The concept of globalization is a phenomenon that both industry and academia have been working on for many years. One of its main drivers is the ease of trade that has emerged between countries with the flexibility of tariff barriers. However, as noted by Baber et al. (2022), non-tariff barriers must also be considered by traders. Additionally, consumer sentiments are a key factor in understanding purchasing behaviour, as highlighted by Thoumrungroje et al. (2024). Ethnocentric and xenocentric consumer tendencies can be considered as non-tariff barriers that influence consumer behaviour. Therefore, exploring these concepts in greater depth are essential for understanding and developing new international trade strategies.

Xenocentric studies are relatively recent, even though the concept was originally proposed by Kent and Burnight (1951) within the field of sociology. It was not until decades later that it began to be applied in business-related studies, particularly with the addition of the term consumer, giving rise to the notion of consumer xenocentrism (C-XEN). In practice, it could be taken both concepts: XEN and C-XEN, as equivalent. Over the years, this concept has been defined by various authors, and it can be broadly understood as follows: XEN refers to the preference of a foreign or foreign culture over the local or own, for its part, C-XEN is the preference of foreign products over local ones as reference to Baber et al (2022), Balabanis and Diamantopoulos (2016), Rojas-Mendez and Chapa (2020). These authors also highlight the limited attention that C-XEN has received in academic research, thus laying important groundwork for future studies in this area.

According to Hernandez et al. (2014), an important milestone in the development and deepening of administrative theories is the creation of validated tools that can be replicated across various research environments, an example of which are Likert-type scales that help researchers to determine the level of reaction of subjects to different statements or judgments of respondents. In this context, one of the first authors to propose a scale of this type and to be able to measure the C-XEN were Balabanis & Diamantopoulos (2016), who developed the C-XENSCALE, which in later years would be redesigned by Rojas-Méndez and Chapa (2020), for the use of this scale focused on developing countries, renamed X-Scale.

Numerous empirical studies have been conducted on consumer xenocentrism C-XEN, characterized by holding the phenomenon from different perspectives. However, few have approached the concept from a theoretical standpoint beyond the development of a contextual or conceptual framework. In their study, Jiang and Christian (2022) propose a theoretical framework in which the background of C-XEN is recorded, although there is no evidence of research related to the Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method, which helps for different purposes such as orientation to researchers, evaluation of proposed theories, definition of methodologies, among other functionalities as noted by Riaño-Casallas and Rojas-Berrio (2023). Likewise, no bibliometric studies have been conducted to quantitatively examine the evolution of the theory through citation analysis, co-citation, co-occurrence, among other important data in the analysis of previous research, can be quantitatively determined.

Therefore, the authors consider this study a first attempt to academically map C-XEN through bibliometric analysis, providing a guide for future research and addressing the following research questions:

Q1: What is the theoretical basis for C-XEN research?

Q2: What do current research topics illustrate about C-XEN?

Q3: Which publications, authors, journals, and institutions have been most influential in C-XEN research?

Q4: What theories and concepts associated with C-XEN could be explored in future studies?

Building upon the bibliometric insights, future research should proactively explore the dynamic interplay between consumer xenocentrism (C-XEN) and the evolving global marketplace. This includes examining how factors such as technological advancements, geopolitical shifts, and socio-cultural trends influence the intensity and manifestations of C-XEN across diverse consumer segments. Moreover, scholars should consider developing novel theoretical frameworks that integrate emerging constructs like digital cosmopolitanism and hybrid identities to provide a more nuanced understanding of consumer behavior in an increasingly interconnected world.

By addressing these research gaps, the academic community can enhance both the predictive validity and practical relevance of C-XEN theory for academics and practitioners. With this in mind, the present study conducts a quantitative and systematic analysis of C-XEN research published in journals of relevance to business and marketing with the intention of answering the research questions. The study employs a bibliometric approach, combining various types of analysis to identify key developments and trends in the field.

