Consumer Ethnocentrism: Gulf Coast Shrimp

Consumer Ethnocentrism: Gulf Coast Shrimp

Introduction This research has been done based on the effects of the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, nearly three years later. Students in an International Business course at the University of Southern Mississippi were asked to survey at least twelve people each to obtain data concerning the consumer ethnocentrism of local coast shrimp versus imported shrimp. The surveys were taken at random, and the survey participants were of different age groups, locations, and life cycles. The major change along the gulf coast business environment was caused by the leaking of oil into the ocean. States including Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, and etcetera suffered greatly on an economic and
36). According to Spillan and Harcar (2012), consumer ethnocentrism is a sense of identity or feeling of belonging to the individual. This is the case with the people of the gulf coast and the buying o of local shrimp. The seafood, tourism, and coastal lifestyle are an identity to the people of the Gulf of Mexico. It is simply part of who they are. As stated by Spillan and Harcar (2012), “It relates to the understanding of what purchase behavior is acceptable or unacceptable within the group,”
The research done by the students at the University of Southern Mississippi shows that during this tragic time, the people of the Gulf Coast were supported by many due to the continuous purchases of local shrimp. Most consumers concluded in their surveys that buying imported shrimp was in a way unpatriotic because it hurts the Gulf Coast economy. Ethnocentrism is highly present in the sales of local shrimp. As stated by Lambert, Duhon, and Peyrefitte (2012), “it is not yet known if plans need to be made to offer substitutes for the local shrimp, or even if the customary shrimp consumers will maintain historical purchasing patterns if the shrimp to which they are accustomed, and to which they have developed a strong loyalty over generations of family tradition, remain available,” (p.238). It is evident from our research that a substitute need not be offered. When fresh, local shrimp is available, most consumers choose that over imported shrimp. The ethnocentric consumers of the Gulf Coast have mostly remained the same in their purchasing traditions, if not more, due to the loyalty they have to their traditions and