Foreign Brand Admiration Among Young Consumers in Indonesia

S A R I P A T I Vol. 13 | No. 1 ISSN: 2089-6271 | e-ISSN: 2338-4565 | https://doi.org/10.21632/irjbs

This study extends the theoretical understanding of the positive and negative emotions of consumers towards foreign vs local brands by providing conceptualisation and measurement of foreign brand admiration and passive brand hate towards local brands. The study incorporates hedonic value dominance and home country image, which is the image of a consumer's own country. The results show that young consumers in a developing country are both passive brand haters towards local brands and foreign brand admirers. When they possess an inferior image of their home country, they show admiration towards foreign brands. The positive emotion is however mainly influenced by hedonic value dominance, which also have a great contribution to passive brand hate toward local brands. As they have strong negative emotion, they tend to admire foreign brands that offer more hedonic values. In comparison to the negative emotion, the positive emotion indeed has a much stronger contribution toward willingness to pay more for foreign brands. The paper provides useful managerial implications for foreign brand and local brand owners to compete in the country's market place.

INTRODUCTION
The globalization of the world market has meant that local manufacturers face higher competition in developing countries. They must compete against global brands from more developed and favourable countries, where companies have a competitive advantage in relying on their positive country image.
A strong-positive reputation of a source country acts as a halo generating a favourable image and strong admiration for brands from that country. This is particularly true for young consumers. In comparison to other segments, young consumers in developing countries are viewed as a more ideal target segment for foreign brands as they have a greater admiration for foreign brands (Pham & Richards;. Young consumers are trendsetter and the main consumer group of foreign brands as they are increasingly familiar and show growing acceptance to foreign brands (Frank, 2016) with strong desire for self-expression (Pham & Richards (2015) to differentiate themselves from other consumers groups (Noh, Runyan & Mosier., 2014). They also tend to be more hedonic value seekers than other consumer groups, as they often perform hedonic consumption. This is due to their characteristic which seeks more fun, pleasure and happiness in life (Nejati & Moghaddam, 2012). Therefore, it is reasonable to take young consumers as the subject of the study.  (Zarantonello, Romani, Grappi & Bagozzi, 2016). This study will therefore include negative emotion towards brands, i.e., passive brand hate. Furthermore, country-of-origin research has traditionally focused on the image of foreign countries as the source of products or brands, but the image of the home country (especially a developing one) remains limited (Sulhaini, 2016). It is therefore crucial to investigate the links between home country image, brand admiration, hedonic value dominance and passive brand hate toward local brands.
This paper provides interesting contributions.
First, the study aims to extend the theoretical understanding of the positive and negative emotions of consumers towards foreign vs local brands by incorporating hedonic value dominance and home country image, which is the image of the consumer's own country and not the source of imported products/brands. On this topic, the current study extends the concept of home country image by integrating the country's position in regional/ international development in terms of politics, nilai lebih hedonis. Dibandingkan dengan emosi negatif, emosi positif memang memiliki kontribusi yang jauh lebih kuat terhadap kesediaan membayar lebih untuk merek asing. Makalah ini memberikan implikasi manajerial yang berguna bagi pemilik merek asing dan lokal untuk bersaing di pasar negara itu. economics and technology. Second, the study provides conceptualization and measurement of foreign brand admiration and passive brand hate towards local brands. Third, the study provides evidence of the antecedents and the outcomes of these consumer attitudes.