The theoretical underpinnings of C-XEN are grounded in consumer behavior and system justification theory. In-group/out-group biases derived from social identity thery (Hogg & Abrams, 1990), shape xenocentric preferences. Furthermore, role of system justification motives, the desire to defend the status quo (Jost, Banaji, & Nosek, 2004), also play a role in influencing consumer biases toward or against foreign products. These well-established theoretical frameworks enrich the understanding of C-XEN by offering insights into the psychological drivers behind international consumer behavior.

Xenocentrism (XEN) as a concept predates consumer xenocentrism (C-XEN). Similarly, ethnocentrism (ETH) and consumer ethnocentrism (CET) are closely related components that have been studied even in a more specialized way than XEN. According to Baber et al. (2022), the literature describes CET as a lens through which individuals raise moral concerns regarding foreign versus local products —a perspective that can similarly beapplied to the study of C-XEN. Given that both XEN and ETH were introduced within the field of sociology, it is reasonable—following the argument of Shimp and Sharma (1987)—to view C-XEN as a subcategory of XEN.

Gaur et al. (2015) were among the first to formally address C-XEN. In their research, they emphasize the attention marketing and international business studies have given to cultural constructs and orientation. However, they also note that these constructs have rarely been connected to consumer biases toward international products. It is within this gap that the importance of C-XEN emerges —as a mediating variable in the study of consumer biases.

To date, only two articles have examined the C-XEN phenomenon in depth, and neither includes a bibliometric analysis. Gaur et al. (2015), through a literature review, identify key antecedents such as country of origin, purchase intentions and cultural orientation that they divide between CET and C-XEN, conspicuous consumption and finally the national characteristics of consumers. In this sense, these authors work on different variables, but with regard to C-XEN they make an interesting analysis reflecting different conclusions reached by authors up to that moment such as definitions, how the field has been studied and reasons for the low publication of XEN articles with respect to ETH as an important analysis of worldwide business impacts on the phenomenon.

On the other hand, Jiang and Christian (2022) propose a conceptual article that outlines a theoretical framework for understanding C-XEN, however, their writing and argumentation as well as the research of Gaur et al. (2015) lacks a deep and standardized SLR or an adequate bibliometric analysis for the identification of research patterns.

Bibliometric analysis is essential for understanding the production and impact of scientific research on a given topic through academic publications. This quantitative technique employs mathematical and statistical methods to identify patterns and generate indicators — such as the number of citations per author or institution — as noted by Al-Jamimi et al. (2022) and Pritchard (1969). The analysis of these patterns provides valuable insights into disciplinary development and facilitates the identification of emerging research areas.

The importance of generating bibliometric analyses is based on the ability to guide decision-making when choosing a research topic on which a researcher can focus his resources on topics and areas of interest, which in turn are relevant in scientific production. According to Baber et al. (2022), the most commonly used techniques in bibliometric analysis are co-authorship, co-occurrence and citation-based analysis.

Citation-based analysis is further subdivided into co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling. Small (1973) defines co-citation as the occurrence of two publications being cited together in a third article. Co-citation analysis is important as it gives us valuable information and understanding about the collective knowledge being conducted and in turn the structure of scientific research taking place in the period as reference to Culnan (1986), Köseoglu et al. (2015) and Small (1973). This is just done, an example of co-citation where three references are mentioned together from authors presenting the same argument or statement.

However, co-citation analysis falls short of providing an adequate outline of the research topics covered in the research, for this the co-occurrence analysis is then implemented, this focuses on the co-occurrence of keywords, in other words, the frequency of occurrence of a keyword in two or more articles or publications (Bichteler & Eaton, 1980). This type of analysis is often used to research areas in the domain. An observation made to this analysis is the ambiguity of the results compared over time, due to the presence of change and evolution of terms and concepts, since the keywords used one year ago or decades ago are not the same.

As highlighted by Chang et al. (2015), combining of expensive approaches is recommended to obtain better results in identifying the type of research developed in specific fields, it is then that Leung et al. (2017) identify that the use of both analyses (co-citation and co-occurrence) in the same study generates better results.

