the evaluation of turkish consumers' attitudes towards foreign products

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attitudes have been examined in many studies. Studies (Zhang, 1996; Canlı and Maheswaran, 2000; Parameswaran and Pisharodi, 2002) reveal that the consumers in developing countries attribute different meanings to the products made in developed countries. This causes consumers in developing countries to use the products made in developed countries as a sign of their social statue. In some cultures, it is observed that the use of native products is approved by the society. The country origin studies carried out to determine the characteristics of consumers (Chao and Gupta, 1995) demonstrate that demographic and physiographic properties of the consumers have caused the effect of country origin to be perceived differently. Consumer ethnocentrism, which is handled and described with different elements, also alters the perception of the knowledge of country origin. In the cases in which consumer ethnocentrism is strong, it is observed that positive attitudes are developed and in the cases in which consumer ethnocentrism is weak, it is observed that attitudes are formed with different factors. Problem In this study it is aimed to reveal the effect of country origin on Turkish consumers’ attitudes and their perception. The attitudes and the perception of the consumers towards the countries where the target products are made are unknown; the attitudes and the perception of those foreign countries towards their marketing activities are also unknown. Besides, there is no data showing how the country origin is important in the process of purchasing. Purpose With this study, the effect of country origin on Turkish consumers’ attitudes and perception will be tried to bring to light in a descriptive way. The possible answers for the following questions will be looked for in parallelism to the purpose of the study. 1. What are the Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards the products made in Germany, Italy and France? 2. What are the Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards the marketing activities of the products made in Germany, Italy and France? 3. What are the attitudes of Turkish consumers towards the country origin of the products? 4. Is there any difference among Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards the products produced in Germany, Italy and France? 5. Is there any difference among Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards the marketing activities of the products made in Germany, Italy and France? 6. Is there any difference among Turkish consumers’ attitudes towards the origin of Germany, Italy and France? 7. Is there any relation between the attitudes of Turkish consumers towards the products made in Germany, Italy and France, the attitudes of Turkish consumers towards the marketing activities of these products, the attitudes towards the importance of country origin, gender and the amount of their income? 378
8. Is there any relation between the attitudes of Turkish consumers towards the products made in Germany, Italy and France, the attitudes towards the marketing activities of these products and the attitudes towards the importance of country origin? Limitations The limitations, which may affect the generalization of the research findings, can be stated as follows: 1. The study is limited to only three countries, Germany, Italy and France. These three countries have been chosen depending on the data of the external trading duties undersecretary. In the categories chosen depending on the data of the year, 2003 (other foodstuffs; drinks, tobacco and its products; products of automotive industry; office machines and communication systems; other machines and transportation means; the products of textile industry; ready –made clothing; other consumption properties), Germany, Italy and France are the countries which imported the most products. The choice of product categories has been done considering the latest products reaching consumers. 2. The participants of the study consist of the students from Communication Sciences Faculty at Anadolu University METHOD The descriptive method, in which an already existing case is studied, is used in the study with the use of questionnaire, observation and interviews. The participants have been chosen as the 2003-2004 fall –term students at communication Sciences faculty at Anadolu University. To choose the participants of the study, all the teaching schedules are taken and all the courses having more than 30 attending students are listed. Using this list, participants are chosen randomly. The questionnaire is applied to 178 students in total as 94 male and 84 female. Data and Data Collection Attitude scale for country products, the marketing activities of these products and the importance of country origin: the attitude scale developed by darling and Puetz and consisting of 31 items, is used in the study. In the scale, five –likert- scale is used. (1= strongly agree, 2= agree, 3= no idea, 4= disagree, 5= strongly disagree). The scale consists of thee main parts. The items numbered between 1 and 13 aim to measure the consumers’ attitudes towards the marketing activities of the products of the chosen countries. The items numbered between 14 and 26 aim to measure the attitudes of the products of the chosen countries towards the marketing activities. The items 14 and 15 are about services, 16 and 17 are about packaging, 18 and 19 are about pricing, 20 is about the name of trademark, 21 and 22 are about outlets, 23 is about the locations of the outlets, 24, 25 and 26 are about advertising and promotions. The items numbered between 27 and 31 aim to measure the importance of the knowledge of country origin. 379
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