Home country image
From a brand origin perspective, country-of-origin image has been defined as consumers' perception of the country where the brand originates (Yasin, Noor & Mohamad, 2007). Country image reflects how consumers perceive the economic development of a particular country where the global political status and human capital status of that country influence their perception (Herstein, Roger & Jaffe, 2014). A country with strong positions regarding those dimensions will be perceived as powerful and generate advantages for the brands originating from it. Therefore, brands from western-developed countries will enjoy more advantages over brands A country's name is viewed as a brand in the international market (Bruwer & Buller, 2012). A country's strong reputation stimulates that country's positioning and competitiveness in the international market. A brand is a sign of quality and of the level of customer value, risk and trust. A country's name can therefore be an important sign of the quality of the products or brands originating from that country.
Knowing the country of origin of a brand can be the most simple way of evaluating the brand's value and performance. Therefore, the image of the source country plays a great role on consumers evaluation.
The image of the source country in consumers' minds will determine how they perceive the brands.
That image reflects what consumers think and how they feel about the source country. Yasin et al. (2007) found that the image of the country of origin of a brand influences brand perception and consumer attitude towards the brand. Favourable information regarding the source country generates a favourable image of the brand and strong preferences towards that brand.
The credibility of the source country generates a f a v o u r a b l e b r a n d i m a g e ( T h a n a s u t a , Patoomsumawan, Chaimahawong & Chiaravutthi, 2009), meaning that if the source country has a strong, positive reputation, brands from that country will enjoy a favourable image and strong admiration among consumers in developing countries. They tend to be excited by brands from developed countries, which they view as being of higher quality. Previous studies have found a number of reasons why consumers in developing countries admire foreign brands. Foreign brands are viewed as being of better quality than local ones (Herstein et al., 2014), as using more advanced technology and being more fashionable and better designed (Zhou, Yang & Hui, 2010). Foreign brands are associated with strong functional value, enhanced symbolic benefits and a source of identity (Kaufmann, Laureiro, & Manarioti, 2016). Kinra (2006) found that Indian consumers tend to perceive foreign brands as being more reliable and safer than local brands, which are viewed as having low status and esteem.
They also perceive foreign brands as providing the benefits of uniqueness, emotional value, and higher quality (Kumar, Lee, & Kim, 2009), as being luxurious, exclusive, and innovative, and having a better appearance and an upper-class image (Jin, Chansarkar, & Kondap, 2006). The glamourous appearance of foreign brands makes them more admired than local brands (Zhou et al., 2010). This inferiority complex of local consumers in developing countries creates a greater desire to imitate the lifestyle of consumers in developed countries, which includes having and admiring foreign brands.
As in India, foreign brands in Thailand, particularly European brands in the automotive industry, are admired for the luxurious lifestyle they represent (Thanasuta et al., 2009). Therefore, the hypotheses below is proposed: H1. The more favourable the home country image, the weaker the admiration towards foreign brands.

Hedonic value dominance
Hedonic behaviour has been studied mainly in association with shopping experiences both offand online. Thus, dimensions of this construct are more relevant to consumer shopping behaviour.
Nonetheless, the literature shows that hedonic values reflect the emotional or psychological worth of brand purchases; these include joy, fun, playfulness, excitement and escaping everyday activities (Carpenter & Moore, 2009) and are generated by multisensor y experiences and fantasy. Thompson (2011)  Consumer evaluation of hedonic value tends to be more affective and related to non-tangible attributes or brand association (Ryu, Han & Jang, 2010).
Hedonic values stemming from a particular brand can be discussed in terms of the following affective aspects: they can be fun, delightful, thrilling, enjoyable, happy, pleasant, playful, cheerful, amusing and funny (Voss et al., 2003). These include the following three values: social, emotional and epistemic. Social value is obtained in association with social groups, emotional value is a brand's ability to arouse feeling or affective status, and epistemic value is achieved through the experience of consumption (Prebensen & Rosengren, 2016).
Young consumers search for a brand that offers high hedonic values (Noh et al., 2014), as they are hedonic-value seekers of fun, enjoyment, fantasy, playfulness, good feeling, pleasure, excitement and something they like (Prebensen & Rosengren, 2016). Hedonic consumers are viewed as pleasureoriented consumers who are mainly motivated by the desire for pleasure, fantasy and fun (Ryu et al., 2010). They will prefer brands that appear cosmopolitan and modern (Lee, Knight & Kim, 2008). Therefore, hedonic-value consumers who are pleasure-seeking tend to be more open to foreign brands, as these brands are associated with global participation or global citizenship (Pham & Richard, 2015). They will tend to search for foreign brands that make them feel good and provide, joy and pleasure (Kumar et al., 2009).
Foreign brands are associated with status and esteem, which are the emotional values created by the brands (Lee et al., 2008). Therefore, hedonicvalue consumers will admire foreign brands, as they offer emotional value. Foreign brands are hedonic in nature, as they provide gratification value (Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2015). Foreign brands signal hedonic values (Thompson, 2011).
Therefore, hedonic-value seekers will admire foreign brands. Furthermore, Marticotte, Arcand & Baudry (2016) suggested that negative emotion may also exist, although as consumers do not have direct experience, this is not an expression of dissatisfaction. Thus, it is possible to argue that passive brand hate towards local brands increases even without negative experiences of them. They may not like a brand because they perceive it as not offering what they want or are searching for. They simply hate the brand because it is symbolically unappealing (Lee et al., 2008). Local brands will be hated when consumers perceive them to be unable to fulfil their symbolic requirements. Simply, local brands are hated as they do not offer hedonic values.
Hypotheses 2 and 3 are formulated as follows: H2. The greater the hedonic value dominance, the greater the admiration towards foreign brands.
H3. The greater the hedonic value dominance, the greater the passive brand hate towards local brands.

