the recipient to be similar to him/her
(Krebs 1975; Piliavin et al. 1981). Piliavin et al. (1981)
reported people are more likely to be empathic toward those
with whom they have ties; that is, when group identity
exists.
Equity theory suggests empathy increases for those placed
in a position felt to be inequitable (Walster, Walster, and
Berscheid 1978). Piliavin et al. (1981) summarized previous
research by stating that empathy results from the perception
of inequity, which creates commensurate distress (e.g.,
guilt, empathy) for the perceiver. Therefore, in the obverse
sense, perceived equity decreases empathy.
H4: Greater empathy results from greater (a) sa-
lience, (b) ethno-national identity, and (c) sim-
ilarity, but from (d) lesser perceived equity.
Responsibility
In a helping context, responsibility is the acceptance or
rejection of an obligation to alleviate the distressful situa-
tion. The responsibility construct represents a continuum
ranging from completely internalized with no assignment of
responsibility to someone else to completely externalized
with no acceptance of responsibility (Weiner 1980; Reis-
enzein 1986; Schmidt and Weiner 1988). A potential helper
may internalize responsibility by accepting an obligation to
help or may externalize it by assigning responsibility else-
where; for example, to another person or institution. Mayer
et al. (1985) found greater salience increases the develop-
ment of felt (internalized) responsibility. In an obverse
sense, externalization of responsibility may occur because
the helper seeks to reduce salience by diffusing the obliga-
tion (Latane and Darley 1976) or dissolving it (Batson et al.
1986; Piliavin et al. 1981); for example, through recogniz-
310 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCINGCONSUMERS' SELECTIONOF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
ing the presence of other potential helpers and/or assuming
that others have accepted the obligation to help.
The arguments advanced on the basis of equity theory
(Hatfield, Walster, and Piliavin 1978; Walster, Walster, and
Berscheid 1978) suggest internalization of responsibility to
help is an intermediate stage in the process of helping to
correct a state of inequity. One's feeling of distress also
affects acceptance of the obligation to help; research has
found internalized responsibility increases with forms of
empathic concern (Amato, Ho, and Partridge 1984; Batson
et al. 1986; Duval, Duval, and Neely 1979).
H5: Greater (externalized) responsibility is associated
with (a) salience, without a direction of influence
being proposed, (b) greater perceived equity, and
(c) lesser empathy.
Perceived Costs of Helping
Potential helpers weigh the costs associated with helping
when deciding whether to help the victim (Bleda et al.
1976; Latane and Darley 1976). Piliavin et al. (1981) con-
solidated numerous studies in providing a rationale for the
constructs held to influence costs. They argued that greater
severity and lesser need (here, salience) increase psycho-
logical costs when no help is given, whereas diffusion and
dissolution (externalization) of responsibility decrease psy-
chological costs of not helping. Thus, salience should affect
the perception of costs of helping, but, because the nature of
relevant costs in the present context may take forms other
than psychological (e.g., economic), the direction of influ-
ence from salience cannot be specified.
The perception of a "we-group" can decrease the per-
ceived personal costs of helping a victim, both because it is
easier to know how to help a group member and because
well-intentioned failure would be less embarrassing. Any
action that maintains group rapport is a benefit (i.e., a re-
duction in the perceived cost) (Bleda et al. 1976). Equity
theory suggests help increases as the helper anticipates low
costs from helping to correct inequity (Hatfield, Walster,
and Piliavin 1978; Walster, Walster, and Berscheid 1978).
In aggregate, the more the perception of inequity lowers the
costs of helping, the greater is the motivation to help (Hat-
field, Walster, and Piliavin 1978).
Piliavin et al. (1981) stated a person may help someone
perceived as similar because it is presumably easier to judge
whether help is actually needed, and the expected costs of
an error in judgment about how much help should be given
would thus be lower. Also, researchers have found those
who empathize with the victim should find more rewards in
helping and lowered costs of distress (Piliavin et al. 1981;
Schroeder et al. 1988). Piliavin et al. (1981) asserted that
when responsibility is focused on a potential helper, that
person incurs higher personal costs of not helping, and help-
ing increases.
H6: (a) Salience influences perceived costs, but the
direction of influence cannot be specified. Per-
ceived costs of helping should decrease with: (b)
greater ethno-national identity, (c) lesser per-
ceived equity, (d) greater similarity, (e) greater
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
empathy, and (f) greater externalized respon-
sibility.
Willingness to Help
Previous helping research has used various operationatiz-
ations of helping, ranging from ascriptions of deservingness
of help to actual physical assistance. Given that Buy Ameri-
can campaigns attempt to generate a predisposition to help
workers, willingness to help is the appropriate construct
here.
Much previous research has examined the direct links
between antecedent constructs and various forms of helping
behavior. This research has shown helping to be affected by
all other constructs in the model presented here. First, stud-
ies have linked salience, in such alternative formulations as
severity and perceived need, positively with helping (Bar-
Tal 1976; Piliavin et al. 1981; Shotland and Stebbins 1983;
Taormina and Messick 1983). Other work showed helping
increases for those victims who are more needful of help
(Batson et al. 1978), such as dependent elderly parents (Cic-
irelli 1983). Researchers also found salience to work in
interaction with greater internal responsibility to influence
helping (Geer and Jarmecky 1973; Mayer et al. 1985;
Rogers et al. 1982). In sum, the more that helpers are keen-
ly aware of the importance of the need for help, that is, find
it salient, the more they will help.
Second, previous studies involving various forms of
group identity indicate helping increases when individuals
perceive they are members of a group (Kramer and Brewer
1984) or they share a common fate with others (Hayden,
Jackson, and Guydish 1984). One explanation, offered by
Batson et al. (1979), is that the helper possibly views help-
ing as a way to ensure future reciprocity. Alternatively, a
we-feeling may make the helper more sensitive to the vic-
tim's need (Dovidio and Morris 1975). In the broader sense
of the present study, ethno-national identity should motivate
one to help other Americans.
Third, work involving equity suggests helping is a means
of correcting perceived inequity (Hatfield, Walster, and Pil-
iavin 1978; Piliavin et al. 1981; Walster, Walster, and Ber-
scheid 1978). Conversely, when the potential helper judges
the situation to be equitable, the motivation to help should
be low.
Fourth, support for a path from similarity to helping has
come from many quarters (e.g., Batson et al. 1986; Krebs
t975; Piliavin et al. 1981; Taormina and Messick 1983).
Taormina and Messick (1983) provided one rationale for
this link by claiming that similarity implies a cooperative
goal orientation rather than a competitive one. Thus, per-
ceived similarity leads to helping because it promotes mutu-
al support rather than competitiveness.
Fifth, with respect to empathy, affective reactions to a
distressful situation in general are important influences on
helping (Meyer and Mulherin 1980; Reisenzein 1986;
Schmidt and Weiner 1988). More specifically, Batson et al.
