Decreasing consumer animosity: The relationship between fast food businesses and social conflicts in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract

Consumer animosity represents discomfort towards foreign goods, services and brands originating in countries with which there is some kind of conflict; in this way, a better understanding of consumer behavior in respect of hostilities between countries is sought. On the other hand, the conflicts in Latin America and the Caribbean are often overlooked in the academic literature, which focuses on studying the major Western economies and the great Asian tigers, given their political, economic and military value; for this reason, consumer animosity studies are mostly conducted in these countries. This study seeks to contribute to the scarce literature on consumer animosity in Latin America, through a current conflict between two South American countries, such as Colombia and Venezuela. The data processed through the PLS, allow us to demonstrate how the Colombian consumer, although he may have animosity towards Venezuela, has a positive image of the fast-food restaurants of Venezuelan origin in Colombia. In this way, this study shows that consumer animosity is not widespread, but must be studied specifically for each type of product, service, or brand.

Keywords:

• consumer animosity
• conservatism
• national identity
• ethnocentrism
• image
• Latin America

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT

International conflicts between Latin American and Caribbean countries, of social, political or economic origin, do not usually have the same literature if purchased with the large Asian, Arab and Western economies. This study aims to make an analysis of consumer behavior, in the midst of a strong social and economic conflict that currently live two Latin American economies, such as Colombia and Venezuela. For this study, we consider that the typical food of both countries, which is similar between them, due to the cultural proximity between both nations, ends up being a factor that allows integration between both countries, over and above the strong differences between the two countries and their citizens.

1. Introduction

It is common for countries throughout their history to present political, economic and social differences with other countries, where each country tries to ensure the well-being of its citizens and to take care of its own interests, concerning by any international threat or difference. Although most of these differences are usually resolved peacefully within a framework of common interest for countries in conflict, it is also true that there are differences that tend to develop into very complex situations, which even tend to persist over time. These profound differences between nations generate considerable problems, which, in extreme situations, can become political, commercial or military wars (Isakov et al., 2019).

These differences often provoke in the citizens of a certain country, an unease towards the country that they consider as aggressor; represented by the animosity of those citizens who feel affected in some way. This animosity is a negative sentiment against the country that considers itself an aggressor, that is to say, it is not a generalized feeling towards all other countries, but in a very specific way towards the country or countries with which one conflicts (Klein et al., 1998).

This negative feeling of the citizens is also transferred to the field of marketing, regarding the consumption of products and services. In this way, the animosity of the consumer arises as a generalized rejection of products or services whose country of origin is the same with which there is some kind of conflict (Klein et al., 1998).

Bearing this in mind, studies on consumer animosity are carried out to understand the impact that hostility between countries has on the consumer behavior of foreign products. However, these studies have focused on analyzing conflicts between industrialized countries (Durvasula & Lysonski, 2008; Hoffmann et al., 2011), or between emerging or Asian economies, against industrialized countries (Fernández-Ferrín et al., 2018; Latif et al., 2019)and also among Arab countries (Al-Hyari et al. 2012; Rose et al., 2009), however, its study among Latin American and Caribbean countries is not frequent.

These countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, although they share in most cases similar features in terms of their language, economic growth, and even cultural aspects such as their religion, also present among themselves very strong political differences, which have even led to several military wars between them.

Currently, a very marked political conflict in South America stands out, as is the case of Colombia and Venezuela; countries that 20 years ago, were considered as sister nations, but now consider themselves in extreme opposition to each other (Rochlin, 2011).

The political ideology of their rulers has made these two border countries with historical ties of brotherhood, and which have a common origin and history of homeland, today present very marked differences regarding their form of economic model. Venezuela with a more left-wing economic and political project and Colombia with a more right-wing political and economic model.

This situation arose because of a number of factors. On the one hand, the coming to power of highly personalist and authoritarian governments in both countries and the ideological divergence between their main political leaders (Buelvas et al., 2008).

These differences between the two countries have led in the last 20 years to a strong conflict between the two countries, in which on several occasions there has been talking of war between these two countries.

For this reason, on several occasions, the other countries of South America and the Caribbean have had to intervene to avoid a war conflict, which would be catastrophic not only for these two specific countries, but for the collateral effects that this would bring to the hemisphere (Rochlin, 2011).

However, for this study, we consider that, food ends up being a factor that allows integration between both nations, Rozin (2006), where Colombians through the consumption of certain specific products, can forget the discomfort towards Venezuela, its citizens or their products. In this way, this study can help both public agencies, to generate social integration policies, and marketing managers who want to expand their fast-food businesses and position their brands.

