"Does Consumer Animosity Impact Purchase Involvement? An Empirical Investigation"
Dr. Villy Abraham

Abstract
A large body of research demonstrates that purchase involvement and consumer animosity are predictors of consumer behavior. Previous research suggests that consumer animosity may impact purchase involvement. However, the possible relationship between purchase involvement and economic animosity has not been investigated in past research. The objective of this experimental pilot study is to explore whether economic animosity has an effect on purchase involvement. The mall-intercept method was employed to collect data from 100 Israeli consumers. Consumer animosity was manipulated with a statement about the trade relations between two countries, namely, Israel and Germany. 50 consumers were assigned to an experimental group (negative statement) and 50 were assigned to a control group (positive statement). The findings of the study suggest that consumers that animosity is likely to increase purchase involvement. It is apparent that because of the sensitivity of the issue to certain parts of the population, even social campaigns using scenes from movies about Hitler, for example, can be traumatic to Holocaust survivors. Therefore, governments around the globe should establish bodies empowered to penalize websites or TV stations that violate laws aimed at protecting sensitive populations such as Holocaust survivors.

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