(1986) associated greater helping with higher empathic con-
cern. Numerous other studies provide further support for a
link between empathy and helping in one form or another
(Amato 1986; Carlson and Miller 1987; Krebs 1975). In
311 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
sum, when the helper empathizes or otherwise takes the part
of the victim, helping more likely follows.
Sixth, research has associated helping with a respon-
sibility norm (Batson et al. 1978) and with greater (internal)
ascription of responsibility (Batson et al. 1986). Numerous
other studies linked helping directly to higher internalized
responsibility (Geer and Jarmecky 1973; Piliavin et al.
1981; Schwartz 1973) or to its interaction with higher sa-
lience (Mayer et al. 1985; Rogers et al. 1982). In symmetri-
cal fashion, other research showed helping decreases when
the helper externalizes responsibility by assigning it to oth-
ers (Latane and Darley 1976). Therefore, personally assum-
ing the obligation increases helping, whereas passing it to
others decreases helping.
Seventh, studies found helping decreases with greater
perceived costs (Bleda et al. 1976; Cialdini, Baumann, and
Kendrick 1981; Krebs 1975; Latane and Darley 1976). Sup-
porting the influence of costs, research showed helping re-
flects an evaluation of both costs of not helping and costs of
helping, wherein the least cost alternative is selected (Shot-
land and Stebbins 1983). In the first case, helping is greater
when the victim's cost of not receiving help is high (Amato
1986). For example, Batson et al. (1986) showed helping
increases when it is difficult (i.e., costly) for helpers to not
help by escaping a distressful situation. In the second case,
helping also increases when the helper's cost of helping is
low, for example, because of social support or special com-
petence of the helper (Amato 1986; Piliavin et al. 1981);
here, altruism dominates egoism (Schroeder et al. 1988).
H7: Willingness to help increases with (a) greater sa-
lience, (b) greater ethno-national identity, (c)
lesser perceived equity, (d) greater similarity, (e)
greater empathy, (f) lesser externalized respon-
sibility, and (h) lesser costs of helping.
METHOD
Data Collection
A quota sample of 243 adults was surveyed in a large
southern metropolitan area. To represent the general popu-
lation in terms of age and gender, the sample was based on
the most recent census of the MSA, and various sections of
the area were covered to gain appropriate representation
of the population with respect to socioeconomic char-
acteristics. Respondents were asked to complete a self-
administered questionnaire in the presence of student inter-
viewers who were aware of the nature of the study and able
to resolve any difficulties with the instructions that might
arise.
Measurement and Analysis
Each of the eight constructs proposed to constitute the
components of the model were measured using six-point
Likert-type items anchored by "strongly agree" and "strong-
ly disagree." Multiple items for each construct were used,
41 in total, ranging in number from three to nine for each of
the constructs except ethno-national identity. These items
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OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
were adaptations of measures created during previous re-
search involving helping behavior by the authors in two
other marketing research contexts (Granzin and Olsen 1991;
Olsen and Granzin 1992); this previous research involved
sequential revisions of the measures of helping constructs to
improve their reliability and validity. Ethno-national identi-
ty was measured using the full battery of seventeen items in
the CETSCALE developed by Shimp and Sharma (1987)
and subsequently validated through applications in multiple
countries (Netemeyer, Durvasula, and Lichtenstein 1991)
and using multiple products in the U.S. (Herche 1992).
The tests of hypotheses were performed using LISREL
analysis. The analysis followed the two-stage method sug-
gested by Herting and Costner (1985) and formalized by
Anderson and Gerbing (1988). The first stage involved es-
tablishing the measurement model. Here, Cronbach's alpha,
exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analy-
sis were used to select the indicators to be used in the
subsequent analysis; in essence, the process jointly purified
the "scales" for the set of eight constructs. This purification
process first used alpha coefficients and the structure of the
eight principal components (Churchill 1979) to eliminate
those items making lesser contributions to the measurement
model. Selecting a set of measures having intra-construct
reliability and inter-construct validity in this fashion is the
multidimensional counterpart of the common process of
using alphas to indicate which items to delete from a single,
unidimensional, multi-item scale.
Subsequently, the LISREL confirmatory factor analysis
process was used to determine the final set of measures. As
recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), additional
items of lesser usefulness to the measurement model were
deleted. (Note, however, that their alternative recommenda-
tion of assigning indicators to different constructs where
useful was not adopted.) Given the complexity of handling
a large number of indicators in structural equation analysis,
two indicators were selected for all constructs except the
output construct, where four indicators were used to mea-
sure willingness to help. The Appendix presents the ques-
tionnaire items corresponding to these indicators, as well as
symbols useful for reference to Table 1, the matrix of cor-
relations among indicators. Figure 2 presents the measure-
ment model with the final set of measures.
At the second stage of the LISREL analysis, only after
the set of items for the measurement model was specified,
the analysis turned to an investigation of the proposed struc-
tural relationships among the constructs (Anderson and
Gerbing 1988; Herting and Costner 1985). The resulting in-
ferential tests of hypothesized relationships were thus con-
ducted with a measurement model that was independently
purified of items having lesser reliability and validity.
RESULTS
Test of the Measurement Model
Table 2 presents the standardized pattern coefficients and
the test statistics that indicate the quality of the measure-
ment model. The pattern coefficients are relatively high.
Because one pattern coefficient for each latent construct was
312 FALL, 1993
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TABLE 1
Correlations Between the Operational Measures
Measure xl x2 Yl Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 Y8 Y9 Ylo YH Y12 Y13 Y14 Yls Y16
Salience, xt 1.000
Salience, x2 .465 1.000
Identity, Yl .408 .323 1.000
Identity, Y2 .437 .310 .738 1.000
Equity, Y3 -.026 -.049 -.109 -.067 1.000
Equity, Y4 -.063 -.154 -.192 -.154 .546 1.000
Similarity, y~ .271 .168 .117 .179 .056 .112 1.000
Similarity, Y6 .166 .025 .070 .058 .099 .132 .491 1,000
Empathy, Y7 .334 .419 .363 .327 -.209 -.187 .126 .023 1.000
Empathy, Ya .280 .395 .420 .338 -.150 -.149 .122 .054 .666 1.000
Responsibility, Y9 -.185 -.126 -.324 -.325 .338 .344 - . I 14 .021 -.449 -.343 1.000
Responsibility, Yl0 -.127 -.113 -.136 -.102 .227 .163 -.015 .006 -.333 -.318 .492 1.000
Costs, Yll .018 -.075 -.032 -.029 .343 .149 -.133 -.073 -.232 -.149 .182 .226 1.000
Costs, Y12 .082 -.054 -.063 -.074 .242 .096 -.074 -.075 - . 142 -.101 .064 .132 .518 1.000
Help, Yt3 .331 .326 .550 ,498 -.153 -.185 .234 .154 .370 ,427 -.301 -.233 -.289 -.246 1.000
Help, Yt4 .345 .309 .489 .453 -.109 -.087 .263 .136 .445 .433 -.338 -.219 -.241 -.276 .632 1.000
Help, Yt5 .285 .239 .524 .466 -.141 -.t27 .218 .205 .310 9308 -.239 -.109 -.208 -.244 .539 .430 1.0~
Help, Yl6 .233 .214 .300 .346 - . 112 -.044 .247 .147 .274 9237 -.204 -.160 -.206 -.178 .477 ,524 .376 1.000

