Asian ethnicity in the West: preference for Chinese, Indian and Korean service staff

Abstract

The emergence of ethnic markets has been rapid following the growing trend of intra-national diversity in developed nations. These new markets have attracted researchers to investigate the role of ethnicity in consumer behaviour; however, to date, literature has focused on the role of the origin of tangible goods/products. In contrast, ethnic marketing for services has gained little attention. This study fills this gap by investigating the effect of ethnicity of service staff on consumers’ preferences for services. These effects are tested for the four service types identified in Lovelock’s service classification scheme. This study examined consumers’ preferences in services based on the ethnicity/racial category of service staff (Caucasian, Chinese, Indian and Korean) and service type (Medical, Education, Financial and Cleaning). A shopping mall intercept survey included a sample of 471. Multivariate analysis of variance was applied to test for significant variances between the mean preferences. Significant differences in preferences for the ethnicity of service staff were empirically established. Consumers, regardless of their ethnicity, prefer service staff of the same ethnicity. This creates a gap between preferences for one’s own ethnicity and preferences for others. This tendency was especially strong in medical services. Consumers’ preferences for service staff ethnicity are explained by the theories of country of origin, animosity, homophily and language. This study encourages service providers to make use of ethnic marketing, since a better match between service staff and customers’ preferences results in less miscommunication and better cultural understanding. Training on cultural sensitivity is also encouraged. This study establishes the important role of the country of origin in services. We name this the ‘country of origin of service staff (COSS)’ effect.

Keywords:

• country of origin of service staff
• COSS effect
• ethnicity preference
• Lovelock classification of services
• animosity
• homophily
• consumer preferences
• Western markets

Notes

1. Tung and Baumann, “Comparing the Attitudes toward Money,” 382–401; Baumann, Hamin, and Tung, “Share of Wallet in Retail Banking,” 88–101; and Tung, Baumann, and Hamin, “Cross-Cultural Management of Money.”

2. Bradley, “Service Firm in International Marketing.”

3. Cowell, “International Marketing of Services,” 308–28.

4. Laroche et al., “Service Quality Perceptions and Customer Satisfaction,” 58–85.

5. Wetzels, Ruyter, and Van Birgelen, “Marketing Service Relationships,” 406–23.

6. Cui, “Marketing Strategies in a Multi-Ethnic Environment,” 122–34.

7. Schooler, “Product Bias in the Central American Common Market,” 394–7.

8. Bilkey and Nes, “Country-of-Origin Effects on Product Evaluations,” 89–99.

9. Pecotich, Pressley, and Roth, “Impact of Country of Origin,” 213–24.

10. Stanton and Veale, “Decomposing Country of Origin Dimensions for Services,” 1–9.

11. Klein, Ettenson, and Morris, “Animosity Model of Foreign Product Purchase,” 89–100.

12. Lazarsfeld and Merton, “Friendship as a Social Process,” 18–66.

13. Chand and Tung, “Global Competitiveness,” 265–80.

14. See note 8 above; Peterson and Jansson, “Meta-Analysis of Country-of-Origin Effects,” 883–900; and see note 13 above.

15. Welch and Piekkari, “Crossing Language Boundaries,” 417–37.

16. Lovelock, “Classifying Services to Gain Strategic Marketing Insights,” 9–20.

17. Pires and Stanton, “Ethnic Marketing Ethics,” 111–8.

18. See note 2 above.

19. Helmreich, “On Error Management,” 781–5.

20. See note 9 above.

21. Darby and Karni, “Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud,” 67–88; and Berry, “Cultivating Service Brand Equity,” 128–37.