Foreign brand admiration
Brand admiration is an emotional brand association held by consumers (Aaker, Garbinsky & Vohs, 2012).
Similar to the concept of brand love, both constructs indicate positive emotions, which are similar to the ones has towards other people. These consist of a strong affective attachment to the brand. However, they differ fundamentally in terms of consumer experience with the brand. Brand love has been strongly associated with the outcomes of high satisfaction from long-term relationship/experience with a brand. It is a strong emotional experience (Carroll & Ahuvia, 2006). Indeed, this can lead to brand evangelism (Marticotte et al., 2016). Satisfied consumers can be brand lovers. Brand admiration, on the contrary, does not necessarily involve experiences, as consumers may admire a brand or have a great willingness to have/use it, but be unable to buy it due to insufficient income. Thus, brand admiration can be held by consumers who do not necessarily experience satisfaction or perceive the excellence of using the brands. This is the case in developing countries, where consumers admire foreign brands (western brands in particular).
Foreign brand admiration means a positive emotion towards brands originating from other countries, as consumers positively evaluate the brand's ability to fulfil their desires. Consumer perception of foreign brand ability may not always come from their own experience. They admire the brand because they perceive that the brand offers what they really want.
Consumers in developing countries are foreignbrand admirers, as they perceive foreign brands to offer high quality and emotional value. They may not actually be very familiar with the brands, but they already have a favourable perception of their quality (Bhardwaj, Kumar & Kim, 2010). In developing countries, consumers demonstrate a strong admiration for foreign brands, which are perceived to be more reliable and safer than local brands (Kinra, 2006). Foreign brand admiration is stronger because consumers perceive them to offer high prestige, high social status and superior quality (Bhardwaj et al., 2010;). Local culture in developing countries in Asia indicates that appearances are importance in social life; thus, consumers will search for brands that offer symbolic meaning, such as status, prestige and self-image. Moreover, consumers tend to buy brands not for their utility but to save face or secure their reputation (Pham & Richard, 2015). It is also argued that in a high-context culture, brands become a source of identity, as when a consumer admires a brand to achieve social recognition (Kashif, Awang, Walsh, & Altaf, 2015).
Moreover, income disparities are high in those countries, and consumers tend to buy foreign brands as status symbols and to display luxury and prestige. Consumers want foreign brands that signal wealth, status and power (Zhu, Yu & Hu, 2016) to create their own identity (Phau & Leng, 2008). In these countries, this is a growing trend, as foreign brands (particularly western ones) and modern lifestyles are becoming important symbols of global citizenship, and consumers need foreign brands as symbols (Pham & Richard, 2015) or to express a modern self-image (Halkias, Davvetas, & Diamanopoulos, 2015). They require foreign brands for symbolic, status-related reasons and for their high quality (Kumar et al., 2009 (Kumar et al., 2009). When consumers view certain brands as unattractive, they will seek more attractive alternatives. In the consumer-brand relationship, it is possible that when consumers are unhappy with a brand, they will turn to more attractive alternative brands that have more value. Thus, the second direction holds in the study.
Young consumers lack pride in local brands, which are inferior to foreign ones (Zhu et al., 2016), this inferiority complex creates a negative emotion towards local brands, as young local consumers will perceive them as being of low quality and low prestige; moreover, if consumers used them, they would not be socially respected. A study in India indicated that local consumers have an unfavourable perception of local brands and thus have a greater preference towards foreign brands (Bhardwaj et al., 2010).
Passive brand hate deriving from a desire for avoidance can grow stronger over time, and passive brand-haters search for alternative brands, i.e., foreign brands, which they view as more acceptable and attractive; they will maintain their desire for avoidance of local brands (Grégoire, Tripp & Legoux, 2009). Moreover, the desire for foreign brands, particularly from developed countries, results in a greater willingness by consumers to pay higher prices (Thanasuta et al., 2009). When they admire these brands, they are willing to pay higher prices (Srivastava, 2011). In addition, young consumers are considered seekers of distinction in their desire to create a distinct lifestyle, and they are motivated to use brand products in an effort to get their peers to perceive them as cool. They admire brands that make them feel good and are willing to pay premium prices for them (Noh et al., 2014). The next hypotheses are proposed as follows: H4. The greater the passive brand hate towards local brands, the greater the admiration towards foreign brands.

