National identityand NATID

637

International Marketing ReviewVol 19 No 6 2002 pp 637-662 MCB UP Limited 0265-1335

DOI 10110802651330210451953

Received September2000

Revised September 2001Accepted November

2001

National identity and NATIDAn assessment in YemenCharles Chi Cui and Edward I Adams

Manchester School of Management UMIST Manchester UK

Keywords National cultures International marketing Culture Consumer behaviour Yemen

Abstract The national identity scale (NATID) was recently reported in the literature foridentifying the core elements that define the uniqueness of a given culture or nation in so far as theirassociation with marketing is concerned This study examined the conceptual strengths and empiricallimitations of NATID and assessed the relevance of the national identity construct in YemenConfirmatory factor analysis of the data from a sample of 208 Yemeni respondents revealed that theNATID scale did not fit the Yemeni data Modification of the scale was made through exploratoryand confirmatory factor analyses which resulted in four dimensions in two alternative modelssimilar to NATID Results from the second-order confirmatory factor analysis of the two alternativemodels supported NATIDrsquos multi-dimensionality of the national identity construct in the Yemenicontext Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted

IntroductionWhile increased international communication and erosion of traditional valuesin many countries appear to facilitate homogeneity in some key culturaldimensions (Walters 1996) nationalism is still seen to continue to hinder freetrade and the acceptance of foreign firms (Erramilli 1996 Samiee 1994) andthe worldwide massive waves of migration consumer mobility changingpatterns of interpersonal and socio-cultural communication and marketersrsquoimpact on consumer behaviour have resulted in the cultural influences onconsumer behaviour being in a state of constant flux (Douglas and Craig 1997)In the light of such complexities it is argued that traditional context variablesor cultural dimensions (Poortinga and Van de Vijver 1987) that are used torefer to culture-level phenomena have become inadequate for understandingthe complex impact of cultures on consumer behaviour in todayrsquos worldmarketplace In this respect Keillor et alrsquos (1996) conceptualisation of theconstruct of national identity and the national identity measurement scale(NATID) have provided a new perspective to highlight the unique ` corersquorsquo traitsthat a culture recognises as setting it apart from others (Clark 1990 Keillor andHult 1999) across a broad range of religious historical cultural and socialphenomena

However Keillor et alrsquos studies (1996 1999) have several empiricallimitations (see the section ` A critical reviewrsquorsquo for details) that reflect theirexploratory character These limitations indicate that NATID is incomplete inits original form for application and the weaknesses in their empirical groundthreaten the generalizability of the results and applicability of the NATID

T h e r e s e a r c h r e g is te r fo r th is jo u r n a l is a v a i la b le a t

httpwwwemeraldinsightcomresearchregisters

T h e c u r r e n t i s s u e a n d fu l l t e x t a r c h iv e o f th is jo u rn a l i s a v a ila b le a t

httpwwwemeraldinsightcom0265-1335htm

This paper is derived from the work supported by the ESRC Quota Scholarship to the secondauthor

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Hence further tests and possible amendments of the scale are warranted forcomplementing its conceptual substantiveness and applicability to differentcultural contexts The present study addresses some of these limitations basedon substantive and methodological considerations It complements theconceptualisation of national identity by referring to current theories in thecross-cultural marketing research literature It assesses the relevance of thenational identity construct in Yemen through testing NATID and exploring anational identity scale with data from a Yemeni sample It also assesses themultidimensionality of the national identity construct through the second-orderconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA) Yemen was chosen as the research settingbecause it is typical of many Islamic countries in the Middle East where it isimportant to assess the relevance of the constructs (Douglas and Craig 1997) inNATID and testing of NATID is considered necessary (Keillor et al 19961999)

National identity and NATIDNational identity is defined as the extent to which a given culture recognisesand identifies with a set of focal elements (ie ` cultural focusrsquorsquo or ` corersquorsquo traits)that set it apart from other cultures by exhibiting greater complexity andvariation in the institutions of those aspects than others (Clark 1990Herskovits 1948 Huntington 1997 Keillor et al 1996) It is conceptualised as amulti-dimensional construct reflected in four latent constructs (nationalheritage cultural homogeneity belief system and consumer ethnocentrism)measured by a 17-item national identity scale called ` NATIDrsquorsquo (Keillor et al1996 1999)

According to Keillor et al (1996 1999) national heritage is defined in termsof the importance to historical figures and events in the history which isregarded to reflect a given culturersquos sense of their own unique history(Huntington 1997) The differing histories and events associated withindividual nations may produce differing national heritage as a characteristicof national identities Cultural homogeneity is closely related to nationalheritage Owing to the hypothesised inverse relationship of the number ofsubcultures within a given set of national boundaries to the ` strengthrsquorsquo ofnational identity this construct characterises the sense of cultural uniquenessin the context of the national heritage The belief system reflects the degree towhich individual beliefs in a religious sense play a role in facilitating individualcultural participation and solidarity As one of the focal elements of nationalidentity the belief system is associated with the marketing environment in thatdifferences in emphases placed on this aspect within a culture can affect themoral reasoning process in a marketing ethics context and result incross-cultural differences (Husted et al 1996) The fourth dimension measuresconsumer ethnocentrism the tendency that individuals or societies have tomake evaluations and attributions using their own cultural perspectives as thebase line criteria (Shimp and Sharma 1987) This element is viewed as a meansof accounting for the importance placed on maintaining culturally-centred

National identityand NATID

639

values and behaviours (Keillor and Hult 1999) Research has pointed out thatsome of the most important antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism relatedirectly to national identity and characteristics associated with a sense ofnational identity (such as patriotism ethnocentrism nationalism and a sense ofhomogeneity) are viewed as significant in explaining the existence of consumerethnocentric tendencies (eg Sharma et al 1995)

A critical reviewThe conceptualisation of the national identity construct has contributed toadvancing a useful conceptual framework and NATID represents a valuableeffort in developing an empirically sound measurement of national identity onwhich a more generalizable understanding of the international marketenvironment can be constructed The main strength of the construct of nationalidentity and NATID may be viewed in terms of minimising the relevantdistinction between ` culturersquorsquo and ` nationrsquorsquo (Keillor et al 1996) as well asavoiding ambiguity between the two concepts which tend to exhibitoperational limits when traditional context variables are used (for example onmany occasions nationality is used as a variable for classifying culturallydifferent groups)

An important issue relevant to NATID is associated with developing ` a clearoperational definition of the unit of analysis which is free from the potentialconfounds arising from the multi-faceted and complex nature of macro-culturalinfluences and the cultural context in which the unit is studiedrsquorsquo (Douglas andCraig 1997) One proposed solution is to use a ` culti-unitrsquorsquo (Naroll 1970) that is` defined in terms of the racial ethnic demographic or socio-economiccharacteristics or specific interests (eg ecologically concerned consumers) ofits members which provide a common bond and establish a common ethnic acore of shared ` memories myths values and symbols woven together andsustained in popular consciousnessrsquorsquo (Featherston 1990 Douglas and Craig1997) While to date there have not been any reported studies thatoperationalize the culti-unit approach in cross-cultural consumer research aclose review of Keillor et alrsquos conceptualisation of national identity suggeststhat what this concept is intended to capture in a marketing sense falls into thedomain of Douglas and Craigrsquos (1997) conceptual framework

A culti-unit is characterised by its members sharing a common ethnic coreNational identity is defined as consisting of a set of focal elements (` culturalfocusrsquorsquo or ` corersquorsquo traits) that set a nation or a group (including sub-culturalgroups) apart from others by exhibiting greater complexity and variation in theinstitutions of those aspects than others These focal elements logically fall intothe domain of an ethnic core which can be used to discern and contrast the keyphenomena from the collage of the global community from the marketingconsumer behaviour perspective Keillor et alrsquos stand is based on the premisethat the elements that characterise a nationrsquos identity are also the componentsthat serve to tie sub-cultures together within national boundaries In this