The search for articles was based on methodologies outlined by Baber et al (2022), Riaño-Casallas and Rojas-Berrio (2023), Taramuel-Taramuel et al. (2023). The process was carried out in four stages:

(1) Database search.

(2) Language verification.

(3) Removal of duplicate documents.

(4) Academic and thematic filtering.

Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were selected as the primary databases due to their wide coverage of indexed publications. Articles from all available periods up to February 2025 were considered. In this first stage, 48 documents were retrieved from WoS and 53 from Scopus, resulting in a total of 101 documents. The keyword xenocentrism was used, and the filtering criteria required its presence in title, abstract or keywords of the document.

In the second stage, language verification was conducted. All retrieved documents were in English; therefore, no articles were excluded at this step.

The third stage, involved the identification and removal of duplicate documents, which reduced the dataset by 39 items, leaving 62 unique documents for analysis.

In the final stage, academic and thematic filtering was applied. Each document was reviewed to confirm its relevance to the fields of business management, marketing, consumer behavior, and international marketing. This assessment was on the abstracts of the articles. A total of 13 articles were excluded during this phase.

After excluding 42 documents from the initial 101, 49 articles remained and were included for bibliometric review. These 49 articles, published across 31 journals, were deemed directly related to C-XEN (see Table 1) and were selected for further analysis.

Table 1. Number of selected journal articles.

This selection process, including the inclusion and exclusion criteria, as well as the details of articles selected for analysis, is summarized in (Figure 1). The methodology for making corrections, coding and downloading the database was supported by the use of Rayyan software, which facilitated the review of author names— often written in different formats—and the review of abstracts to assess the relevance of each document. Followed by a final process of data cleaning in Excel for subsequent analysis in combination with the use of pivot tables and the use of VOSviewer.

Figure 1. Article selection process.

The data analysis was carried out in three main steps:

This study conducted a bibliometric analysis and literature review on consumer xenocentrism (C-XEN), using a mapping techniques to identify patterns in scientific production between 2015 and February 2025. The analysis enabled the authors to answer the four proposed research questions and to draw the following conclusions:

• The number of publications on C-XEN has shown an upward trend over the last decade (Figure 1) with the exception in 2016 and 2021.

• The relevant topics identified through keyword analysis show that the main themes of C-XEN were cultural behaviours, brand behaviours, globalization and business applications.

• The most cited journals on C-XEN were the Journal of International Marketing (155 citations), followed by the International Marketing Review (83) and the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics (52).

• The countries and institutions that have published the most on C-XEN are the Department of Marketing and International Business at the University of Vienna (Austria), the Department of Marketing at Southern Connecticut State University (United States), the School of Business Management at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics and the School of Sports Business at Beijing Sports University (both in China), and the School of Management at the University of Economics (Vietnam).

• The most relevant authors for C-XEN are Cleveland, Prince, and Rojas-Mendez.

• The most influential articles in C-XEN research are:

o (1) Consumer xenocentrism as determinant of foreign product preference: A system justification perspective, (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016);

o (2) Here, there and everywhere: A study of consumer centrism (Prince et al, 2016);

o (3) Consumer xenocentrism in China: An exploratory study (Mueller et al, 2016).

• C-XEN is related to System Justification Theory: (Sharma et al., 1995; Jost et al., 2004); ETH Cultural Theories, Cosmopolitanism: (Balabanis & Diamantopoulos, 2016; Muelleret et al, 2016), and Disidentification Theory: (Cleveland & Balakrishnan, 2019).

• The origins of XEN can be traced back to ETH studies, as it has been extensively studied for several decades back according to Baber et al. (2022). Early studies (2015-2016) were crucial in proposing a theoretical oundation based on cultural orientation and its influence on consumer preferences for foreign products (e.g., Gaur et al., 2015; Mueller et al., 2016).