22. Kotler, Marketing Management.

23. Bendapudi and Berry, “Customers’ Motivations for Maintaining Relationships,” 15–37.

24. See note 17 above.

25. See note 8 above.

26. Ibid.; and Jiménez and Martín, “Role of Country-of-Origin, Ethnocentrism and Animosity,” 34–45.

27. Veale and Quester, “Decomposing Country of Origin for Services,” 1–8.

28. Dwyer, Schurr, and Oh, “Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships,” 11–27.

29. Acharya and Elliott, “Consumer Ethnocentrism,” 87–115.

30. Shoham et al., “Animosity on the Home Front,” 92–114; and see note 27 above.

31. See note 13 above.

32. See note 11 above.

33. See note 12 above.

34. See note 11 above.

35. Ibid.; and see note 13 above.

36. See note 27 above.

37. See note 11 above.

38. Malat and Hamilton, “African-American Preference for Same-Race Healthcare Providers,” 740.

39. Pinel, “Stigma Consciousness,” 114–28.

40. See note 12 above.

41. McPherson, Smith-Lovin, and Cook, “Birds of a Feather,” 415–44.

42. See note 13 above.

43. Gurhan-Canli and Maheswaran, “Determinants of Country‐of‐Origin Evaluations,” 96–108.

44. See note 13 above.

45. Lu, Samaratunge, and Härtel, “Acculturation Attitudes and Affective Workgroup Commitment,” 206–28.

46. Zeithaml, “How Consumer Evaluation Processes Differ between Goods and Services,” 25–32.

47. Sundaram and Webster, “Role of Nonverbal Communication in Service Encounters,” 378–91.

48. Bitner, “Servicescapes,” 57–71.

49. Grewal et al., “Developing a Deeper Understanding,” 250–58.

50. Holmqvist and Gronroos, “How Does Language Matter for Services?” 430–42.

51. Dörnyei, “Attitudes, Orientations, and Motivations in Language Learning,” 3–32; and MacIntyre, “Willingness to Communicate in the Second Language,” 564–76.

52. See note 13 above.

53. See note 7 above.

54. See note 27 above.

55. See note 11 above.

56. Ng, “Intergroup Behaviour and Ethnicity,” 20.

57. See note 13 above.

58. See note 12 above.

59. See note 28 above.

60. Liu and McClure, “Recognizing Cross-Cultural Differences,” 54–75.

61. Fisk, Brown, and Bitner, “Tracking the Evolution of the Services Marketing Literature,” 61–103.

62. Friedman and Smith, “Consumer Evaluation Processes in a Service Letting,” 47–61.

63. MacIntyre, “Willingness to Communicate in the Second Language,” 564–76.

64. Haase and Ellis, “Multivariate Analysis of Variance,” 404–13.

65. Han, “Country Image,” 222–9; and Chryssochoidis, Krystallis, and Perreas, “Ethnocentric Beliefs and Country-of-Origin (COO) Effect,” 1518–44.

66. See note 16 above.

67. See note 17 above.

68. Zeithaml and Bitner, Services Marketing.

69. Barker and Härtel, “Intercultural Service Encounters,” 3–14.

70. Brennan and Brennan, “Measurements of Accent and Attitude,” 487–501.

71. Ma, “Between Two Worlds,” 421–37.

72. See note 19 above.

73. See note 16 above.

74. Normile, “Asian Medicine,” 188–90.

75. Cherkin et al., “Randomized Trial Comparing Traditional Chinese Medical Acupuncture,” 1081–8.

76. Hofstede, “Cultural Differences in Teaching and Learning,” 301–20.

77. See note 16 above.

78. Berry, “Cultivating Service Brand Equity,” 128–37.

79. Baumann and Hamin, “The Role of Culture,” 181–201.

80. Eddey and Baumann, “Graduate Business Education,” 160–7.

81. Eddey and Baumann, “Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement,” 34–46.

82. See note 28 above.

83. Smith, Common Sense about Uncommon Knowledge.

84. Phinney et al., “The Role of Language,” 135–53.

85. See note 16 above.

86. Tung and Baumann, “Comparing the Attitudes toward Money,” 382–401.

87. Ibid.

88. See note 16 above.

89. Ibid.

90. See note 19 above.

91. Ahn, “Transforming Korea into a Multicultural Society,” 97–109.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chris Baumann

Chris Baumann is Senior Lecturer at Macquarie University, Sydney, researching competitiveness, education, East Asia and customer loyalty. Dr Baumann is author of over 50 refereed journal articles and conference papers with more than 290 citations. He has been awarded for his research and teaching, including from the Australian government for enthusiastic approach to education. The Academy of International Business (AIB) has awarded him the Best Reviewer. He is also Visiting Professor at Seoul National University (SNU) in Korea and at Aarhus University, Denmark. He introduced Competitive Productivity, Latecomer Brand and Premium Generic Brand (PGB). He has a long-standing relationship with Simon Fraser University (SFU), Canada, as MBA Alumni and research collaborator. Baumann worked several years in the Swiss banking industry.

Author’s postal address: Macquarie University, Balaclava Road, North Ryde, NSW, 2109, Australia.

Shu Setogawa

Shu Setogawa received his Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing (Honours) from Macquarie University in 2013. His Honours project investigated the relationship between ethnicity and services; research that has resulted in this article for the Asian Ethnicity. Following his studies, Setogawa decided to pursue his interest in international marketing and began working at MTG Co., Ltd in Japan as an international business executive. After only six months on the job he was selected as ‘the best performing graduate’, and subsequently appointed as the general manager for MTG in Singapore. Shu is entrepreneurial – he set up the Singapore branch all by himself.

Author’s postal address: 80 Robinson Road, #10-01A, Singapore 068898.