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640

respect it can be argued that national identity should be regarded as aconstruct at the same level with culture and nationality

Several issues arise for attention from substantive and methodologicalviewpoints When the primary focus in studying cross-national consumerbehaviour is on examining the role of cultural factors it is important that thenation under study represents a relatively homogenous entity (Douglas andCraig 1997) Two important issues need to be considered here The first isregarded in terms of what (ie in what dimensions) a nation represented as arelatively homogeneous entity in a marketing sense For instance consumers ofone nationality may reside in another nation and within one nationality theremay be different sub-cultural groups of consumers As another example somepeople were born and went to school in one country but received highereducation and live the rest of their lives in another country In such situationsthe conventional demographic variables may not be appropriate forcategorising cultural or national groupings National identity however isdefined in terms of cultural characteristics that make a nation unique in amarketing sense As Keillor et al (1996 1999) claim the NATID scale does notfocus on similarities and differences in terms of cultural characteristics butlooks at the extent to which a strong sense of cultural and national uniquenessexists This perspective helps to overcome the hurdle of the ambiguity ofculture and limitations of using nationality or traditional context variables forcategorising cultures in resolving marketing problems In respect of globalmarket segmentation identifying segmentation criteria for delineating marketsegments with measurability accessibility and substance (Kotler 1991) is oftena problem (Walters 1996) The national identity framework has advantages inidentifying country-based characteristics that are associated with culture aswell as marketing and consumer behaviour which provides a usefulframework for assisting in international market segmentation

The second issue is regarding whether such dimensions can beconceptualised in a framework by which construct equivalence can beestablished across countries hence the culti-unit of a country can be defined insuch a way that variances in those dimensions and their relations with otherimportant marketing elements can be compared across countries This meansthat given other possible alternatives to defining a culti-unit the constructdimensions of national identity can be used as a framework for defining thecountry as ` culti-unitrsquorsquo to link the key cultural elements to their impact onconsumer behaviour and the marketplace in which a firm is operating can beanalysed beyond the traditional cultural variables

From a methodological point of view however there appear somelimitations in the analyses of NATID in Keillor et alrsquos studies (1996 1999) Intheir first study (Keillor et al 1996) the NATID scale initially consisted of 53items which were reduced to 17 items after an initial factor analysis using datafrom 167 usable questionnaires However the sample size fell below therecommended minimum size (ie at least five respondents per each estimatedparameter) for reliable analysis Hence it is unclear to what extent the initial

National identityand NATID

641

factor analysis can be counted on for the elimination of the two-thirds of theinitial items The remaining 17 items were refitted as the NATID model byCFA but there was no report on the multivariate normality of the data whichis the requirement that should be taken seriously for CFA (Baumgartner andHomburg 1996) The results from the CFA with the 17-item NATID did notappear to favour a good fit of the model ie the chi-square statistics weresignificant at the 005 level and AGFI (088) was below the recommendedcut-off point 090 The analyses with the data from Japanese and Swedishsamples showed that DELTA2 and RNI indices all fell below the cut-off point090 chi-square statistics were all significant at the 001 level and AGFI wereall below the cut-off point 090 which indicate that the 17-item measurementmodel of NATID did not fit with the sample data

In their second study (Keillor and Hult 1999) the indices of DELTA2 andRNI were not reported The judgement of model fit for the CFA was only basedon chi-square statistics GFI and AGFI which are limited in providingconvincing assessment of the goodness of fit of the model As reported in thestudy chi-square statistics were significant at the 005 level with all the sampledata Results from GFI and AGFI were below the cut-off point of 090 exceptGFI for samples from Japan (090) Hong Kong (091) and Mexico (092) On thebasis of such unfavourable and insufficient information about the model fit the17-item NATID model cannot be regarded as being supported

In addition in both of Keillor et alrsquos (1996 1999) studies direct comparisonsof the scores on NATID were made across the samples without establishingconstruct equivalence by testing the factorial invariance of the measurementacross the samples from the five countries Measurement equivalence is animportant issue and is regarded as a prerequisite for comparability incross-cultural comparative research (Berry 1969 Douglas and Craig 1983Mullen 1995 Sekaran 1983 Singh 1995) For assessing construct equivalenceacross cultures it is necessary to establish factorial invariance of measurementacross samples (for instance using multiple group analyses with LISREL)(Byrne et al 1989 JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1989 Mullen 1995 Singh 1995) Thelack of testing the construct equivalence threatens the validity of substantiveinferences (Adler 1983 Singh 1995) from comparing the national identityscores measured by NATID This shows a limitation in their empirical groundand has weakened the interpretation of the results for applicability of NATIDacross those countries

Furthermore Keillor et al theorized national identity as a higher-levelmultidimensional construct with its characteristics reflected in the fourdimensions However the relations between the construct of national identityand its four dimensions were left unclear in their studies Despite the potentialadvantage of the NATID model from a substantive viewpoint lack of empiricalevidence of the relations between the higher-order factor and its dimensionsmeans that it is still unknown how important each of the factors would act asan indicator of national identity of a given country (eg the five countries inKeillor et alrsquos studies) It is argued that ` multidimensional constructs for which

InternationalMarketingReview196

642

relations with their dimensions are not specified are not well developedrsquorsquo (Lawet al 1998) In this respect empirical tests are needed to verify themultidimensionality of the national identity construct

It is beyond the scope of the present study to address all the abovelimitations The objectives of this study were threefold

(1) to test the applicability of NATID scale to Yemen

(2) to explore possible improvements to NATID scale in search for anational identity scale that is applicable in Yemen and

(3) to assess the multidimensionality of the national identity construct inYemen

These objectives blend substantive and methodological considerationsSubstantively the study tests the factor structure of responses by Yemenis toan Arabic version of NATID This provides an important evaluation of theNATID instrument in a cultural context that is very different from thosereported in Keillor et alrsquos studies and also a test of the cross-culturalgeneralizability of the factors reported in the literature (Keillor et al 19961999) The use of CFA to evaluate the NATIDrsquos first-order and second-orderfactor models provides empirical evidence for complementing theconceptualisation of national identity in the literature Methodologically theanalysis and assessment of model fit in the present study followed theappropriate methods in the most recent literature of CFA and detailed resultsare reported for diagnosing potential areas for improving the measurement ofnational identity in the future research

The research context YemenYemen has to a large extent remained untouched by the outside world despitethe influence from its African and Arabian neighbours such as EthiopiaDjibouti and Somalia and having undergone colonisation by the Turks and theBritish The population of Yemen is known for its tribal allegiances each tribehaving its own customs folklore music dances and dress such as the designof Jambiya (ornamental dagger representing the masculinity freedom andsocial status of the wearer) futa (dress worn by males) the way the headcloth isworn and also the way women dress In addition to tribal groups Yemenisadhere to various Islamic religious groups the principal groups being Shafai(Sunni) Zaydi and Ismaili (Shia)

Following independence from the British in the south of the country in whatwas known as the Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Yemen there was a hugerevival of poetry proverbs and literature along with works on philology anddialects These works all stressed the unity and commonality of origin andancient history of the Yemen as a whole At this time culture and society inAden (the southern capital) were influenced greatly by both foreign and Arabnewspapers films and books while ancient traditions and customs continuedunaffected in the countryside One of the unique cultural features of Yemen is

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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644

demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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646

1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

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651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