Taking this into account, for this research we propose that national identity, individualism, and ethnocentrism, are considered antecedents of consumer animosity, while the brand image of foreign restaurants their result. In this way, this research presents below three specific contributions:

The first is to be able to study the animosity of the consumer in Latin America, through the behavior of the Colombian consumer, regarding fast-food restaurants of Venezuelan origin. Taking into account the scarce literature that exists of this variable applied in countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, since his study has been concentrated in great Western, Asian, or Arab economies, leaving behind the Latin American countries.

Second, this research is carried out in the midst of a current social, political and economic conflict between the two nations, and with an overflowing growth of Venezuelan immigration in Colombia. Most of the literature that exists refers to conflicts of the past, which are mostly just a memory in the minds of today’s consumers, while this research was carried out in the midst of conflict between the two countries.

Third, this study shows that a person can feel animosity towards a specific country, and this does not mean that this animosity is automatically transferred to all the products and services that represent that country in conflict. That is, this research concludes unlike most studies, that, if it is possible that consumer animosity generates a favorable image of foreign products or services, in special circumstances as described in this research.

2. Background

The enmity between their political leaders has caused them to refer to each other as political enemies and even to be accused of fomenting coups d’état from one country to another. The Government of Colombia formally accuses the Government of Venezuela of being a financier of the guerrillas of the FARC and the ELN, in addition to allowing the presence of these illegal groups in Venezuelan territory with the approval of that Government.

For its part, Venezuela often accuses Colombia of an economic war in the company of the United States, which has stifled its economy in recent years. They even publicly denounce plans from the other country to assassinate their respective president.

For Martínez Moya (2020), due to the political and economic crisis that Venezuela is experiencing, a massive exodus of its citizens has been generated to various parts of the world, where Colombia being its largest border, has received the sum of 2 million Venezuelans in its territory in the last 5 years.

This situation has further aggravated the relations between the two, where now Colombian society has had to adapt to these social changes, in a country that was not accustomed to mass immigration to its territory, and, moreover, not having a strong and vibrant economy, has seen the effects of this migratory situation, generated all kinds of social conflicts, and even xenophobia, (Aliaga Sáez et al., 2020).

The migratory processes tend to generate in the population that receives immigrants, a perception of increased insecurity, as there are more robberies, murders, and violent actions, although in some cases it may be directly related to a specific immigrant population, which was even carrying out this type of action before in its country of origin, it is also true that this situation is not always the fault of the immigrant population; however, the local population usually assumes that the blame for the increases in violence rates is on the foreign population, which is why they are pointed out and judged in some cases fairly, but in many other cases unfairly; which could be one of the antecedents of xenophobia against this population (Knight & Tribin, 2020).

Taking into account the weakness of the Colombian economy, the Venezuelan population-based in Colombia does not find many job offers, in a market that is even deficient for Columbians themselves, which is why the living conditions for Venezuelans in Colombia are not the best either. The vast majority of them are located in low-skilled jobs or decide to start their own businesses, especially fast-food restaurants typical of their country, which has generated an explosion of this type of business in Colombia (O’Neil, 2019; Pulido González & Rodríguez Mendoza, 2015).

It is important to emphasize that these restaurants of Venezuelan origin in Colombia, sell mostly a typical product of Venezuela that is called “Arepa rellena”, which is also a typical food of the Colombian gastronomy. That is, this is a product that is part of the gastronomic history of both countries, taking into account their common origins in the history of both nations, which even belonged to the same country called Gran Colombia, after the independence of the Spanish crown.

The “Arepa” is a pre-Columbian corn-based food, which is made into a kind of tortilla and filled with vegetables or different types of protein, such as meat, chicken, and egg.

It is consumed equally in both the upper and lower classes, making it a very socially accepted product, even as a sign of cultural identity.

The novelty of this research is to be able to study the animosity of the consumer in Latin America, through the behavior of the Colombian consumer, regarding fast-food restaurants of Venezuelan origin, taking as a reference the current political, economic and social conflicts between the two countries.

For this, we start from the anthropological idea on which food provides, on the one hand, a physiological nutrition that requires any individual for its survival, but also is a symbol of national identity; because, through certain typical foods and dishes, a specific culture or country can be represented.

In this way, food allows both the biological survival of people, and at the same time, the symbolic representation, which allows the identification of a specific cultural group, either own or foreign (Wilk, 1999).

For this reason, despite the fact that the various processes of globalization allow countries to have various processes of cultural exchange among themselves, even generating a certain loss of local identity with respect to certain consumption behaviors. For some sociologists, the consumption of certain foods allows that the national identity and globalization are not two contradictory trends, but complementary.