set at 1.0 to establish the scale for that construct, this coeffi-
cient could not be tested for significance. However, the
coefficient selected to be fixed was the one found highest in
magnitude by preliminary examination; the remaining
smaller, free coefficients were all highly significant, with
critical ratios or z-values (Bollen 1989; Long 1983a), which
are "t-values" in LISREL parlance, ranging from 4.21 to
13.65. The eight values for construct reliability ranged from
.644 to. 851. Thus, examination of the measurement model
shows the set of operational measures is appropriate for an
investigation of the proposed structural linkages among the
constructs.

FIGURE 2
A Measurement Model Featuring Eight Helping Constructs
E1 E2 E7 El

E13
Es if4 ffli ff12

~ E14

ffl8

ffs ~o ff.I ffla

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I N F L U E N C I N G C O N S U M E R S ' SELECTION OF D O M E S T I C O L S E N , G R A N Z I N , A N D BISWAS
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS

TABLE 2
Pattern Coefficients, z Statistics, and Rellabilities for the Measurement Model
Standardized Indicator Construct
Construct/Indicator Coefficient z Reliability Reliability
Salience .644
Workers t o m o r r o w ' s unemployed .737 a .543
Foreign competn, causes damage .640 7.30 b .409

Ethnocentric Group Identity .851

Americans shouldn't buy foreign .891 __a .794
Manufr. tries to dictate .829 13.65 b .687

Perceived Equity .719

Are workers putting effort .847 --" .718
Workers could improve situation .643 6.29 b .413

Similarity .688
Can happen to me tomorrow. .863 --~ .745
I am no different from worker .568 4.21 b .324

Empathy .800
M a k e s me feel bad to see .855 --" .732
It is a shame workers suffering .776 11.07 b .602

Responsibility .677
Should improve own situation .824 --" .680
T h e y should take care problems .597 6.73 b .356

Perceived Costs .692

Do not make clothes as stylish .796 --a .625
W o u l d have to sacrifice style .665 7.01b .438

Willingness to Help .803

Will shop first retail stores .816 __a .661
Will try to buy U.S. brands .774 12.58 b .596
Willing to b u y American made .656 10.36 b .429
Willing to look at labels .592 9.21 ~ .350

QCoefficient of leading indicator for each construct was set to 1.0 to establish scale for the construct.
~p < .001.

Test of the Model as a Whole
Analysis of the full structural model, which included both
the measurement model and the proposed structural link-
ages, produced a chi-square value of 150.33 (d.f. = 111, p
= .008). Although this test indicated a discrepancy between
the matrix of covariances based on observations and the ma-
trix imputed by the model, such discrepancies are common,
especially for samples of this size. The goodness of fit index
was .937, and the index adjusted for degrees of freedom was
.903, both of which indicated a good fit between model and
data. Further, the normed fit index of .906 (Bender and
Bonett 1980; Byrne 1989) provided additional evidence of
the substantial improvement over a null model made by the
specified measurement model and structural linkages. The
root mean square residual was .045. The parsimonious
goodness-of-fit index proposed by Mulaik et al. (1989),
PGFI(1), was .608. Collectively, these statistics provide sup-
port for the proposed structural equation model as a whole.
Test of the Structural Linkages
Turning to the structural equations, the squared multiple
correlations for the equations for the seven endogenous con-
structs in the model provided further support for the model.
The values of R 2 for these equations were: ethno-national
identity, .38; perceived equity, .04; similarity,. 12; empathy,
.44; responsibility, .51; costs, .35; and willingness to help,
.79. In particular, the high degree of explanation for the
output or criterion construct of the helping model was espe-
cially reassuring, as it showed the constructs proposed to
explain willingness to help performed their explanatory role
well. In addition, the coefficient of determination for the
set of structural equations taken jointly was .58. In sum,
these statistics provided general support for the structural
linkages proposed by the conceptualization underlying this
research.
Table 3 presents evidence concerning the hypotheses in-
volving individual links between pairs of constructs. Again,
z-tests were used to assess the statistical significance of the
parameter estimates for the structural linkages (Bollen
1989; Long 1983b), with one-tailed tests used for direction-
al hypotheses and two-tailed tests used for nondirectional
tests, as indicated in the table. For the tests of direct links
between constructs, 14 of the 24 hypothesized relationships
were supported at p < .05. Using the standard errors pro-
vided by LISREL to perform z-tests on the total effects, 19
of the 26 possible links, and 18 of the 24 hypothesized

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TABLE 3
Magnitude and Significance of Hypothesized Structural Relationships
Following~Leading Hypothesized Standard. Direct (Total)
Constructs Sign Parameter Effect Effect z Values c
Group identity
Salience + ~/~l .617 .747- (.747 ~) 6.33 (6.33)

Perceived equity
Salience +/- ~/21 .069 .079 (-.078) .54 (.75)
Group identity - 132~ -.222 -.211 s (-.211~) 1.90 (1.90)

Similarity
Salience + ~/3J .352 .412~ (.412 '~) 3.88 (3.89)

Empathy
Salience + "/41 .472 .548~ (.698") 3.53 (5.97)
Group identity + 134~ .195 .187" (.232-) 1.85 (2.32)
Perceived equity - 1342 -.210 -.212~ (-.212-) 2,72 (2.72)
Similarity + 1343 -.015 -.015 (-.015) ,20 (.19)

Responsibility
Salience +/- "/51 .036 .040 ( - . 3 5 1 b) ,32 (3.31)
Group identity . . . . ( - . 195 h) -- (2.67)
Perceived equity + 1332 .359 .349" (.4604) 3,96 (4.84),
Similarity . . . . (.008) -- (.20)
Empathy - 1354 -.541 -.521 a (-.521-) 4,59 (4.57)

Costs
Salience +/- "/6~ .313 .338 (.010) 1.86 (.10)
Group identity - 136~ .028 .025 (-.124) .24 (1.14)
Perceived equity + 1362 .435 .408 a (.435',) 3.48 (4.53)
Similarity - 1363 -- .269 -- .248~ (-- .243") 2.50 (2.45)
Empathy - 1364 --.386 --.359 a (--.304a) 2.41 (2.55)
Responsibility + 136.~ - . 111 - . 107 ( - . 107) .75 (.75)