639

values and behaviours (Keillor and Hult 1999) Research has pointed out thatsome of the most important antecedents of consumer ethnocentrism relatedirectly to national identity and characteristics associated with a sense ofnational identity (such as patriotism ethnocentrism nationalism and a sense ofhomogeneity) are viewed as significant in explaining the existence of consumerethnocentric tendencies (eg Sharma et al 1995)

A critical reviewThe conceptualisation of the national identity construct has contributed toadvancing a useful conceptual framework and NATID represents a valuableeffort in developing an empirically sound measurement of national identity onwhich a more generalizable understanding of the international marketenvironment can be constructed The main strength of the construct of nationalidentity and NATID may be viewed in terms of minimising the relevantdistinction between ` culturersquorsquo and ` nationrsquorsquo (Keillor et al 1996) as well asavoiding ambiguity between the two concepts which tend to exhibitoperational limits when traditional context variables are used (for example onmany occasions nationality is used as a variable for classifying culturallydifferent groups)

An important issue relevant to NATID is associated with developing ` a clearoperational definition of the unit of analysis which is free from the potentialconfounds arising from the multi-faceted and complex nature of macro-culturalinfluences and the cultural context in which the unit is studiedrsquorsquo (Douglas andCraig 1997) One proposed solution is to use a ` culti-unitrsquorsquo (Naroll 1970) that is` defined in terms of the racial ethnic demographic or socio-economiccharacteristics or specific interests (eg ecologically concerned consumers) ofits members which provide a common bond and establish a common ethnic acore of shared ` memories myths values and symbols woven together andsustained in popular consciousnessrsquorsquo (Featherston 1990 Douglas and Craig1997) While to date there have not been any reported studies thatoperationalize the culti-unit approach in cross-cultural consumer research aclose review of Keillor et alrsquos conceptualisation of national identity suggeststhat what this concept is intended to capture in a marketing sense falls into thedomain of Douglas and Craigrsquos (1997) conceptual framework

A culti-unit is characterised by its members sharing a common ethnic coreNational identity is defined as consisting of a set of focal elements (` culturalfocusrsquorsquo or ` corersquorsquo traits) that set a nation or a group (including sub-culturalgroups) apart from others by exhibiting greater complexity and variation in theinstitutions of those aspects than others These focal elements logically fall intothe domain of an ethnic core which can be used to discern and contrast the keyphenomena from the collage of the global community from the marketingconsumer behaviour perspective Keillor et alrsquos stand is based on the premisethat the elements that characterise a nationrsquos identity are also the componentsthat serve to tie sub-cultures together within national boundaries In this

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respect it can be argued that national identity should be regarded as aconstruct at the same level with culture and nationality

Several issues arise for attention from substantive and methodologicalviewpoints When the primary focus in studying cross-national consumerbehaviour is on examining the role of cultural factors it is important that thenation under study represents a relatively homogenous entity (Douglas andCraig 1997) Two important issues need to be considered here The first isregarded in terms of what (ie in what dimensions) a nation represented as arelatively homogeneous entity in a marketing sense For instance consumers ofone nationality may reside in another nation and within one nationality theremay be different sub-cultural groups of consumers As another example somepeople were born and went to school in one country but received highereducation and live the rest of their lives in another country In such situationsthe conventional demographic variables may not be appropriate forcategorising cultural or national groupings National identity however isdefined in terms of cultural characteristics that make a nation unique in amarketing sense As Keillor et al (1996 1999) claim the NATID scale does notfocus on similarities and differences in terms of cultural characteristics butlooks at the extent to which a strong sense of cultural and national uniquenessexists This perspective helps to overcome the hurdle of the ambiguity ofculture and limitations of using nationality or traditional context variables forcategorising cultures in resolving marketing problems In respect of globalmarket segmentation identifying segmentation criteria for delineating marketsegments with measurability accessibility and substance (Kotler 1991) is oftena problem (Walters 1996) The national identity framework has advantages inidentifying country-based characteristics that are associated with culture aswell as marketing and consumer behaviour which provides a usefulframework for assisting in international market segmentation

The second issue is regarding whether such dimensions can beconceptualised in a framework by which construct equivalence can beestablished across countries hence the culti-unit of a country can be defined insuch a way that variances in those dimensions and their relations with otherimportant marketing elements can be compared across countries This meansthat given other possible alternatives to defining a culti-unit the constructdimensions of national identity can be used as a framework for defining thecountry as ` culti-unitrsquorsquo to link the key cultural elements to their impact onconsumer behaviour and the marketplace in which a firm is operating can beanalysed beyond the traditional cultural variables

From a methodological point of view however there appear somelimitations in the analyses of NATID in Keillor et alrsquos studies (1996 1999) Intheir first study (Keillor et al 1996) the NATID scale initially consisted of 53items which were reduced to 17 items after an initial factor analysis using datafrom 167 usable questionnaires However the sample size fell below therecommended minimum size (ie at least five respondents per each estimatedparameter) for reliable analysis Hence it is unclear to what extent the initial

National identityand NATID

641

factor analysis can be counted on for the elimination of the two-thirds of theinitial items The remaining 17 items were refitted as the NATID model byCFA but there was no report on the multivariate normality of the data whichis the requirement that should be taken seriously for CFA (Baumgartner andHomburg 1996) The results from the CFA with the 17-item NATID did notappear to favour a good fit of the model ie the chi-square statistics weresignificant at the 005 level and AGFI (088) was below the recommendedcut-off point 090 The analyses with the data from Japanese and Swedishsamples showed that DELTA2 and RNI indices all fell below the cut-off point090 chi-square statistics were all significant at the 001 level and AGFI wereall below the cut-off point 090 which indicate that the 17-item measurementmodel of NATID did not fit with the sample data

In their second study (Keillor and Hult 1999) the indices of DELTA2 andRNI were not reported The judgement of model fit for the CFA was only basedon chi-square statistics GFI and AGFI which are limited in providingconvincing assessment of the goodness of fit of the model As reported in thestudy chi-square statistics were significant at the 005 level with all the sampledata Results from GFI and AGFI were below the cut-off point of 090 exceptGFI for samples from Japan (090) Hong Kong (091) and Mexico (092) On thebasis of such unfavourable and insufficient information about the model fit the17-item NATID model cannot be regarded as being supported

In addition in both of Keillor et alrsquos (1996 1999) studies direct comparisonsof the scores on NATID were made across the samples without establishingconstruct equivalence by testing the factorial invariance of the measurementacross the samples from the five countries Measurement equivalence is animportant issue and is regarded as a prerequisite for comparability incross-cultural comparative research (Berry 1969 Douglas and Craig 1983Mullen 1995 Sekaran 1983 Singh 1995) For assessing construct equivalenceacross cultures it is necessary to establish factorial invariance of measurementacross samples (for instance using multiple group analyses with LISREL)(Byrne et al 1989 JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1989 Mullen 1995 Singh 1995) Thelack of testing the construct equivalence threatens the validity of substantiveinferences (Adler 1983 Singh 1995) from comparing the national identityscores measured by NATID This shows a limitation in their empirical groundand has weakened the interpretation of the results for applicability of NATIDacross those countries

Furthermore Keillor et al theorized national identity as a higher-levelmultidimensional construct with its characteristics reflected in the fourdimensions However the relations between the construct of national identityand its four dimensions were left unclear in their studies Despite the potentialadvantage of the NATID model from a substantive viewpoint lack of empiricalevidence of the relations between the higher-order factor and its dimensionsmeans that it is still unknown how important each of the factors would act asan indicator of national identity of a given country (eg the five countries inKeillor et alrsquos studies) It is argued that ` multidimensional constructs for which

InternationalMarketingReview196

642

relations with their dimensions are not specified are not well developedrsquorsquo (Lawet al 1998) In this respect empirical tests are needed to verify themultidimensionality of the national identity construct

