Willing to Pay More to Support the Local Economy and Protect the Environment: How Slovak Consumers Prefer Domestic Products

Research background: Apart from traditional decision-making factors such as brand or quality, consumers have certain purchasing preferences regarding the origin of products. Previous research produced conflicting results in terms of preferences of Slovak consumers for domestic products. Purpose of the article: The aim of the research presented in the paper was to provide insights into the attitudes of Slovak consumers towards purchasing domestic products and examine how demographic attributes affect these attitudes. Methods: To investigate described conflict, we conducted quantitative research in the form of a survey on a representative sample of 1,000 Slovak consumers over 18. Our research also aimed to identify whether the attitudes of Slovak consumers towards purchasing domestic products changes according to their demographics. We were interested in determining whether consumers' opinions statistically significantly differ based on their gender, age, and education. Findings & Value added: The data shows that 75% of Slovak consumers prefer domestic products and 63% of consumers are even willing to pay more for them. The support for Slovak products is stronger by consumers with higher education. We also investigated the reasons for this preference and found that 89% of Slovak consumers believe that they support the local economy by purchasing Slovak products. The results prove that environmental friendliness is also a significant factor contributing to the Slovak consumers' preference for purchasing domestic products.