[Podcast] Social Media Engagement and International Brand Purchase Intention: The Role of International Brand Reviews and Ethnocentrism
4 October, 2024
Keywords: Social media engagement, purchase intention, product reviews, ethnocentrism, international brand products, digital marketing
With the explosive development of the Internet and modern technology, social media is becoming increasingly popular and used with high frequency around the world, including Vietnam. Consumers use social media as not only a communication tool but also a business and shopping environment. However, a question has arisen: “Do domestic consumers’ shopping behavior tend to favor international products when they use social media?”. In the current study, the author from University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) pointed out that participating in social networks will have an impact on consumers’ intention to buy international products, the mediating role of products brand product reviews, and the moderation of ethnocentrism.

In the context of globalization and the explosion of social networks, consumers are increasingly accessing foreign brands from many different countries. Shopping is no longer restricted by geography, and consumers can easily search, choose and buy from international brands through digital platforms. However, besides this convenience, a number of other factors affect consumers’ intention to buy, especially social media interaction and ethnocentrism – a concept that describes pride and preference for domestic products over international products.
What factors influence consumers’ intention to purchase international brand products? This study delves into the role of international brand product reviews on social networks and ethnocentrism, thereby, providing an overview of how these factors influence consumers’ intention to purchase international products.
Social Network Engagement and Consumers’ Intention to Purchase International Brand Products
First of all, Consumer Engagement is defined as repeated interactions that increase the emotional, psychological or investment effort of customers in a product or a brand.
Social Network Engagement is an extended concept of customer engagement. It is the cognitive, emotional and behavioral investment in social networks. Social Network Engagement includes 3 different aspects: (1) Enthusiasm is the feeling of excitement when using social networks; (2) Conscious participation is the investment of cognitive efforts in using social networks; (3) Social interaction is the behavior of consumers participating in interactions with friends on social networks.
The higher the level of social network engagement, the more users invest time, spirit and effort in using social networks.
International brand products are understood as products and brands owned or produced by an international company, named by that brand, and having ownership of that product and brand.
Only when users participate in interaction and engagement on social networks, will they form an intention to buy international brand products for the following reasons:
- First, consumers can easily access information regarding international brand products on social networks;
- Second, consumers have many friends on social networks. With a wide network of friends, easy access and influence by word-of-mouth effects about international brand products;
- Third, consumers are often exposed to advertising and marketing information regarding different international brand products on social networks.
These reasons help consumers better understand international brand products, making it easier for them to make their own assessments and feelings when participating in social networking and easily forming international purchasing intentions.
Reviews of international brand products and the regulation of ethnocentrism
*Reviews of international brand products
Product reviews play an important role in shaping consumers’ attitudes towards international brand products. Positive reviews can increase trust and convince consumers regarding the quality and value of the product. On the contrary, negative reviews will lead to product rejection even though consumers had previously intended to buy.
When consumers need to evaluate a product or brand, they will look for information on media, especially social networks, and base their reviews and purchase decisions on the information about quantity and quality. In Vietnam, the majority of consumers tend to buy international goods and have an international-oriented mentality and a preference for buying international goods, which will have an impact on the perception and reviews of domestic consumers, thereby affecting their purchasing behavior.
Although international brand product reviews plays a positive mediating role in the relationship between social network engagement and international product purchase intention, Vietnamese consumers’ ethnocentrism will negatively impact their attitudes and purchasing behavior towards international products and brands.
*Moderation of ethnocentrism
Ethnocentrism is defined as “…the view that their group is the center of everything, all other groups are secondary and are evaluated based on them… Each group takes pride in itself, considers itself superior, and even deifies the ego and despises outsiders”.
From that perspective, Consumer Ethnocentrism (CE) tends to discriminate highly between domestic and international brand products, be more likely to buy domestic products and often avoid buying international brand products. Therefore, consumer ethnocentrism will affect consumers’ perceptions, feelings, attitudes and purchasing behavior towards products with international or domestic elements.
The results of the research analysis show that participating in using social networks will not directly lead to the intention to purchase imported products. Instead, the connection between them is connected by the process of reviewing and evaluating imported products by consumers. Specifically, domestic consumers, using social networks, will easily search for and understand information regarding a brand or product of an international company. Moreover, the popularity of digital marketing and advertising provides a great deal of useful information for domestic consumers to easily access and familiarize themselves with international brands and products. Therefore, they will have the opportunity to evaluate and to compare with domestic products, thereby making a decision concerning the weakness of domestic products with the mentality of biasing international goods, and consumers will form the intention to buy imported products.
In this case, the reviews of international brand products and ethnocentrism are two factors that operate in opposite mechanisms, positively and negatively interacting to lead to consumers’ intention to buy international brand products when they participate in social networking. However, the above relationships and mechanisms have not been studied and validated in previous studies, especially in the current context of social networks in developing countries like Vietnam.
In terms of Vietnamese shopping and consumption culture, imported products are receiving more favor from consumers than domestic products in terms of quality and feelings. In particular, the younger generation has a lot of knowledge related to technology; therefore, they use the internet and social networking sites to search, exchange and receive information conerning the quality of the products they intend to buy.
However, Vietnamese people often have a tradition of patriotism and high national spirit, which leads to certain contradictions when consumers decide to buy imported products. The fact that ethnocentrism will reduce the reviews and intention to buy imported products indicates that national spirit and patriotism also partly restrain the shopping behavior of domestic consumers for international products.
Therefore, when participating in using social networking, Vietnamese consumers with high ethnocentrism will influence their perceptions, attitudes and behaviors, negatively affecting the reviews of international brand products while also reducing their intention to buy international products.
Policy implications and solutions affecting consumers’ purchase intention and reviews of international branded products, along with the regulation of ethnocentrism
The research results provide domestic and international business managers insights and strategies to influence the consumption behavior of social network users in Vietnam. If international business managers only seek to increase consumers’ use of social networks, they may not necessarily have the intention to purchase imported products. Instead, business managers and marketers need to find ways to make consumers evaluate products accurately, thereby increasing their purchase intention.
For international businesses, it is necessary to use different strategies to provide consumers with sufficient information and knowledge, and encourage consumers to compare international-branded products to increase their awareness and purchase intention. On the contrary, for domestic enterprises, the impact of ethnocentrism on domestic consumers should be considered when promoting ethnocentrism and nationalism. Domestic enterprises will reduce consumers’ awareness and purchase intention for imported products.
Therefore, the impact of social networks and international brand purchase intention not only helps international brands better understand consumer behavior but also provides practical solutions to penetrate and develop in new markets. In particular, understanding and effectively managing product reviews and the impact of ethnocentrism will help international brands build trust and increase competitiveness in the global market.
The full-text article on Social Media Engagement and International Brand Purchase Intention: The Role of International Brand Reviews and Ethnocentrism can be accessed HERE.
Authors: Dr. Dang Van Thac, Dr. Do Thi Hai Ninh – University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City.
This article is part of the series spreading research and applied knowledge from UEH with the message “Research Contribution For All”. UEH respectfully invites readers to watch the next UEH Research Insights issue.
News, photos: The Authors, UEH Department of Communication and Partnerships

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