It is beyond the scope of the present study to address all the abovelimitations The objectives of this study were threefold

(1) to test the applicability of NATID scale to Yemen

(2) to explore possible improvements to NATID scale in search for anational identity scale that is applicable in Yemen and

(3) to assess the multidimensionality of the national identity construct inYemen

These objectives blend substantive and methodological considerationsSubstantively the study tests the factor structure of responses by Yemenis toan Arabic version of NATID This provides an important evaluation of theNATID instrument in a cultural context that is very different from thosereported in Keillor et alrsquos studies and also a test of the cross-culturalgeneralizability of the factors reported in the literature (Keillor et al 19961999) The use of CFA to evaluate the NATIDrsquos first-order and second-orderfactor models provides empirical evidence for complementing theconceptualisation of national identity in the literature Methodologically theanalysis and assessment of model fit in the present study followed theappropriate methods in the most recent literature of CFA and detailed resultsare reported for diagnosing potential areas for improving the measurement ofnational identity in the future research

The research context YemenYemen has to a large extent remained untouched by the outside world despitethe influence from its African and Arabian neighbours such as EthiopiaDjibouti and Somalia and having undergone colonisation by the Turks and theBritish The population of Yemen is known for its tribal allegiances each tribehaving its own customs folklore music dances and dress such as the designof Jambiya (ornamental dagger representing the masculinity freedom andsocial status of the wearer) futa (dress worn by males) the way the headcloth isworn and also the way women dress In addition to tribal groups Yemenisadhere to various Islamic religious groups the principal groups being Shafai(Sunni) Zaydi and Ismaili (Shia)

Following independence from the British in the south of the country in whatwas known as the Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Yemen there was a hugerevival of poetry proverbs and literature along with works on philology anddialects These works all stressed the unity and commonality of origin andancient history of the Yemen as a whole At this time culture and society inAden (the southern capital) were influenced greatly by both foreign and Arabnewspapers films and books while ancient traditions and customs continuedunaffected in the countryside One of the unique cultural features of Yemen is

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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646

1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

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construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

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respect it can be argued that national identity should be regarded as aconstruct at the same level with culture and nationality

Several issues arise for attention from substantive and methodologicalviewpoints When the primary focus in studying cross-national consumerbehaviour is on examining the role of cultural factors it is important that thenation under study represents a relatively homogenous entity (Douglas andCraig 1997) Two important issues need to be considered here The first isregarded in terms of what (ie in what dimensions) a nation represented as arelatively homogeneous entity in a marketing sense For instance consumers ofone nationality may reside in another nation and within one nationality theremay be different sub-cultural groups of consumers As another example somepeople were born and went to school in one country but received highereducation and live the rest of their lives in another country In such situationsthe conventional demographic variables may not be appropriate forcategorising cultural or national groupings National identity however isdefined in terms of cultural characteristics that make a nation unique in amarketing sense As Keillor et al (1996 1999) claim the NATID scale does notfocus on similarities and differences in terms of cultural characteristics butlooks at the extent to which a strong sense of cultural and national uniquenessexists This perspective helps to overcome the hurdle of the ambiguity ofculture and limitations of using nationality or traditional context variables forcategorising cultures in resolving marketing problems In respect of globalmarket segmentation identifying segmentation criteria for delineating marketsegments with measurability accessibility and substance (Kotler 1991) is oftena problem (Walters 1996) The national identity framework has advantages inidentifying country-based characteristics that are associated with culture aswell as marketing and consumer behaviour which provides a usefulframework for assisting in international market segmentation

The second issue is regarding whether such dimensions can beconceptualised in a framework by which construct equivalence can beestablished across countries hence the culti-unit of a country can be defined insuch a way that variances in those dimensions and their relations with otherimportant marketing elements can be compared across countries This meansthat given other possible alternatives to defining a culti-unit the constructdimensions of national identity can be used as a framework for defining thecountry as ` culti-unitrsquorsquo to link the key cultural elements to their impact onconsumer behaviour and the marketplace in which a firm is operating can beanalysed beyond the traditional cultural variables

From a methodological point of view however there appear somelimitations in the analyses of NATID in Keillor et alrsquos studies (1996 1999) Intheir first study (Keillor et al 1996) the NATID scale initially consisted of 53items which were reduced to 17 items after an initial factor analysis using datafrom 167 usable questionnaires However the sample size fell below therecommended minimum size (ie at least five respondents per each estimatedparameter) for reliable analysis Hence it is unclear to what extent the initial

National identityand NATID

641

factor analysis can be counted on for the elimination of the two-thirds of theinitial items The remaining 17 items were refitted as the NATID model byCFA but there was no report on the multivariate normality of the data whichis the requirement that should be taken seriously for CFA (Baumgartner andHomburg 1996) The results from the CFA with the 17-item NATID did notappear to favour a good fit of the model ie the chi-square statistics weresignificant at the 005 level and AGFI (088) was below the recommendedcut-off point 090 The analyses with the data from Japanese and Swedishsamples showed that DELTA2 and RNI indices all fell below the cut-off point090 chi-square statistics were all significant at the 001 level and AGFI wereall below the cut-off point 090 which indicate that the 17-item measurementmodel of NATID did not fit with the sample data

In their second study (Keillor and Hult 1999) the indices of DELTA2 andRNI were not reported The judgement of model fit for the CFA was only basedon chi-square statistics GFI and AGFI which are limited in providingconvincing assessment of the goodness of fit of the model As reported in thestudy chi-square statistics were significant at the 005 level with all the sampledata Results from GFI and AGFI were below the cut-off point of 090 exceptGFI for samples from Japan (090) Hong Kong (091) and Mexico (092) On thebasis of such unfavourable and insufficient information about the model fit the17-item NATID model cannot be regarded as being supported

In addition in both of Keillor et alrsquos (1996 1999) studies direct comparisonsof the scores on NATID were made across the samples without establishingconstruct equivalence by testing the factorial invariance of the measurementacross the samples from the five countries Measurement equivalence is animportant issue and is regarded as a prerequisite for comparability incross-cultural comparative research (Berry 1969 Douglas and Craig 1983Mullen 1995 Sekaran 1983 Singh 1995) For assessing construct equivalenceacross cultures it is necessary to establish factorial invariance of measurementacross samples (for instance using multiple group analyses with LISREL)(Byrne et al 1989 JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1989 Mullen 1995 Singh 1995) Thelack of testing the construct equivalence threatens the validity of substantiveinferences (Adler 1983 Singh 1995) from comparing the national identityscores measured by NATID This shows a limitation in their empirical groundand has weakened the interpretation of the results for applicability of NATIDacross those countries

Furthermore Keillor et al theorized national identity as a higher-levelmultidimensional construct with its characteristics reflected in the fourdimensions However the relations between the construct of national identityand its four dimensions were left unclear in their studies Despite the potentialadvantage of the NATID model from a substantive viewpoint lack of empiricalevidence of the relations between the higher-order factor and its dimensionsmeans that it is still unknown how important each of the factors would act asan indicator of national identity of a given country (eg the five countries inKeillor et alrsquos studies) It is argued that ` multidimensional constructs for which

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642

relations with their dimensions are not specified are not well developedrsquorsquo (Lawet al 1998) In this respect empirical tests are needed to verify themultidimensionality of the national identity construct

It is beyond the scope of the present study to address all the abovelimitations The objectives of this study were threefold

(1) to test the applicability of NATID scale to Yemen

(2) to explore possible improvements to NATID scale in search for anational identity scale that is applicable in Yemen and