For example, the consumption of certain foods reinforces the origin of these in a positive way, either to highlight the globality of a consumer who knows or distinguishes the culture represented by this type of specific foods; or to highlight their local origin with a local consumer, who sees their culture reflected in a typical dish. That is to say, that this type of consumption, whether from the local or foreign perspective of the consumer, allows in both cases to feel pride towards these foods, because it is a enclosure to the culture that represents, (Lin et al., 2011; Wilk, 1999)

In this way, among some anthropologists and sociologists, it is common to study the relationship between food and national identity; for this reason, we consider that, for this research, the study on the sale of typical Venezuelan products in Colombia, which refers to foreign culture in relation to a local culture, allow us to understand a little better, the problems that arise in both countries with regard to their current animosity, where, in addition, two developing nations with similar cultural characteristics are studied, regarding a hegemonic consumption that for this case, in both countries is also similar through the consumption of “Arepa”.

3. Theoretical literature review

3.1. Consumer animosity

Consumer animosity refers to a negative emotional attitude, which an individual has, towards the purchase of products that originate from a specific nation, with which they also have negative emotional attitudes, (Rose et al., 2009).

In this way, the feelings of hatred, rejection, or discomfort against a particular country are directly reflected in the opinions that consumers have about the products or services of that same country (Maher et al., 2010).

These negative feelings against a particular country are due to various conflicts or threats that have existed in the past or that exist in the present, military, political, economic, social, etc., and which have affected relations between two or more countries in conflict (Klein & Ettensoe, 1999).

Because consumer animosity is directly related to the concept of country of origin, it also emphasizes the hostile attitudes of consumers towards the origin of a product or a brand, as a mechanism of rejection, Jiménez and San Martín (2010).

This animosity could be situational, referring to current political or economic situations, and have to be resolved in a short period of time; however, it could also be a stable animosity, referring to the historical difficulties between two countries, which can even be passed on from generation to generation, and which are therefore deeply rooted in society (Amine, 2008).

Similarly, the hostility of a particular country due to threats or any type of conflict generates an emotional value in the society of the host country, due to social pressures and psychosocial fears, as a protection mechanism, where one seeks to look after the good of one’s own nation (Fong et al., 2014).

In Table 1, by way of summary, we can find several approaches to the definition of the concept of consumer animosity, which are found in the literature.

Table 1. Approximations to the and consumer animosity

Author(s) and Year	Definition
(Rose et al., 2009, p.330)	“Consumer animosity refers to strong negative emotions toward purchasing products from a disliked nation or group”
(Cai et al., 2012, p. 15)	“Implicit animosity as introspectively unidentified (or inaccurately identified) traces of past experience that lead to unfavorable feelings, thoughts, or action toward a specific (offending) nation”
(Lee & Lee, 2013, p. 273)	“Research has tapped the concept of consumer animosity to explain what underpins the reluctance of consumers to buy products from foreign countries, particularly during the occurrences of international disputes”
(Harmeling et al., 2015, p. 677).	“Consumer animosity illustrates that political and economic disputes drive consumer responses that can harm firms associated with the offending nation”
(Little & Singh, 2015, p. 84)	“Antipathy toward nations, regions, cultures, groups, or organizations”
(Li et al., 2021, p. 2)	“Critical factor affecting consumers’ product perceptions and purchase behaviors, particularly in the context of international businesses”

Source: Author’s own compilation

4. Empirical literature review and hypotheses development

4.1. Antecedents of conspicuous consumption

4.1.1. Individualism

Individualism refers to the values in the personality of each person, which have very strong characteristics of self-sufficiency, autonomy, and even separation from their social groups, where their behavior is driven by their own motives, and not by the goals of their primary group; for this reason, if differences arise between the individual and his group, these, will resolve in favor of the individual and not of his group, (Triandis et al., 1990).

In this way, individualism refers to the perceived relationship between an individual and the group to which he belongs; where this individual generates an emotional independence from the groups, organizations, and other collectivities around him; for this reason, such people tend to be more self-centered, less loyal, less emotionally attached, and less willing to sacrifice themselves for the common benefit over the particular benefit. However, it has many facilities to integrate into external groups and meet new people different from those of its social group (Tao et al., 2004).

In this way, it can be concluded that people who possess strong individualistic values tend to emphasize their self-sufficiency; they also possess a high level of competence, where their personal goals will always be above the goals of their group. Similarly, they have greater emotional distance, towards other people and towards any group in general (Cross et al., 2000).

Because people with individualistic values, see themselves as separate from their social group, and care more about their personal achievements and goals; for this study we consider that their degree of animosity will be less, by not being fully identified by the threats to your nation.

In this way, and based on previous studies by Han (2017), Leonidou et al. (2019), and Han et al. (2020) we formulate the following hypothesis:

H1: Individualism has a negative and significant effect on consumer animosity.

