Consumer perceived risk in gray market: A cross-cultural study between Thai and Mexican consumers

The problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between Thai and Mexican consumers in their evaluations of perceived risks for gray market products including apparel and consumer electronics. This study indicated that components of perceived risk are most related to the evaluation to purchase such gray market products. Moreover, it identified the significant differences which exist between Thai and Mexican consumers in their evaluation of perceived risks.;Method. The data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire distributed to respondents in two countries--Thailand and Mexico. A total of 371 usable responses were obtained from Thai residents and 410 usable responses were collected from Mexican residents.;Students' t-tests and one-way ANOVA were used to identify the significant mean differences between the responses of the consumers of the two countries. ANCOVA, MANOVA and MANCOVA were used to extend the result of group differences. Discriminant analysis was used to establish group predictors. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to describe the relationships of the variables to one another. Multiple regression analysis was used to explore the relative importance of the independent variables in predicting the dependent variables in this study. Canonical correlation was also used to extend the result of multiple regression analysis. In addition, factor analyses were utilized to identify the underlying factors that could explain the correlation between a set of variables and help to establish validity of the present study. Its purposes was to summarize a large number of variables with a smaller number of factors. In addition, the results of factor analysis were used in path analysis for investigating the research model.;Results. Consumer perceived risks were differently related to Thai and Mexican consumers' purchase evaluations for gray market products in terms of components of perceived risk, perceived product attribute on apparel and consumer electronics in gray market. Thai consumers purchased gray market products more than Mexican consumers did. Both Thai and Mexican consumers perceived more risk in gray market products than in authorized products. Mexican consumers perceived higher level of risk than Thai consumers did for both apparel and consumer electronic products. The study showed the weak relationships between perceived risk and demographic variables. Self-confident was highly correlated to perceived risk. Overall perceived risk was not directly related to purchase proportion because there were other factors in between such as product attribute, psychographic and demographic variables. Path analysis established the overall relationship among those variables.