(3) to assess the multidimensionality of the national identity construct inYemen

These objectives blend substantive and methodological considerationsSubstantively the study tests the factor structure of responses by Yemenis toan Arabic version of NATID This provides an important evaluation of theNATID instrument in a cultural context that is very different from thosereported in Keillor et alrsquos studies and also a test of the cross-culturalgeneralizability of the factors reported in the literature (Keillor et al 19961999) The use of CFA to evaluate the NATIDrsquos first-order and second-orderfactor models provides empirical evidence for complementing theconceptualisation of national identity in the literature Methodologically theanalysis and assessment of model fit in the present study followed theappropriate methods in the most recent literature of CFA and detailed resultsare reported for diagnosing potential areas for improving the measurement ofnational identity in the future research

The research context YemenYemen has to a large extent remained untouched by the outside world despitethe influence from its African and Arabian neighbours such as EthiopiaDjibouti and Somalia and having undergone colonisation by the Turks and theBritish The population of Yemen is known for its tribal allegiances each tribehaving its own customs folklore music dances and dress such as the designof Jambiya (ornamental dagger representing the masculinity freedom andsocial status of the wearer) futa (dress worn by males) the way the headcloth isworn and also the way women dress In addition to tribal groups Yemenisadhere to various Islamic religious groups the principal groups being Shafai(Sunni) Zaydi and Ismaili (Shia)

Following independence from the British in the south of the country in whatwas known as the Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Yemen there was a hugerevival of poetry proverbs and literature along with works on philology anddialects These works all stressed the unity and commonality of origin andancient history of the Yemen as a whole At this time culture and society inAden (the southern capital) were influenced greatly by both foreign and Arabnewspapers films and books while ancient traditions and customs continuedunaffected in the countryside One of the unique cultural features of Yemen is

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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646

1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

641

factor analysis can be counted on for the elimination of the two-thirds of theinitial items The remaining 17 items were refitted as the NATID model byCFA but there was no report on the multivariate normality of the data whichis the requirement that should be taken seriously for CFA (Baumgartner andHomburg 1996) The results from the CFA with the 17-item NATID did notappear to favour a good fit of the model ie the chi-square statistics weresignificant at the 005 level and AGFI (088) was below the recommendedcut-off point 090 The analyses with the data from Japanese and Swedishsamples showed that DELTA2 and RNI indices all fell below the cut-off point090 chi-square statistics were all significant at the 001 level and AGFI wereall below the cut-off point 090 which indicate that the 17-item measurementmodel of NATID did not fit with the sample data

In their second study (Keillor and Hult 1999) the indices of DELTA2 andRNI were not reported The judgement of model fit for the CFA was only basedon chi-square statistics GFI and AGFI which are limited in providingconvincing assessment of the goodness of fit of the model As reported in thestudy chi-square statistics were significant at the 005 level with all the sampledata Results from GFI and AGFI were below the cut-off point of 090 exceptGFI for samples from Japan (090) Hong Kong (091) and Mexico (092) On thebasis of such unfavourable and insufficient information about the model fit the17-item NATID model cannot be regarded as being supported

In addition in both of Keillor et alrsquos (1996 1999) studies direct comparisonsof the scores on NATID were made across the samples without establishingconstruct equivalence by testing the factorial invariance of the measurementacross the samples from the five countries Measurement equivalence is animportant issue and is regarded as a prerequisite for comparability incross-cultural comparative research (Berry 1969 Douglas and Craig 1983Mullen 1995 Sekaran 1983 Singh 1995) For assessing construct equivalenceacross cultures it is necessary to establish factorial invariance of measurementacross samples (for instance using multiple group analyses with LISREL)(Byrne et al 1989 JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1989 Mullen 1995 Singh 1995) Thelack of testing the construct equivalence threatens the validity of substantiveinferences (Adler 1983 Singh 1995) from comparing the national identityscores measured by NATID This shows a limitation in their empirical groundand has weakened the interpretation of the results for applicability of NATIDacross those countries

Furthermore Keillor et al theorized national identity as a higher-levelmultidimensional construct with its characteristics reflected in the fourdimensions However the relations between the construct of national identityand its four dimensions were left unclear in their studies Despite the potentialadvantage of the NATID model from a substantive viewpoint lack of empiricalevidence of the relations between the higher-order factor and its dimensionsmeans that it is still unknown how important each of the factors would act asan indicator of national identity of a given country (eg the five countries inKeillor et alrsquos studies) It is argued that ` multidimensional constructs for which

InternationalMarketingReview196

642

relations with their dimensions are not specified are not well developedrsquorsquo (Lawet al 1998) In this respect empirical tests are needed to verify themultidimensionality of the national identity construct

It is beyond the scope of the present study to address all the abovelimitations The objectives of this study were threefold

(1) to test the applicability of NATID scale to Yemen

(2) to explore possible improvements to NATID scale in search for anational identity scale that is applicable in Yemen and

(3) to assess the multidimensionality of the national identity construct inYemen

These objectives blend substantive and methodological considerationsSubstantively the study tests the factor structure of responses by Yemenis toan Arabic version of NATID This provides an important evaluation of theNATID instrument in a cultural context that is very different from thosereported in Keillor et alrsquos studies and also a test of the cross-culturalgeneralizability of the factors reported in the literature (Keillor et al 19961999) The use of CFA to evaluate the NATIDrsquos first-order and second-orderfactor models provides empirical evidence for complementing theconceptualisation of national identity in the literature Methodologically theanalysis and assessment of model fit in the present study followed theappropriate methods in the most recent literature of CFA and detailed resultsare reported for diagnosing potential areas for improving the measurement ofnational identity in the future research

The research context YemenYemen has to a large extent remained untouched by the outside world despitethe influence from its African and Arabian neighbours such as EthiopiaDjibouti and Somalia and having undergone colonisation by the Turks and theBritish The population of Yemen is known for its tribal allegiances each tribehaving its own customs folklore music dances and dress such as the designof Jambiya (ornamental dagger representing the masculinity freedom andsocial status of the wearer) futa (dress worn by males) the way the headcloth isworn and also the way women dress In addition to tribal groups Yemenisadhere to various Islamic religious groups the principal groups being Shafai(Sunni) Zaydi and Ismaili (Shia)

Following independence from the British in the south of the country in whatwas known as the Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Yemen there was a hugerevival of poetry proverbs and literature along with works on philology anddialects These works all stressed the unity and commonality of origin andancient history of the Yemen as a whole At this time culture and society inAden (the southern capital) were influenced greatly by both foreign and Arabnewspapers films and books while ancient traditions and customs continuedunaffected in the countryside One of the unique cultural features of Yemen is

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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644

demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

642

relations with their dimensions are not specified are not well developedrsquorsquo (Lawet al 1998) In this respect empirical tests are needed to verify themultidimensionality of the national identity construct

It is beyond the scope of the present study to address all the abovelimitations The objectives of this study were threefold

(1) to test the applicability of NATID scale to Yemen

(2) to explore possible improvements to NATID scale in search for anational identity scale that is applicable in Yemen and

(3) to assess the multidimensionality of the national identity construct inYemen

These objectives blend substantive and methodological considerationsSubstantively the study tests the factor structure of responses by Yemenis toan Arabic version of NATID This provides an important evaluation of theNATID instrument in a cultural context that is very different from thosereported in Keillor et alrsquos studies and also a test of the cross-culturalgeneralizability of the factors reported in the literature (Keillor et al 19961999) The use of CFA to evaluate the NATIDrsquos first-order and second-orderfactor models provides empirical evidence for complementing theconceptualisation of national identity in the literature Methodologically theanalysis and assessment of model fit in the present study followed theappropriate methods in the most recent literature of CFA and detailed resultsare reported for diagnosing potential areas for improving the measurement ofnational identity in the future research