4.1.2. National identity

It is important to clarify that national identity is a different concept from nationalism, which is often confused.

National identity refers to positive values, which reflect the sense of belonging that one has towards a particular nation, due to the links that one has towards it by various situations, such as being the birthplace of the individual, or from their family ancestry or descent, or by sharing their language, religion, race, culture, etc. In general, to any common value they possess between the individual and this specific nation (Darsareh & Bastanipour, 2016; Sinkkonen, 2013).

On the other hand, it differs from nationalism, in that the latter is a concept that is based on the idea of the superiority of the nation of origin over other nations, being such a strong attachment to its own country that it does not even allow it to question anything about it, and everything is hierarchized and analyzed based on this.

In this way, this concept ends up generating negative values, because it even produces hostility towards other countries, which are always considered as inferior (Verdugo & Milne, 2016).

For Abizadeh (2005), national identity is the modern notion of sovereignty to which one has a sense of belonging, where identification with a specific nation by an individual, means that this individual is admitting the existence of other nations with characteristics other than his own. In this way, a nation is a particular community that has specific singularities, which contrast with those of other nations.

This national identity is made up of a set of four categories that feed into each other. On the one hand, a structure of similar beliefs such as religion, and culture, which facilitate participation, solidarity and social cohesion with the members of the nation; also for the national heritage, alluding to the importance of historical facts and characters that generate a sense of belonging.

Also because of cultural homogeneity, because, although there are multiple subcultures within a nation, which coexist simultaneously, they manage to have a certain homogeneity between them by representing their nation. Finally to its level of ethnocentrism, referring to the importance of maintaining the values and compartments of the group and even taking care of its national economy, as a defense mechanism on external nations (Keillor & Tomas M. Hult, 1999).

Taking into account that the concept of national identity is based on the identification of a specific nation and therefore its solidarity with this nation in case of an external threat, and based on previous studies Rose et al. (2009), Fong et al. (2015), and Stepchenkova et al. (2018), we present the following hypothesis:

H2: National identity has a positive and significant effect on consumer animosity.

4.1.3. Ethnocentrism

Consumer ethnocentrism represents one of the strongest attitudinal blockages against the purchase of foreign products, as it represents the normative belief about the suitability of buying domestic products and the inappropriateness of buying products from abroad (Fernández-Ferrín et al., 2018; Neese et al., 2018).

In this way, the ethnocentrism of the consumer is based mainly on an economic motive, with a clear bias towards the individual’s own country, which considers it a national duty, to support the companies of his country, by buying their own products, and rejected all those foreign products, (Zeugner-Roth et al., 2015).

For Witkowski (1998), ethnocentrism generates for individuals a sign of identity, and therefore belonging to a particular social group; for this reason, their way of behaving is based on the social norms of that group, and in this way, these social rules govern both their acts, and their way of seeing life, because everything revolves around this group.

For Siamagka and Balabanis (2015), ethnocentrism then emerges as an invisible self-defense mechanism, which both national economies and their governments have against a possible threat, generated by foreign imports competing in the local market.

For this reason, many countries often employ the domestic strategy of launching “Home Made” campaigns for their local consumer as an effort to curb export consumption, protect domestic production, and improve their trade balance.

In this way, the consumer with strong values of ethnocentrism avoids all foreign products, regardless of their price or quality, whose rejection is generated entirely for nationalistic reasons (Shankarmahesh, 2006).

In the light of the above, this concept can explain one of the reasons why consumers very persistently or without rational sense prefer to buy domestic over imported products; even when foreign products may be more economical and of higher quality; for ethnocentrics, it is natural to be able to help and cooperate with members of their group, and to favor it at all times, while being distrustful and even hostile to outside groups (Balabanis et al., 2002).

Taking into account the previous studies of Cheah et al. (2016), and Lee et al. (2017), where they showed that the feelings of the ethnocentric consumer are positively related to the animosity of the consumer, we formulated the following hypothesis:

H3: Consumer ethnocentrism has a positive and significant effect on consumer animosity.

4.2. The results of consumer animosity

4.2.1. Foreign restaurant image

The brand image is a set of emotional attitudes that the client has, about a specific brand. In this way, it is an antecedent of the perception of customers, on the quality of the products or services, influencing their commercial value and the intentions of purchase towards this; in this way, a positive brand image, affects the preferences of use, consumption, and even confidence in it and the products or services it represents (Dobni & Zinkhan, 1990).