H5. The greater the admiration towards foreign
brands, the greater the willingness to pay more for foreign brands.

Passive brand hate towards local brands
Brand hate is still a new concept. It has been understood as an extreme negative affective element of consumer attitude towards a particular brand. It is the result of negative emotion shown by consumers (Bryson, Atwal & Hulten, 2013). Brand hate can also result from various causes, including issues other than country of brand origin. Brand hate can also take two different forms: active and passive. It can be the result of dissatisfaction and shame and is an extreme form of dislike for a brand (Zarantonello et al., 2016). It is caused by a desire for revenge and/or for avoidance, which lead to different actions (Grégoire et al., 2009). Active brand hate emerges from a strong desire to harm, attack, revenge, punish and destroy hated brands.
Active brand hate involves active attacks, such as a boycott or protest, or influencing other consumers' attitudes towards a brand through negative word of mouth or active involvement in brand opposition.
These are some of the vengeful actions taken by consumers. Therefore, it can be said that active brand hate is derived from consumers' desire for revenge. Meanwhile, passive brand hate results in cutting off relations with or simply avoiding the brand without active confrontation towards it. Furthermore, passive brand hate is the desire to avoid, escape or flee from particular brands.
When consumers simply do not like the idea of having or using a certain brand and tend to avoid it, then passive brand hate is motivated by a desire for avoidance. Thus, this study examines passive brand hate only, since it is unlikely that domestic consumers will boycott or take active/aggressive action towards local brands; thus, they have no intention of taking revenge or of punishing and causing harm to local brands.
Passive brand hate reflects consumer rejection of purchasing or consuming brands due to perceived brand inferiority, feeling of shame, negative experiences or dissatisfaction with those brands.
Feelings of hatred towards a brand negatively determine consumer willingness to pay premium prices (Kashif et al., 2015). Therefore, it is reasonable to say that negative feelings towards local brands drives willingness to pay higher prices for more attractive alternative brands, i.e., foreign brands.
The last hypothesis can be proposed as follows: H6. The greater the passive brand hate towards local brands, the greater the willingness to pay more for foreign brands. In order to avoid framing them, the questionnaire was deliberately structured, with the measurement of willingness to pay more for foreign brands placed first, followed by other constructs, with home country image coming last. All items on the questionnaire were written in Bahasa, Each respondent was asked to rate every statement on the questionnaire from "0 to 10". For the purpose of the study, an electronic product category was chosen, since it has been noted that Indonesian electronic products have an unfavourable product image in the world market (Chu, Chang, Chen & Wang, 2010). This study will reveal how local consumers perceived local brands in this product category. was included since it is the main characteristic of passive hate (Grégoire et al., 2009). Last but not least, willingness to pay more covered four items, namely: "I tend to buy foreign brands, even more expensive, when I need electronic products"; "Although more expensive than local brands, I choose foreign brands"; " Foreign brands deserve to be sold at more expensive prices"; and "High-quality foreign brands are worth selling at a higher price"