The research context YemenYemen has to a large extent remained untouched by the outside world despitethe influence from its African and Arabian neighbours such as EthiopiaDjibouti and Somalia and having undergone colonisation by the Turks and theBritish The population of Yemen is known for its tribal allegiances each tribehaving its own customs folklore music dances and dress such as the designof Jambiya (ornamental dagger representing the masculinity freedom andsocial status of the wearer) futa (dress worn by males) the way the headcloth isworn and also the way women dress In addition to tribal groups Yemenisadhere to various Islamic religious groups the principal groups being Shafai(Sunni) Zaydi and Ismaili (Shia)

Following independence from the British in the south of the country in whatwas known as the Peoplersquos Democratic Republic of Yemen there was a hugerevival of poetry proverbs and literature along with works on philology anddialects These works all stressed the unity and commonality of origin andancient history of the Yemen as a whole At this time culture and society inAden (the southern capital) were influenced greatly by both foreign and Arabnewspapers films and books while ancient traditions and customs continuedunaffected in the countryside One of the unique cultural features of Yemen is

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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644

demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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646

1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

InternationalMarketingReview196

650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

InternationalMarketingReview196

652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

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construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

643

the socialisation that is closely associated with the consumption of the herbdrug qat which has had and continues to have a profound influence onYemeni society and has become institutionalised through the ` qat partyrsquorsquo(Weir 1985)[1]

The uniqueness of the Yemeni culture manifests itself in multi-faceted traitsassociated with spiritual believing material symbolism rationality andsocialisation in the society According to Yusuf Abdallah (Daum 1988 p 477)Yemeni culture ` is the expression of its faith its ideas and experience itsphilosophy and aims to which it adheres in word and deedrsquorsquo and ` is the sum ofits spiritual material rational and societal makeup and links it inseparablywith the culture of the Arabian and Islamic worldrsquorsquo To international marketersan understanding of the Yemenirsquos national identity as compared with otherparts of the world has important value in developing marketing strategies inthe global market

MethodologyMeasurementThe 17 items of NATID (Keillor and Hult 1999) were adopted as the basis ofmeasurement scale The scale was converted into an Arabic version throughback-translation and parallel translation (Brislin 1970 Douglas and Craig1983 Sekaran 1983) by bilinguals in the UK and Yemen The Arabic versionwas reviewed for the content and contextual validity (Fowler 1993) by a panelof Yemeni doctoral program members which resulted in four new itemsgenerated to reveal the emic (ie culturally specific) aspects of the nationalidentity concept from within the target country (Brislin 1986) Table I showsthe pool of the 21 items[2] The questionnaire was finalised after a field-pretestwith six potential respondents who were interviewed for feedback aftercompleting the self-administered questionnaire The results from this processindicated that the questionnaire was appropriate for use in data collection

SampleOwing to cultural and practical constraints the convenience sample methodwas used[3] Despite its imperfection convenience sampling can nonetheless` generate a sample which while not strictly representative may nonetheless berelatively free of any systematic biasrsquorsquo (Craig and Douglas 2000 p 236) Thesample was composed of the four types of adult groups as reported in Keillor etal (1996) ie university students academics business professionals and adultfemale consumers Statistics sources[4] show that the Yemeni population isvery young (47 per cent are under 14 years of age) Hence the age structure ofthe sample was skewed toward young people for consistency with the Yemenipopulation A sample size of 260 potential respondents was planned and aminimum size of 210 responses was considered adequate since it representedten times the number of items in the questionnaire The sample consisted ofresidents of the two major cities in the northern region of Yemen Sanarsquoacapital of Yemen and Taiz a major industrial and trading hub Key

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demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

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demographic information of the sample is shown in Table II The highproportion of students in the sample is due to the fact that young people tend tostudy at school or in further education while working for family businesseshence these individuals classed themselves as students but in fact a largeproportion of their time was spent in work as administrative staff ormerchants

Data collectionThe questionnaires were administered in a variety of manners Manyrespondents were invited to or found at socially acceptable gatherings such asa ` qat partyrsquorsquo or alternatively a cafeAcirc In these situations the researcher was

Table IInitial item measuresfor national identity inYemen

National heritageN1 Important historical figures in Yemen are admired by people todayN2 One of the strong characteristics of Yemen is that it concentrates on important

historical eventsN3 Yemen has a strong historical heritageN4a Historical monuments testify to the deep-rooted civilization which Yemenis are

proud ofN5a Yemen has a unique tribal structure

Cultural homogeneityC1 Yemeni citizens possess unique cultural properties which others do not possessC2 Yemenis believe in general that they come from a common historical backgroundC3 Yemenis are proud of their nationalityC4 Yemenis engage in activities specific to themC5a Yemenis are proud of their Arabic and Islamic rootsC6a One of the things that distinguish Yemen from other countries is its traditions and

customs

Belief systemB1 One of the properties that distinguish the Yemeni is adherence to a specific religious

dogmaB2 A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesB3 Religious education is necessary to preserve the unity of Yemeni societyB4 It is not necessary to follow a specific religious dogma to be Yemeni ltRgtB5 A true Yemeni would never reject his religious beliefs

Consumer ethnocentrismE1 We should buy national products rather than imported products in order that other

countries donrsquot get rich off usE2 It is always best to buy Yemeni productsE3 Yemeni should not buy foreign products because foreign products harm Yemeni

trade and cause unemploymentE4 Yemeni produced products are of lower quality than others but we should support

the national economyE5 Yemeni should only import products that are not available in Yemen

NotesScoring was on a seven-point Likert-type scale ranging from ` strongly agreersquorsquo to ` stronglydisagreersquorsquo a These are added items generated in this study ltRgt Reverse coded item

Source Adapted from Keillor and Hult (1999)

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

InternationalMarketingReview196

646

1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

645

known to the group hence had the undivided attention of the respondents for anumber of hours Trusted friends were asked to distribute questionnaires totheir colleagues acquaintances and families Further to this method manyquestionnaires were administered by the ` dropping off and picking uprsquorsquomethod In Yemen a male researcherrsquos contact with females was limited toindirect contact via a husband family member or female researcher In order toincrease the ratio of female elements a mall-type quota survey was conductedat Sanarsquoa University with the help of a local female researcher Overall 208usable questionnaires were returned from the 260 questionnaires distributedwhich was considered as a sufficient sample size for the analysis

Analysis and resultsTesting the NATID scaleThe 17 items of NATID were specified in a measurement model according tothe substantive theory (Keillor et al 1996 1999) for CFA with LISREL830(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000a) in which the four factors were measured bythree items (national heritage) four items (cultural homogeneity) five items(belief system) and five items (consumer ethnocentrism) Data screening(Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) for multivariate normality by PRELIS230(a companion programme to LISREL830) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 2000b)revealed non-normality of the sample data Hence the analyses were conductedon the covariance matrix and asymptotic covariance matrix undernon-normality with the maximum likelihood (ML) method[5]

Taking into account non-normality of the data and the sample size (208) theoverall fit of the model in the CFA was judged by the multiple criteria (JoEgravereskog

Table IIDemographic

information of theYemeni sample

Sample ()

Age 15-2425-3435-4445-5455-6465-74Over 74

5430104020

Gender MaleFemale

6436

Marital status MarriedSingleOther

59392

Occupation StudentOffice workerManual workerProfessionalHousewife

46219

204

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1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

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construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