Willingness to help
Salience + ~/Tt .106 .117 (.639 a) .90 (5.81)
Group identity + 1371 .559 .512" (.578 o) 6.42 (6.72)
Perceived equity - 1372 .111 - . 107 ( - . 125 a) 1.28 (2.05)
Similarity + 1373 .134 .127" (--.221 a) 1.80 (2.80)
Empathy + 1374 .105 .100 (.2640) .91 (3.07)
Responsibility - 1375 -.085 .084 (-.042) .86 (.42)
Costs - 1376 - .387 - .396 ~ ( - .396 ~) 3.96 (3.96)

-p < .05 in sole direction of directional hypothesis using one-tailed test.

bp < .05 using two-tailed test to reflect no hypothesis of direction for this effect.
"The first figure in this column is the z value for direct effect; the second figure in parentheses is the z value for total effect.

links, were supported. As a whole, the individual hypothe-
ses were therefore well supported.
Impact of the Direct Effects
The tests of direct effects provided a simple, straightfor-
ward means of assessing whether the proposed links be-
tween pairs of constructs were supposed by the data. Sig-
nificance tests for direct effects leading to the output
criterion, willingness to help, indicated it reflects positive
direct influences from ethno-national identity and similarity,
and a negative direct influence from costs of helping. Mov-
ing backward in the chain of influence, costs of helping
reflects the positive direct impact of perceived equity and
the negative impact of similarity and empathy. In turn, ex-
ternalized responsibility showed a positive direct influence
from perceived equity and a negative one from empathy. Its
predecessor construct, empathy, was affected positively by
salience and ethno-national identity and negatively by per-
ceived equity. Similarity reflects the positive impact of sa-
lience and perceived equity shows the negative influence of
ethno-national identity. Finally, ethno-national identity was
positively affected by salience.
The pervasiveness of the statistical support for the model
can be seen in the finding that each of the seven endogenous
constructs was the endpoint for at least one significant direct
linkage. Further, all of the constructs preceding willingness
to help, with the sole exception of responsibility, signifi-
cantly affected at least one other construct.
Impact of the Total Effects
One benefit of structural equation analysis is its ability to
test the relationships between pairs of constructs at a higher
level of complexity than their direct links. The total effects
computed by LISREL include the indirect effects that sup-