Similarly, this period became crucial for the development of the first C-XEN measurement tool, in which Balabanis & Diamantopoulos (2016) present the C-XENSCALE to measure consumers' xenocentric tendencies. During the following years, the appearance of literature related to the realization of empirical studies is highlighted, among which the use of the C-XENSCALE tool is highlighted mainly in countries such as Mexico, United States, and Canada, for the year 2019 begins to investigate the phenomenon of C-XEN in which Arora et al. (2019) conduct a study comparing developed economies (United States and Italy) and emerging economies (China, India, Colombia, Brazil, and Malaysia). The latter economies have been the focus of attention as different authors have conducted their research in the latter types of economies as reference to Mueller et al. (2016). This was enhanced by Rojas-Mendez and Chapa (2020) who adapted the C-XENSCALE to be used in emerging economies.

Following the completion of this bibliometric analysis, the authors affirm the following contribution of this study: C-XEN has emerged as a topic of growing academic interest, particularly among researchers dedicated to marketing, international marketing and consumer behavior, without neglecting the importance that the role of globalization has every day in the connection of cultures at a global level and the trend that is developing of a cosmopolitan thinking due to this.

The different contexts that can affect xenocentric consumer behavior, such as culture, economy, ethnicity, patriotism, among other factors mentioned by the researchers, should be examined. It would be interesting to review the post-pandemic results that have boosted technological adaptation and appropriation of technologies in communication and exchange of ideologies through networks.

Moreover, the development and integration of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data should be taken advantage of for the empowerment of results and not to leave aside those qualitative tools that can generate profound results in the rational understanding of cultural studies.

The present research has certain limitations, one of which is the temporality scope of the study, for 10 years of review can be considered relatively short for consolidating a field of knowledge. Therefore, the study of C-XEN should be considered an evolving area of research considering the strength of globalization trends and cultural exchanges.

Nonetheless,this article contributes meaningfully to the development of theories and serves as a foundation for future research. Due to the emerging nature of the field, some of the identified clusters may appear biased or insufficiently differentiated. For this reason, it is recommended that bibliometric analyses be periodically updated to monitor the evolution of XEN and better understand the dynamics of the C-XEN phenomenon over time.

The article presents certain biases related to keyword classification, which is to be expected n a field that is still consolidating its terminology. Future research should take into account the need to conduct systematic literature reviews (SLRs), as well as to apply techniques for identifying and classifying patterns in the research topics, for example, the type of industry or types of products to be compared and analysed that the authors propose in their empirical research.

This article investigates the field of consumer xenocentrism (C-XEN) by means of a bibliometric analysis. According to this analysis the production of xenocentrism (XEN) articles has been increasing since its first publications. The studies comprised in the years 2015-2016 are characterized by being the theoretical basis for empirical and applied research on the concept evidenced in the publications between the years 2017 to 2025 (February), without leaving behind the development of measurement tools as was the XENSCALE or X-Scale.

The countries that have done the most research on the phenomenon are China, United States, Austria and Vietnam. The emphasis of most of the research has been concentrated on industry-level studies, i.e. specific brands are not mentioned, but a specific type of industry is mentioned. Considering keyword analysis, the main variables to study with XEN are ETH, cosmopolitanism, purchase intention and other variables that can be related to the field of decision making or cultural factors. As research in the field progresses, this article provides a timely bibliometric review on XEN and C-XEN.

The escalating trend in C-XEN research underscores the increasing relevance of cultural factors in shaping consumer preferences, particularly amidst intensifying globalizations. These finding highlight the imperative for multinational corporations to craft culturally sensitive marketing strategies that navigate xenocentric tendencies effectively.

By understanding how consumers' cultural orientations influence their attitudes towards foreign products, businesses can adapt their offerings and communications to foster positive brand perceptions and enhance market penetration in diverse cultural contexts. This requires a move away from standardized global campaigns towards localized approaches that resonate with the specific values and beliefs of target markets.

The authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.