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1993 Bentler and Bonett 1980) of the Satorra-Bentler scaling-corrected(SCALED) Agrave2 statistic in conjunction with the combinational rule based on thenormed comparative fit index (CFI) in combination with the standardised rootmean squared residual (SRMR) with cut-off criteria set at CFI gt 095 andSRMR lt 0096 to minimise Type I and Type II error (Hu and Bentler 1999) Sincethe fit of a theoretical model with the empirical data should be assessed in termsof both global and local fit measures (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) themodel in this study was regarded as fit with the data when the above multiplecriteria were completely satisfied and the parameter estimates of the measureitems show adequate construct measurement (ie positive factor loadings thatare sufficiently large and statistically significant) (Bogazzi and Baumgartner1994) Some other indices from LISREL830 were used for additional reference ofmodel fit which included the adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI gt 090indicating good fit) expected cross-validation index (ECVI) and the Hoelterrsquos(1983) Critical N (CN) Since in this study no alternative sample was available forcross-validation purpose the ECVI provides a useful means of assessing thelikelihood that the model cross-validates across similar-sized samples from thesame population (Browne and Cudeck 1989 Baumgartner and Homburg 1996)The model with the smallest ECVI in comparison with other competing models isregarded as the model that will cross-validate best (Kaplan 2000) The value ofCN in excess of the suggested threshold of 200 (Hoelter 1983) indicates that thesample size is sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2 test (Hu andBentler 1995)

The CFA of NATID resulted (see Table III) in non-significant Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic (Agrave2 (df = 113 n = 208) = 13691 raquo = 0063) at the 005 levelThe CN (CN = 20638) was in excess of the suggested threshold indicating thatthe sample size in this study was sufficient to yield an adequate model fit for a Agrave2

test The SRMR (006) appeared to be acceptable However the CFI (091) andAGFI (089) fell below the cutoff criteria The ECVI value (105) was the smallestin comparison with that for both the saturated model (ECVI = 148) and theindependence model (ECVI = 288) indicating that the model represents thelikelihood of the same results in cross-validation

Inspection of the parameter estimates of the measure items also revealedmixed results The standardised value of the covariance between nationalheritage and cultural homogeneity was greater than unity (PHI = 114) whichsuggests a mis-specification problem of the hypothetical model The validity ofmost of the measure items was evident by their significant loadings (at raquo lt 005

Table IIISummary of goodnessof fit of the 17-timeNATID

Model Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2

CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

The 17-itemNATID

13691(df = 113 raquo = 006)

091 006 089 105(148 288)a

20638

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

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654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

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656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

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construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

647

indicated by t-values in excess of 196) but the loadings for measure items B4and E5 were not significant which indicates that these two items were poormeasures of the associated constructs The value of squared multiplecorrelation (R2 as an indicator of reliability of the measure items) was zero foritem B4 and close to zero for items C4 (R2 = 007) and E5 (R2 = 002) indicatingthat these items are poor measures for the associated constructs in the model

With such mixed results in terms of the overall model fit and somedeficiencies in the construct measurement some consideration is in order on thebasis of substantive theory development The goal for developing the NATIDis to provide a means ` serving to provide unbiased estimates of structuralmodel parametersrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) for use by researchers for substantiveinquiries of complex relationships Since ` it is possible to reject a relativelywell-fitting structural model because of a poorly developed measurementmodelrsquorsquo (Kaplan 2000) testing of a substantive theoretical model can bemeaningless unless it is first established that the measurement model for theconstructs in the structural model holds (JoEgravereskog 1993) According tostatistical theory and recent empirical findings (Hu and Bentler 1999 Kaplan2000) it is argued that when testing a measurement model with small sampledata (eg n lt 250) under non-robustness condition the probability of rejecting afalse null hypothesis (ie the power of the test) is decreased Lavishness in thecriteria of the fit for the measurement model may result in a higher Type IIerror (accepting a null hypothesis that is false) rate which may cause moreharm than benefit when the measurement model is employed for substantiveinquiry Therefore when testing a measurement model with data from a smallsample under non-robustness condition more control should be exercised onType II error and the judgement of model fit should be based on meticulousscrutiny of the results against both the multiple criteria and parameterestimates

Following from the above consideration it was concluded that the 17-itemNATID model did not fit the sample data because the multiple criteria were notcompletely satisfied and under the conditions of the current study it would bemore likely to lead to committing a Type II error than Type I error if the modelwas accepted by relaxing the cuttoff criteria and parameter estimates revealedsome deficiencies This suggests that the original NATID measurement scalecannot be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemenirsquos national identityNevertheless given that the CFI and AGFI values were close to the cutoff pointand only a small number of estimates appeared problematic the 17-itemNATID model was considered as having the potential to be a goodapproximation of the Yemeni population if the deficient items could beidentified and the model be improved For this reason the NATID model wasrespecified and reestimated It is noted that such a process terminates thestrictly confirmatory analysis and moves the analyses into an exploratorymode (Anderson and Gerbing 1988 Byrne 1998) which is described in thenext sub-section

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Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

648

Exploring the factor patterns of Yemeni national identityFor exploring an improved model one approach is to continue the estimation ofthe model with the original measure items based on the information generatedfrom LISREL (eg the modification index) and incrementally modify the modeluntil a better fit can be achieved The other is to introduce some additionalculturally appropriate measure items generated in the particular researchcontext (ie the ` emicrsquorsquo items) and explore the factor structure that captures theconstructsrsquo domain relevant to the cultural context (ie the ` derived eticrsquorsquo scale)(eg Douglas and Craig 1997) in the original theoretical framework In thisstudy both approaches were employed to present informative results for futureresearch For theory development by respecification and reestimation of ameasurement scale with new sample data a viable approach is to employexploratory factor analysis (EFA) for recovering an underlying measurementmodel that can then be evaluated with CFA (Bollen 1989 Gerbing andAnderson 1988 Gerbing and Hamilton 1997) Therefore EFA was employedwith both the original 17 items of NATID and the pool of the items fromNATID and the new items generated in this study The factorial patterns fromthe EFAs were hypothesised as alternative measurement models and assessedby CFA

The EFA of the original 17 items of NATID were conducted with theeigenvalue-greater-than-one criterion for factor extraction and oblique rotationConsidering the EFA used as a precursor to the CFA and the sample size of 208in this study factor loadings above 050 were regarded as significant (Hair etal 1998) The EFA resulted in four factors (named `modified NATID model Irsquorsquo)shown in Table IV

As Table IV shows factor F1 was loaded with three of the original itemsfrom ` belief systemrsquorsquo (B1 B3 and B5) one from ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3) andone from ` national heritagersquorsquo (N2) It is noticeable that three of the original fiveitems (E1 E3 and E4) measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo loaded on onefactor F2 Factor F3 was loaded with one item from the original ` nationalheritagersquorsquo and one from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo Two of the originalfour items measuring the ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo dimension loaded on onefactor F4 Taking into account the factor loadings and the semantic meaningsof the items factor F1 was named as ` belief traditionrsquorsquo factor F2 retained theoriginal name of ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo factor F3 was named ` culturalheritagersquorsquo and factor F4 was still named as ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo

The close similarity of the factorial pattern of the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquoto the original NATID was regarded as adequate rationale for the model to besubstantiated based on the theoretical framework of the NATID Hence it wasspecified as a measurement model and estimated by CFA with LISREL830 (inthe same manner as described above)

The results from the CFA (shown in Table V) revealed that the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 5037 (raquo = 038))at the 005 level Values of CFI SRMR and AGFI conclusively satisfied the cutoffpoints These results provided support for the fit of the model The ECVI value

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

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650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

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652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

649

(053) was the smallest in comparison with the saturated model and theindependence model suggesting that the results of the model fit would hold withcross-validation samples of the same size The value of CN (26039) providedsupport of the adequacy of the sample size for the CFA analysis Inspection of theparameter estimates revealed that all the indicatorsrsquo estimated coefficients ontheir posited underlying construct factors were significant (standardised

Table IVEFA results of the

17-item NATID(` modified NATID

model Irsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 068N2 063N3

Cultural homogeneity C1 074C2 051C3 063C4 081

Belief system B1 066B2B3 063B4 ltRgtB5 058

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 073E2E3 076E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquos alpha(scale 060) 065 061 044 026