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INFLUENCING CONSUMERS' SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
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plement the direct effects. These indirect effects occur when
additional, alternative paths of influence lead through other
constructs intervening between the pair in question. Thus,
the total effects give a more comprehensive indication of the
impact of one construct on another (Bollen 1989). In this
analysis, indirect effects helped create five significant paths
of influence for pairs of constructs where either no direct
paths were proposed or where the direct links were nonsig-
nificant. Thus, the output construct, willingness to help,
was affected by indirect paths in addition to the proposed
direct paths such that it received positive influences from
salience and empathy, and a negative influence from per-
ceived equity. Responsibility was affected by negative total
paths from salience and ethno-national identity, the latter
where no direct path was proposed.
It is sometimes instructive to examine the nature of the
indirect paths that substantially augment direct paths in this
manner. As an example of indirect influence, note the (non-
standardized) direct effect of empathy on willingness to help
was .100, whereas the total effect was .264. Thus, the
additional paths through responsibility and especially costs
of helping played a substantial part in linking empathy to
the output construct. As an additional example, the direct
nonstandardized effect of salience on responsibility was a
weak .040, whereas the indirect effect was - . 3 9 1 , giving a
strong total influence of - . 3 5 1 . One part of the indirect
impact of salience on responsibility acted straight through
perceived equity, whereas another acted through ethno-
national identity and thence through both perceived equity
and empathy to responsibility. Of course, these indirect ef-
fects became successively more attenuated as they included
additional constructs that were themselves less than perfect
covariates of one another and of responsibility. Nonethe-
less, a pairwise effect can be notably improved by recogniz-
ing indirect effects, as shown here.
DISCUSSION
These findings provide overall support for a model that
uses eight helping constructs and their interrelationships to
portray the influences on consumers' predisposition to help
American workers whose livelihood is threatened by im-
ports. This discussion begins by treating the empirical sup-
port for influences on the criterion construct of willingness
to help. It then progresses backward through the model to
examine the flows of influence into the other six endoge-
nous constructs. The operational measures will be explicitly
mentioned as a vehicle for providing relevant substantive
content to this discussion (just as they provide statistical
content as indicators in the measurement model).
Influences on Willingness to Help
Willingness to help was operationalized in this study as a
consumer's support for checking the labels to learn where
clothing is produced, buying American-made clothes and
American brands, and shopping at stores that stock Ameri-
can products. In support of multi-part Hypothesis 7, the
data revealed three direct sources and three additional total
sources of influence on consumers' predisposition to help
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
threatened textile workers. All constructs but responsibility
were thus linked with the criterion construct; the general
implications of these influences and their applicability for a
marketing campaign to fight foreign products are consid-
ered here. First, the positive influence of salience indicates
consumers are more willing to help workers regarding is-
sues they find important, specifically when they view for-
eign competition as harmful to domestic industry and its
workers. Thus, those designing Buy American campaigns
must raise the consciousness of their target audience; Amer-
icans must learn of the detrimental economic effects of
foreigners' penetration into the domestic market, and par-
ticularly of the many jobs being lost by their fellow Ameri-
cans.
Second, the positive relationship with ethno-national
identity indicates that a greater identification with threat-
ened workers increases a consumer's predisposition to help
them. The earlier conceptualization held such identification
to generate norms supportive of the consumer's own cul-
ture; here, norms are protective of American business and
its workers' employment. To capitalize on this culturally
based support, the campaign should therefore portray Amer-
ican workers as cultural allies, patriotic Americans who are
just as loyal to their flag as are the consumers. Workers
should be shown as working to keep America a viable force
in various areas of international competition. The threat-
ened workers can be portrayed in the workplace as helping
make America competitive in the global economy; they can
be shown in their personal lives as solid citizens contribut-
ing to a society that maintains generally accepted American
cultural values. The appropriate message would be that to
preserve the America these consumers love, they should
only purchase foreign goods out of necessity.
Third, the statistically inverse association with perceived
equity indicates consumers who feel textile workers are not
trying hard enough (that is, who find the current situation is
equitable for workers) are less willing to help. Conversely,
those who find it inequitable are more willing to help. Con-
sequently, the campaign should reinforce the beliefs of
those who feel the situation is inequitable and demonstrate
to the others that it is not equitable. Toward this end, con-
sumers should be shown a situation that is beyond the con-
trol of helpless workers who are unable to stem the flow of
imported goods without assistance. The message can fea-
ture terms like "unfair' and "unjust" to portray advantages
given foreign industries v i s a vis American ones. American
workers should be portrayed as contributing considerable
effort in the workplace, while a hard day's work nonetheless
brings rewards that inequitably fall short of the workers'
contributions.
Fourth, the positive link with similarity suggests the cam-
paign should make the target consumer feel as much as
possible "just like" the threatened workers, especially with
respect to losing her/his job. Of course, the empirical find-
ings here do not signal how to portray workers to communi-
cate their similarity to the target consumer (e.g., whether to
show them as the typical next-door neighbor, to personify
them as "All-American" citizens, or to present them as
members of the subculture that constitutes the audience for
the promotion). The findings indicate that similarity be-
tween the target consumer and the displaced workers can be
