PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Ann-Mattia Healy

Industrial/Organizational
May 1993
 

Consumer Response to Dissatisfaction: The Effects of Ethnicity on Consumer Response Behavior

    The purpose of this study was to research ethnic differences that college students may have in responding to dissatisfying consumer situations.  The independent variable is the subjects’ ethnicity, Hispanic or European-American.  The dependent variables will be the subject’s behavioral intentions: The likelihood that they will respond to a dissatisfying consumer experience by using voice, retaliation or exit behaviors.  It is expected that there will be differences in the response patterns of the two groups due to the Hispanic cultural script of simpatia, which is an avoidance, or dislike of negative behaviors.

    The subjects were 100 male and female volunteers form a large western university, who were identified as Hispanic and European-American.  Analysis of variance was made for the subjects’ behavioral intentions and the subjects’ ethnicity.
    It was found that Hispanics were more likely to report intentions that entailed an avoidance of the negative situation or behavior.  This study demonstrates that there are differences between consumer reactions to dissatisfaction based on ethnicity.

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