In this way, the higher the symbolic characteristics that the brand represents, the higher the positive feelings towards said brand image; for this reason, the brand image is fundamental for any company or business, because it is the product or service characteristics, both functional and symbolic, that allow in certain situations to have an emotional competitive advantage, and a more rooted positioning in the minds of consumers, (Roy & Banerjee, 2007)

For Ryu et al. (2012), the brand image is defined as the symbolic meanings that consumers usually remember, when they find the specific characteristics of the product or service; likewise, it is the sum of the beliefs, ideas, and impressions that people have of a specific place or destination, such as a restaurant.

For Chen et al. (2014), the image of a restaurant is based on a set of factors such as: its location, its service, its price and the quality of its food; in this way the image of the restaurant positively impacts the intention of consumption.

For Yi et al. (2018), the brand image affects the preference of customers, with respect to the attributes used for the choice of restaurants of their preference, is a special perception of the quality of food, the quality of the service, and the quality of the local environment.

For this research, taking into account the previous studies of Russell and Russell (2010) and Chaudhry et al. (2020), we propose that consumer animosity generates a negative effect on the image of foreign restaurants, in this way we formulate the following hypothesis:

H4: Consumer animosity has a negative and significant effect on the image of foreign restaurants

4.3. Research model

Figure 1 shows the research model of the present study.

Figure 1. Source: Author’s own compilation

The following is a summary of all the research questions:

H1: Individualism has a negative and significant effect on consumer animosity.

H2: National identity has a positive and significant effect on consumer animosity.

H3: Consumer ethnocentrism has a positive and significant effect on consumer animosity.

H4: Consumer animosity has a negative and significant effect on the image of foreign restaurants.

5. Research design

5.1. Data collection and sampling

In order to compare the previous hypotheses, a quantitative study was carried out through a structured questionnaire. The sample was collected in person between December 2019 and March 2020.

The participation was voluntary, and aimed at adult consumers, of 10 Venezuelan fast–food restaurants in the city of Bogota. These restaurants were chosen because they have the most presence in the city, rating, and visits www.tripadvisor.co

Convenience sampling was used to obtain the information, obtaining a final sample of 245 valid questionnaires. Regarding the demographic profile of the respondents, the distribution of the sample can be seen in Table 2, where the majority were women (51.8%), the main age range was between 18 and 35 years (|67.4%), with university studies (53.46) and where most were working (40%).

Table 2. Sample distribution

	N	%
Gender
Man	118	48,1
Woman	127	51,8
Age
18–25	89	36,2
26–35	76	31,2
36–45	61	24,8
46–55	12	4,89
>55	7	2,85
Educational level
No schooling	2	0,81
Primary	17	6,93
Secondary	35	14,28
University	131	53,46
Postgraduate studies	60	24,48
Occupation
Student	74	30,2
Worker	98	40
Self-employed	34	13,87
Unemployed	15	6,12
Housekeeping duties	16	6,53
Retired	7	2,85
Other	1	0,4

Source: Author’s own compilation

Taking into account that this is a predictive study, with both formative and reflective variables, was used for the estimation of the model and the verification of the proposed hypotheses, the statistical program PLS 3.2.7, for structural equations of partial least squares, (Barroso et al., 2010; Diamantopoulos & Winklhofer, 2001).

5.2. Measurement of the variables

All scales used and adapted for this study were based on scales previously validated in the literature. Thus, Likert-type 7-point scales were used as follows: 1 = “totalmente0 + in disagreement” and 7 = “totally in agreement”.

To measure individualism, the scale of Triandis and Gelfand (1998), was used to measure national identity, the scale of Vida et al. (2008) and to measure ethnocentrism, the scale of Verlegh (2007).

On the other hand, to measure consumer animosity was used the scale of Hoffmann et al. (2011) with 3 dimensions, perceived threat, antithetical political attitudes and negative personal experiences. All the above scales are reflective. Finally, the scale of Palacios-Florencio et al. (2018) was used to measure the image, defined as formative. Table 3 shows the scales used as a summary.

Table 3. Sources of measured items

Constructs	Source of adoption	Numbers of item	dimensions	Reflective/Formative
Individualism	Triandis and Gelfand (1998)	8	0	Reflective
National identity	Vida et al. (2008)	3	0	Reflective
Ethnocentrism	Verlegh (2007)	5	0	Reflective
Consumer animosity	Hoffmann et al. (2011)	7	3	Reflective
Image	Palacios-Florencio et al. (2018)	7	0	Formative

Source: Author’s own compilation

6. Empirical results and discussion

6.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis

To analyze the results, two different phases were performed. In the first phase, the three dimensions of the consumer animosity variable were analyzed, using an Exploratory Factor Analysis, using the SPSS program. Secondly, the measuring instrument was validated by means of a Confirmatory Factor Analysis, estimating the proposed structural model by means of Partial Least Squares Minima (PLS-SEM), using the Smart PLS 3.2.7 software.