316 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCINGCONSUMERS"SELECTIONOF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTEDPRODUCTS
communicated by showing that the current situation for dis-
placed workers could easily be the future situation for the
consumer and/or the consumer's friends and relatives.
Fifth, the positive association with empathy indicates the
campaign should have a strong emotional content and em-
phasize the suffering and difficulties faced by workers. Pre-
vious helping research provides solid evidence for the im-
portant part played by emotional arousal in generating a
helping response (Amato 1986; Amato, Ho, and Partridge
1984; Batson and Coke 1981; Coke, Batson, and McDavis
1978; Hoover, Wood, and Knowles 1983; Krebs 1975; Pil-
iavin et al. 1981; Schroeder et al. 1988). Jn fact, the com-
prehensive model advanced by Weiner (1980, 1985) holds
that emotional reactions provide the direction and the motor
for such behavior. Consumers should therefore be induced
to vicariously share the suffering of the unfortunate workers
who have been displaced into a dreadful and possibly hope-
less situation. Specifically, the campaign should urge and
facilitate the target consumer to place him/herself in the
place of the disadvantaged workers; for example, "How
would you like to have foreigners take your job away?" or
"How would you feel if your fellow Americans made it easy
for foreigners to put you out of work?"
Sixth, those who perceive the costs of helping to be high
are less willing to help. While the empirical results for costs
of helping stem from two allied, narrow measures of cost
pertaining to the attributes of the product, the implications
can easily be generalized. Consumers must be convinced
the costs of helping are minimal and the costs of not helping
are maximal. In the first case, consumers should be shown
there is little or no loss from purchasing products that fea-
ture attributes most important to them; that is, whatever
their cost, American products provide considerable value
for the money spent.
In the second case, consumers should be shown that eco-
nomic decline is costly, not only for the nation but also for
individual consumers. To illustrate, an impressionistic,
graphic portrayal could depict an America of the future with
widespread poverty, lack of economic and social oppor-
tunity, and reduced purchase and consumption opportunities
for the very people who supported foreign suppliers in the
1990s. In complementary fashion, the benefits from sup-
porting American industry in this decade could be portrayed
in parallel terms, showing prosperity, broad economic and
social opportunity, and a wide selection of (American) prod-
ucts to fill every consumption need in the America of the
future.
Influences on Antecedent Constructs
All seven constructs antecedent to the criterion construct
enter significant relationships with other constructs in the
network of influences leading to willingness to help; as
mentioned, all but responsibility affect the criterion con-
struct. To provide a fuller understanding of the contributions
of these constructs, this section examines the influences on
the antecedent, intervening variables in the network of in-
fluences. The rationale for this discussion is that to better
understand how marketing can impact costs of helping, for
example, it is necessary to see how the cost of helping is
determined by other constructs.
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
For Hypothesis 6 involving influences on costs of help-
ing, three of the six hypothesized relationships were sup-
ported empirically. These mixed results are not surprising,
given the complex nature of the construct, wherein costs
may be incurred for both helping and not helping. Consum-
ers will find the costs of helping lower to the extent they are
led to put themselves in the place of Americans who are like
themselves, persons who are being treated unfairly by for-
eign firms. For Hypothesis 5, although the responsibility
construct did not affect helping, it was itself affected by four
antecedents, three hypothesized and one nonhypothesized.
Potential helpers are less likely to externalize an obligation
for helping by assigning it to workers they consider to be
treated inequitably, workers with whom they identify and
also empathize regarding an issue held salient.
Empathy, which influenced willingness to help and costs
of helping as hypothesized, was influenced by three of the
four constructs proposed to affect it by Hypothesis 4. Con-
sumers become more empathic in the case of salient prob-
lems that affect workers with whom they identify, problems
that place these victims in an inequitable situation. Support-
ing the only proposed path to similarity in Hypothesis 3,
consumers see themselves as more similar to threatened
workers when they find the issue more salient. As stated in
Hypothesis 2, consumers find the situation more inequitable
when they feel greater identification with threatened work-
ers. The influence of salience posited by Hypothesis 1 was
supported; the more important the problem, the greater con-
sumers' identification with the workers.
Implications for Future Research
The specific helping model developed for this study,
which incorporates the contributions of many varied studies
in the behavioral sciences, was well supported by the empir-
ical test. Nonetheless, considerable work remains in the
development of a broadly applicable model of helping be-
havior that can be used in specific contexts, such as Buy
American campaigns.
Future research can profitably concentrate on exploring
the nature of the costs and the benefits that impact most
heavily on helping behavior. This research program should
identify a comprehensive list of the relevant costs and bene-
fits. Here, the costs and benefits of both helping and not
helping should be investigated. To give them the broadest
application, they should be developed first within the spe-
cific context of this study, and then later developed across
various contexts so they apply to American products in
general. They should be carefully laid out, perhaps using a
matrix with marginal categories for costs and, alternatively,
benefits of: I) helping versus not helping, 2) personal ver-
sus nonpersonal involvement, and 3) short-term versus
long-term implication.
The concept of equity needs further development. As it
appears in behavioral science research, the perception of
equity typically reflects a balancing of contributions made
and rewards received by an individual. An important task
for marketing research is to determine the dimensions con-
sumers use in performing this tradeoff. Thus, future re-
search should investigate the nature of the rewards (e.g.,
pay, status, security) American consumers consider to con-
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VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS

stitute the relevant retums for threatened workers. It should discriminant validity may be understood by recognizing that
also establish the dimensions of the contributions made by equity represents the consumer's perception that the cost to
these workers, going beyond "effort" to include such inputs the two parties should be commensurate with their outputs.
as the time and abilities furnished and the sacrifice from not If equity is perceived, the cost to workers (here, their effort
performing alternative occupations, including leisure time, to help themselves) is insufficient to justify the consumer's
etc. Using the relevant dimensions would facilitate measur- absorbing an unjust cost of helping. Thus, future research
ing consumers' assessment of the equity/inequity of the should proceed to refine the measures of equity as well as
workers' situation. those of the other constructs, through development of high-
The nature of consumers' identification with the workers ly reliable batteries of items for representing each of the
must be clarified. Behavioral scientists have provided vari- constructs. Ideally, these measures will be sufficiently broad
ous allied conceptions of group identity, including common in their applicability that they can used in adaptations of
fate and common threat. Work in the field o f marketing by helping behavior to other marketing contexts.
Waheeduzzaman and Marks (1989) suggests ethnocentrism
and affiliated constructs must be further refined concep-
tually and empirically before marketing researchers can find APPENDIX
a common ground for study and interpretation. It will be Indicators for Eight Constructs
profitable to further clarify the treatment of cultural identi- in the Helping Model
fication and group identification as research continues to Indicator
investigate the impact of consumers' identifications on help- Construct Symbol Item from Questionnaire
ing. The findings of the present study suggest that the no-
Salience x~ Because of foreign imports, today's
tion of common fate (e.g., "We Americans are all in it textile workers are going to be
together") or common threat (e.g., "A threat to one of our tomorrow's unemployed.
workers is a threat to all of us") would be a viable beginning x2 Foreign competitors cause severe
point for this future research. damage to our textile industry.
Identity y~ Americans should not buy foreign prod-
Responsibility was the only construct without a signifi- ucts, because this hurts American
cant impact on willingness to help, despite its demonstrated business and causes unemployment.
usefulness in previous helping research. Thus, future re- y: There should be very little trading or
search should strengthen the adaptation and measurement of purchasing of goods from other coun-
this construct. The present study considered externalized tries unless out of necessity.
Equity Y3 I can't help wonder, are textile workers
obligation; specifically, assigning responsibility for correct- putting enough effort into fighting
ing the situation to the supposed victims themselves. One foreign competition to justify our
obvious modification would instead use internalized respon- help?
sibility in the context of this study. Alternatively, a future 3'4 If textile workers would make some ef-
fort, I am sure they could improve
application might implement a bipolar construct that incor- their situation.
porates a continuum based on both externalized and inter- Similarity Ys What's happening to textile workers
nalized responsibility. today can happen to me tomorrow.
Similar suggestions can be made regarding the other con- Y6 I am no different than the average tex-
structs in the helping model. To illustrate, similarity might tile worker when it comes to losing
my job from foreign competition.
be examined to determine whether it is most effectively Empathy Y7 It makes me feel bad to see the diffi-
represented as similarity with respect to the workers' job culties textile workers are facing
situation or whether other characteristics of the workers because of imports.
should be used. Salience might focus on the importance of Y8 It is a shame that textile workers are
suffering because of imports.
the issue in an alternative fashion; for example, in terms of Responsibility Y9 Textile workers should improve their
its impact on the consumers themselves, on the workers own situation without any special help
themselves, or on the future of the entire nation. Regarding from me.
empathy, the nature of empathic arousal might be measured Y~o Imports are textile workers' problems,
using a stimulus that is more graphic. For example, survey so they are the ones who should take
care of them.
participants might be asked to assume they had just learned Costs y~ ~ The textile workers should not expect us
there was a 5 0 - 5 0 chance they would be laid off at the end to buy only clothes made here be-
of the month because their employer was suffering large cause they do not make clothes that
losses to foreign competition (e.g., in the case of workers in are as stylish as those made abroad.
Y~2 I would have to sacrifice style if I only
tangible goods industries, due to lost sales; for government bought clothes made in the U.S.
workers, due to reduced tax revenues; or for service work- Help Y13 I will shop first at retail stores that make
ers, due to a general economic downturn). a special effort to sell American made
Finally, because the quality of structural equation analy- products.
sis is particularly vulnerable to operational measures that Yt4 When I buy clothing I will try as much
as I can to buy U.S. brands.
provide insufficiently divergent measures for the differing Yl5 I am willing to always buy American
constructs in the model, future effort must deal with mea- made clothes.
surement. Here, the modification index for the loading of Yl6 I am willing to take the time to look on
one indicator of equity (Y4) on the costs of helping construct labels so I know where the clothes I
wear were made.
is considerably higher than desirable. It appears this lack of

