An Assessment of the consumer ethnocentric scale (CETSCALE): evidences from Brazil

The primary objective of this work is to identify if consumers in Sao Paulo have ethnocentric tendencies. Secondly, the CETSCALE within the Brazilian context is analyzed. The work presents a literature review of the concept of ethnocentrism. A descriptive quantitative methodology was employed and two databases were obtained, one comprised of 275 and another of 200 respondents from the city of Sao Paulo. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire with closed questions. The main findings refer to moderately ethnocentric samples – when compared with studies carried out in other countries – in all of the related demographic variables. Analyses indicated that there are differences between the level of consumers’ ethnocentrism when they are segregated into groups by age and different economic classes. The lowest socio-economic classes are significantly more ethnocentric than the upper socio-economic class. Among the lower classes the older people have the highest scores for ethnocentrism. Concluding remarks are presented, with some implications and recommendations for future research.