The reasons for the use of PLS-SEM were based on the fact, that this study uses Mode B composite models; (Henseler, 2017); on the other hand, the research model has direct and mediated relationships, in addition several levels of dimensionality with first- and second-order constructs (Ali et al., 2018).

In order to determine whether the dimensions used in this paper that mediate the consumer animosity variables, are the same as those considered in previous studies, an Exploratory Factor Analysis with VARIMAX rotation has been carried out. This determines which items should measure each dimension and whether the items are grouped in the way, they were initially proposed.

Thus, it was found that the items used to measure the consumer animosity construct are grouped into three factors, whose items have been named: perceived threat (ANI-PT), antithetical political attitudes (ANI-APA) and negative personal experiences (ANI-NPE), jointly explaining 89% of the variability of the phenomenon, providing a satisfactory adjustment.

Table 4 shows the results of the KMO sample adequacy measurement index and the Bartlett sphericity test for the corresponding analyses.

Table 4. Summary of Exploratory Factor Analysis

Construct	KMO	Bartlett’s test (Chi-square value)	Significance	Dimensions
Consumer animosity	0.784	1,045.41	0.000	3

Source: Author’s own compilation

6.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (AFC)

For the assessment of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), in the measurement models reflective compounds (Mode A), and to analyze the reliability of the first-order constructs, we analyzed the individual reliability of the item (α of Cronbach) and also the Composite Reliability Measure (CR).

In the convergent validity, all indicator loads were significant and greater than 0.7. On the other hand, the value of the average extracted variance (AVE) of each variable is greater than 0.5; in this way, evidence of an adequate convergent validity in the measurement model is provided (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). In Table 5, we can see the results of the AFC.

Table 5. Measurement model evaluation results

Construct/Indicators	Mean		st. dev.		Loadings factor
F1.Individualism (α = 0.714; CR = 0.824; AVE = 0.684)
(Ind1) I’d rather depend on myself than others.	5.43		1.439		0.749*
(Ind2) I rely on myself most of the time; I rarely rely on others.	4.29		1.425		0.729*
(Ind3) I often do “my own thing.”	5.05		1.285		0.883*
(Ind4) My personal identity, independent of others, is very important to me.	5.15		1.564		0.789*
(Ind5) It is important that I do my job better than others.	5.69		1.415		0.753*
(Ind6) Winning is everything.	4.45		1.522		0.874*
(Ind7) Competition is the law of nature.	5.02		1.729		0.824*
(Ind8) When another person does better than I do, I get tense and aroused.	4.10		1.748		0.725*
F2.National identity (α = 0.711; CR = 0.858; AVE = 0.647)
(IN1) A citizen of Colombia possesses certain cultural attributes that people of other countries do not possess	5.51		1.59		0.764*
(IN1)Colombia has a strong historical heritage	5.76		1.63		0.881*
(IN1) Citizens of Colombia are proud of their nationality	5.54		1.74		0.759*
F3.Consumer ethnocentrism (α = 0.827; CR = 0.845; AVE = 0.565)
Colombia people should not buy foreign products. because this hurts Colombia business and causes unemployment	4.44		1.93		0.719*
It is not right to purchase foreign products, because this puts Colombia people out of jobs.	4.25		1.88		0.772*
A real Colombia should always buy Colombia products.	4.54		2.17		0.784*
I always prefer Colombia products over foreign products.	4.80		1.78		0.753*
We should buy services from Colombia companies to prevent other countries from getting rich at our expense.	5.16		1.90		0.827*
F4.Consumer animosity—perceived threat (ANI-PT) (α = 0.725; CR = 0.864; AVE = 0.777)
I feel threatened by Venezuela	4.94	1.97		0.921
The influence of politicians from Venezuela on our country is too strong	3.85	1.92		0.952
Venezuela intends to dominate our country economically	3.74	1.86		0.834
F5.Consumer animosity—antithetical political attitudes (ANI-APA) (α = 0.663; CR = 0.854; AVE = 0.742)
I disapprove of the politics of Venezuela	4.25	1.88		0.889
I often disagree with the political attitude of Venezuela	3.98	1.91		0.925
F6.Consumer animosity—negative personal experiences (ANI-NPE) (α = 0.715; CR = 0.832; AVE = 0.623)
Personally, I have had bad experiences with Venezuela	5.87	1.79		0.891
So far, I met only a few sympathetic persons from Venezuela	5.74	1.84		0.874

Source: Author’s own compilation

Moreover, the discriminating validity in the measuring instrument was analyzed, using the Fornell and Larcker criteria and the ratio Heterotrait-Heteromethod-HT and Monotrait-Heteromethod-MT (HTMT).