JAMS 318 FALL, t993

INFLUENCING CONSUMERS" SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
This study presented a model based on seven behavioral
constructs proposed to explain consumers' willingness to
help American workers threatened by foreign imported
products. The model performed well empirically in this
marketing context. Consumers' predisposition to help dis-
advantaged American workers received significant direct
explanation (in the structural sense) from constructs repre-
senting consumers' identification with their culture, as ex-
pressed in terms of norms supporting the workers, consum-
ers' perceived similarity with the workers, and lower
perceived costs of buying American products. The criterion
construct also received significant total explanation (as the
sum of direct plus indirect structural influences) from con-
sumers' belief the issue is important, their feeling of empa-
thy for the workers, and their not feeling any disadvantage
suffered by the workers is nonetheless equitable.
Additional linkages among these constructs and consum-
ers' assignment of responsibility to the workers for improv-
ing their own plight demonstrate that the constructs and
their interrelationships form a complex network. This net-
work of influences provides a useful basis for marketing
programs designed to win support among Americans for
American industry, its workers, and its products. By under-
standing this network of influences, marketers are better
prepared to influence consumers' perceptions and beliefs at
appropriate points in the process leading to helping.
REFERENCES
Amato, Paul R. 1986. "Emotional Arousal and Helping Behavior in a
Real-Life Emergency." Journal of Applied Social Psychology 16 (7):
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Janeen E. Olsen is Associate Professor of marketing at
Louisiana State University. She received her Ph.D. from the
University of Utah. Her research interests include interna-
tional marketing and channels of distribution. Her work has
appeared in the Journal of Business Research, Journal of
Advertising, Journal of Retailing, and other marketing jour-
nals.
320 FALL, 1993
INFLUENCING CONSUMERS" SELECTION OF DOMESTIC
VERSUS IMPORTED PRODUCTS
Kent L. G r a n z i n is Professor of marketing at the Univer-
sity of Utah. He received his Ph.D. from the University
of Illinois. His research interests include the fitness mar-
ket, consumer logistics, helping behavior, and marketing
channels. His research findings have been reported in the
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and in vari-
ous other business and social science journals and proceed-
ings.
JAMS
OLSEN, GRANZIN, AND BISWAS
A b h i j i t Biswas is Assistant Professor of marketing at Loui-
siana State University. He received his Ph.D. from the Uni-
versity of Houston. Dr. Biswas's work has been published
in the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of
Business Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Con-
sumer Affairs, Psychology and Marketing, and Journalism
Quarterly, as well as other refereed journals.
321 FALL, 1993