Measurement model analysis
Evaluation of validity and reliability of measures was carried out in order to analyse the measurement model, and the results are shown in Appendix.
It reveals that only one item of foreign brand admiration had to be deleted, as it had a loading factor less than the threshold of 0.60 (Chin, 1998), while the others were well above the threshold and were all significant at p<0.05. It also indicates Cronbach's alpha values and composite reliability as being greater than the common cut-off value of 0.70 (Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson & Tatham, 2010). Furthermore, the average variance extracted (AVE) for each construct was calculated, and the results indicated that the values are above the common threshold of .50 (Hair et al., 2010). These indicate reliability and convergent validity of the scales.
In order to carry out the discriminant validity test, the square root of the AVE of each construct was compared to its correlation with the other construct (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). The result is shown in .940; AGFI: .904; TLI: .950; CFI: .962; RMSEA: .067 .

Hypotheses Testing
The structural model analysis was used to carry out hypotheses testing in order to examine the causal relationship among variables. The structural model was tested and also reached a good level of fit, i.e., CMIN/DF: 2.100; p<0.001; GFI: .941; AGFI: .905; TLI: .955; CFI: .966; RMSEA: .066. The results of the hypotheses test are summarised in Table 2   The results indicate that only the last hypothesis is partly supported, while the others are wellsupported by the data. The link between foreign brand admiration to willingness to pay for more is the strongest path. This is followed by link between hedonic value dominance -foreign brand admiration. Hedonic value dominance positively relate to the two emotions, which however the positive emotion have the strongest impact on willingness to pay for more The path between the negative emotion toward willingness to pay for more is partly supported because negative emotion has no significant impact on willingness to pay for more at p < 0.05. It is worth observing, however, the effect could not be definitely ignored or excluded because the path just is significant at p < 0.10. The following discussion analyses the results in greater depth.

Discussion and theoretical implications
The  Furthermore, the stronger the dominance, the stronger the passive brand hate towards local brands. This suggests that as hedonic-value seekers, they will have a strong negative emotion towards local brands and hold an inferior image of them.
Having or using local brands is embarrassing, disappointing and unpleasant, and thus, those brands should be avoided. Moreover, as the results of hypothesis (H4) show, when consumers have a negative emotion towards local brands, they will look for alternatives, i.e., foreign brands. They will admire foreign brands, which are viewed as more attractive, special, modern, luxurious, desirable, adorable, and likeable. They admire foreign brands yet have a rather negative view of local brands.
This supports the findings of Bhardwaj et al. (2010) in India.
Willingness to pay more for foreign brands is greatly affected by the positive emotion. The stronger the foreign brand admiration, the stronger the willingness to pay more for foreign brands.
As foreign brands are perceived to offer more values, it is worth paying higher prices for them.
Accordingly, while young consumers hold a rather negative emotion towards local brands, they may not reluctant to pay more for foreign brands, as they view foreign brands as offering what they cannot receive from local brands. However, the study suggests that foreign brand admiration has a greater impact on willingness to pay more for foreign brands than the negative emotion on local brands, meaning that their willingness is aroused more by their positive impression of foreign brands than by the negative emotion towards or inferior image of local brands.

MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
The findings of the study provide interesting willingness to pay more for brands that they admire.

Limitations and future research
The study has provided evidence of the links between young consumers' negative and positive emotions towards foreign and local brands.
Nonetheless, like most previous empirical studies, this study has several limitations that could provide future research opportunities. The cross-sectional approach limits the development of a stronger conclusion about the interrelations examined.
Qualitative approaches can also be alternatives that would obtain a deeper understanding of the phenomena. In addition, the study only assessed the emotions towards foreign vs local brands in one product category and in a single country; therefore, the conclusions of the current study cannot be generalised to all product categories and countries.
Further studies are required to investigate young consumers' emotions using more varied product categories in various developing countries.