Through the Fornell and Larcker criteria, it has been verified that the square of the estimated correlation between two factors does not exceed in any case the variance extracted average of each factor (Fornell & Larcker, 1981), while for the HTMT ratio its values are less than 0.9 (Henseler et al., 2015).

In this way, the discriminating validity of the constructions that are of reflective type of the measurement model is confirmed (Table 6).

Table 6. Discriminant validity

	F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	F6
F1	0.741	0.332	0.121	0.254	0.329	0.112
F2	0.224	0.724	0.236	0.321	0.041	0.374
F3	0.133	0.103	0.711	0.274	0.223	0.425
F4	0.227	0.372	0.145	0.625	0.178	0.260
F5	0.354	0.147	0.173	0.078	0.789	0.536
F6	0.142	0.228	0.437	0.323	0.494	0.774

Note: On the diagonal: square root of the AVE values. Below the diagonal: correlations. Above the diagonal: HTMT values

Source: Author’s own compilation

On the other hand, for the image variable, when defined as formative (Mode B), its evaluation has been carried out at the level of the indicators by assessing the possible multicollinearity, through the variance inflation factor (VIF) and the assessment of the magnitude of their weights and their significance, the results of which can be seen in Table 7.

Table 7. Measurement construct image

Indicators	Mean	St.dev.	Weights	VIF	t	p-value
The interior of the restaurant is appropriate for its category	5.02	1.74	0.225	1.721	4.547	0.000
The location of restaurant is suitable	5.24	1.81	0.278	2.612	11.145	0.029
I can clearly distinguish the establishments of this restaurant	5.12	1.63	0.325	2.554	2.042	0.012
I tend to pay attention to this restaurant advertising	3.17	2.17	−0.264	1.493	8.250	0.000
I tend to pay attention to the information they send me	2.42	2.29	0.239	1.863	9.314	0.000
This restaurant is renowned for its good social behavior	4.24	1.75	0.225	2.317	7.479	0.000
This restaurant image fits my personality	4.45	2.34	0.542	2.452	4.479	0.000

Source: Author’s own compilation

We then proceeded to analyze the second-order variables of the variable called consumer animosity, being of the reflective-formative type according to Hoffmann et al. (2011). Its measurement analysis was carried out using the inflation factor of variance (IVF) and weights, the results of which can be seen in Table 8.

Table 8. Consumer animosity second-order construct measurement model

Factors	Weights	FIV	t	p valor
Perceived threat	−0.327	2.985	2.874	0.004
Antithetical political attitudes	0.164	2.847	3.223	0.012
Negative personal experiences	1.148	1.248	4.974	0.000

Source: Author’s own compilation

6.3. Structural model and hypotheses testing

Once the validation of the measuring instrument was carried out, the structural model was estimated, using the PLS technique and the bootstrapping procedure (Henseler, 2017) with 5000 sub-samples. As can be seen in Table 8, the coefficients of the paths have been significant in all cases and in the sense indicated by the hypotheses, except hypotheses 4 which was rejected.

The explanatory power of the structural model was also verified through the coefficients of determination R2, which indicate the amount of variance of the endogenous variables explained by the constructs and the Q2, which are greater than 0 (Table 9), in this way the model presents an adequate explanatory and predictive value allowing to evaluate the significance of the previously established causal relationships.

Table 9. Structural model results

Hypothesis	Original Sample	t	p value	Contras
H1: Individualism—Consumer animosity	−0.225	3.014	0.001	Accepted
H2: National identity—Consumer animosity	0.349	2.874	0.015	Accepted
H3: Ethnocentrism—Consumer animosity	0.401	6.748	0.004	Accepted
H4: Consumer animosity—Image	0.101	2.124	0.000	Not Accepted

Note: R²(Consumer animosity) = 0.385; R²(Foreign restaurant image) = 0.422; Q²(Consumer animosity) = 0.341; Q²(Foreign restaurant image) = 0.485

Source: Author’s own compilation

6.4. Discussion and theoretical implications

This research has allowed us to contribute to the scarce literature on consumer animosity focused on Latin American countries; because most studies have focused on studying consumer animosity in Western and Asian countries, which have clear political, cultural and economic differences, with Latin American countries.

On the other hand, most of these studies have been developed on the basis of historical conflicts or threats from the past, which have been kept in the minds of consumers over time. However, this research as a novelty, was developed in the midst of a strong social conflict that currently exists between Colombia and Venezuela; in this way, its results can be analyzed based on present and not past situations.

The results obtained allow us to show that there is a negative and significant relationship between individualism and consumer animosity, thus confirming hypothesis 1 (H1), as well as previous studies by Han (2017); and Han et al. (2020).

Similarly, we can confirm the positive and significant relationship between national identity and consumer animosity, thus confirming hypothesis 2 (H2), in the same line as the research of Rose et al. (2009), Fong et al. (2015), and Stepchenkova et al. (2018).

On the other hand, we can confirm hypothesis 3 (H3), by validating the positive and significant relationship between ethnocentrism and consumer animosity, as Cheah et al. (2016); and Lee et al. (2017).

However, although our research initially proposed a negative and significant relationship between consumer animosity and the image of foreign restaurants, based on previous studies by Russell and Russell (2010) and Chaudhry et al. (2020); their results were contrary to those proposed.

These contrary results show that consumer animosity is not a concept that should include all products in a generalized way, as previously believed. In this way, just as animosity refers to traits of antipathy specifically towards a particular country and not towards all foreign countries in a generalized way, we can interpret that consumer animosity varies according to the type of product, service, or brand that is being studied.

7. Summary and conclusion

7.1. Managerial implications

This study makes it possible to have several implications for the management of restaurants of foreign origin, which operate in countries with which there, may be some kind of conflict.

This research concludes that the brand image of foreign restaurants is not always affected by consumer animosity, in this way, these results are in contradiction of most studies that formulate the negative relationship between the two.

On this, in the research, Fakharmanesh and Ghanbarzade Miyandehi (2013), although they also proposed a negative relationship between both variables; their results showed a non-significant relationship between both constructs.

In our study, we attribute this situation to the fact that Venezuelan restaurants in Colombia sell very familiar products in the gastronomy of Colombian society. As indicated before, “Arepa” is a very typical food in both countries, so we consider that the Colombian consumer is able to minimize their animosity, when consuming food that is familiar to him.

In this way, although Venezuelan restaurants usually highlight in their decoration and setting their Venezuelan origin, trying to attract the Venezuelan public in Colombia, the reality is that they are frequented in the same way by Colombian consumers who seek to eat similar dishes from their gastronomy.

For Yi et al. (2018), when a customer sees a brand of a restaurant, it is not only a question of identifying its logo, slogan, or advertising of that establishment, but, in addition, it is based on the memory of previous experiences, such as the taste of the food, prices, atmosphere and type of service received. This set of factors is the biggest differentiator of a restaurant with respect to its competence.

The results of this study show that factors such as the quality of the food, the quality of the service, and a good atmosphere, in addition to gastronomy similar to that of the local culture, despite being foreign restaurants, are factors that help to reduce consumer animosity.

For González-Soriano et al. (2020), the theory of social identity applied in marketing, allows us to see how individuals belonging to a social group often express their opinions on various products or services, based on their previous experiences of consumption, which allows a collective knowledge to be generated in that society, which is fed by other members of the group and their opinions.

These opinions ultimately influence the purchasing decisions of other members of society. In this way, for this study, we consider that this could be used as both a mechanism of promotion of restaurants, but also as a mechanism of social integration, that allows a better relationship between the immigrant population of Venezuela and Colombian nationals.

7.2. Limitations and future research

Here are some limitations of this study, which in themselves may be future lines of research. First, this study was based on restaurants whose cuisine is similar to that of the local country, which is why it is important to replicate this study in another type of business of Venezuelan origin that is developing in Colombia, such as manufacturing and transport.

On the other hand, most respondents have a relatively young age of up to 35 years, so other studies could focus on an older consumer, who is often less flexible in their thinking, And so they might have a higher degree of animosity.

On the other hand, this study was carried out in the city of Bogota, which because it is the capital of Colombia has the largest economic growth rate in the country. Given this, the results of this study may differ if the same research is carried out in the border city of Cucuta, which is one of the main land borders between Colombia and Venezuela, (Migración Colombia, 2020)and is therefore one of the cities in Colombia with the highest number of immigrants of Venezuelan origin, and also one of the cities with the highest unemployment rate in the entire country.

Finally, we recommend replicating this study, but from the Venezuelan context, that is through consumers in that country, concerning to restaurants of Colombian origin that are based in Venezuela. In this way, we could have an idea of consumer behavior from both perspectives.

Additional information

Funding

The author received no direct funding for this research.

Notes on contributors

Jose Andres Areiza-Padilla

Jose Andres Areiza-Padilla is a Professor of Marketing at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. He obtained a Degree in Business Administration at the said university. He obtained a master’s degree in Corporate Communication and Advertising from Madrid’s Universidad Complutense, and a Master’s in Marketing from Barcelona’s Universidad Autónoma. He is a Ph D candidate in Marketing at Universidad de Valencia. His interests include experiential marketing topics, consumer behavior and sales in the services industry.