NotesltRgt Reverse coded itemKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0736 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity341565 df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 55401

Table VSummary of goodnessof fit of the `modified

NATID model Irsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5037(df = 48 raquo = 038)

096 005 093 053(075 181)a

26039

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 066 028F2 063 037F3 054 041F4 033 023

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

InternationalMarketingReview196

650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

InternationalMarketingReview196

652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

650

parameter estimates are shown in Figure 1) which provided evidence ofconvergent validity for the measurement model (Anderson and Gerbing 1988)Discriminant validity of the construct factors was also evidenced by thecorrelations that were significantly different from unity between each twodimensions of the factors (Bagozzi and Phillips 1982) The values of R2 were inthe moderate to high range (020-072) except item C4 (R2 = 011) and C1(R2 = 006) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo fitted thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity

A further EFA was conducted by means of exploiting the pool of the 17measurement items from the NATID scale and the four ` emicrsquorsquo items developedin this study The EFA of the pooled 21 items followed the same procedure asdescribed above and the results from the EFA (named as the `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo) are shown in Table VI

As shown in Table VI factor F1 retained two measure items in NATIDrsquos` belief systemrsquorsquo (B3 and B5) and one item developed in this study (C6) Thesemantic themes of items B3 B5 and C6 were regarded as homogeneousbecause the literature has shown that religious beliefs and activities are anintegral part of Yemeni traditions and customs Regarding factor F2 three ofthe five original items measuring ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo (E1 E3 and E4) inthe NATID scale were retained as significant measure items Factor F3 wasreflected in two measure items originally for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (item C4)and ` national heritagersquorsquo (item N1) in the NATID scale Factor 4 was loaded withfour items of which three were originally used for measuring ` cultural

Figure 1Standardised parameterestimates of the modifiedNATID model I

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

InternationalMarketingReview196

652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

651

homogeneityrsquorsquo in the NATID scale Taking into account the factor loadings andthe semantic meanings of the items the factors were labelled as in `modifiedNATID model Irsquorsquo

The resultant factorial pattern of the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo appearedto closely resemble the original NATID hence it was regarded as theoreticallysubstantiated based on the framework of the NATID The `modified NATIDmodel IIrsquorsquo was specified in a measurement model for the CFA which wasconducted in the same manner as the above The CFA results are shown inTable VII

As Table VII shows for the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the Satorra-BentlerSCALED Agrave2 statistic was non-significant (Agrave2(df = 48 n = 208) = 4931 raquo = 042)at the 005 level Other indices (CFI SRMR and AGFI) satisfied therecommended cutoff criteria The values of ECVI and CN were also supportivefor the stability of the CFA results The estimated coefficients for themeasurement items were all significant (standardised parameter estimates arepresented in Figure 2) indicating convergent validity of the measurementmodel The correlations between each pair of the factors were significantly

Table VIEFA results of the

pooled 21 items(` modified NATID

model IIrsquorsquo)

Factors from the EFA

Dimensions in the originalNATID Items

F1Belief

tradition

F2Consumer

ethnocentrism

F3Culturalheritage

F4Cultural

homogeneity

National heritage N1 062N2N3

Cultural homogeneity C1C2 plusmn068C3 plusmn070C4 083C5 plusmn067

Belief system B1 plusmn072B2B3 068B4 ltRgtB5 065C6 086

Consumer ethnocentrism E1 079E2E3 075E4 071E5

Cronbachrsquo alpha (scale 064) 065 061 044 069

NotesKeiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy 0763 Bartlettrsquos test of sphericity 528905df66 Sig 0000 Cumulative variance explained by five factors 60066 Added items

InternationalMarketingReview196

652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

652

below unity showing discriminant validity for the construct factors Thevalues of R2 were in the moderate to high range (017-093) except one item C4(R2 = 008) These results indicate that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo fit thedata well and it can be regarded as a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity

In summary through the above process of model modification andre-estimation some poor items in the original NATID were removed and thetwo modified models appeared to be a good approximation of the Yemeninational identity For the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo item N2 from the original` national heritagersquorsquo and C3 from the original ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo (C3)relocated on the original ` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new factor is renamed as` belief traditionrsquorsquo) The other two items from the same two original dimensions(N1 and C3) converged on a new factor named ` cultural heritagersquorsquo For the

Figure 2Standardised parameterestimates for the modifiedNATID model II

Table VIISummaries of goodnessof fit of the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model II

4931(df = 48 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 053(075 255)a

24886

Composer reliability Variance extractedF1 067 040F2 063 037F3 061 050F4 071 040

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

653

` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo one new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C6) loaded on the original` belief systemrsquorsquo (hence the new name ` belief traditionrsquorsquo for the factor) andanother new ` emicrsquorsquo item (C5) together with one original item B1 from theoriginal ` belief systemrsquorsquo dimension loaded on the original ` culturalhomogeneityrsquorsquo The main factorial difference between the two modified modelsappears to be on ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo which may be aresult of adding the ` emicrsquorsquo items

The CFA results supported the overall fit of the two modified models whichindicates that both represent a better approximation of the Yemeni nationalidentity than the original NATID It is noticed that item C1 appeared to be apoor measure (R2 = 006) for ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo in the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo and item C4 appeared to be a poor measure (R2 = 008) for ` culturalheritagersquorsquo in the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo Although ` it is usually moreimportant that the construct be measured adequately by all indicators of theconstruct jointlyrsquorsquo (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994 p 402) these two poormeasure items reveal one of the problematic areas that warrant furtherresearch since each of them forms part of the only two items measuring aconstruct It appears that the ` modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo may be a slightimprovement compared with the ` modified NATID model Irsquorsquo since the pathcoefficients for the measure items in the former are higher on average than thelatter and only one factor is measured by less than three items in the formerThe estimates of composite reliability (Bagozzi and Baumgartner 1994) and thevariance extracted (Fornell and Larcker 1981) also indicate that the `modifiedNATID model IIrsquorsquo provides better construct measurement Consistent with thenature of CFA to provide evidence for alternative models the two modifiedmodels provide useful alternatives to be further assessed by new sample datain the future research for a valid measurement scale for the Yemeni nationalidentity

Second-order CFAAccording to the NATID conceptualisation (Keillor et al 1996 1999) thefactors of national identity are associated with each other and their correlationsare jointly explained by the overall construct of national identity In the notionof CFA variance common to all measures and reflecting meaning at a higherlevel of abstraction is captured through the influence of a second-order factorTheir correlations are assumed to be accounted for by a higher level (iesecond-order) factor that is not directly measured by any measurement itemsIn the present study these hypothetical relations were tested through the CFAby specifying the factors from the EFA as the first-order factors and nationalidentity as the second-order factor Second-order CFA models have advantagesin that the dimensions of a multidimensional construct are explicitlyrepresented and parameters related to each dimension can be used to examineuseful properties of the measurements (Bagozzi 1994) Use of the second-orderCFA can assist in identifying the multidimensionality and the properties of thedimensions of the national identity construct Since the second-order CAF

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

654

model can also reveal the separate effects of the sub-dimensions of a constructon a dependent variable (Bagozzi 1994) the resultant second-order CFA modelof the Yemeni national identity can be used for examining the relations of thedimensions of the national identity construct with other important marketingvariables in substantive inquiries

The four first-order factors in the two modified NATID models werespecified as reflecting the second-order factor national identity and the twosecond-order models were assessed by CFA with LISREL830 The goodness offit indices for the second-order factor models are summarised in Table VIIIThe second-order factor models and the parameter estimates are presented inFigures 3 and 4

As shown in Table VIII for both models the Satorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2

statistics were non-significant at the 005 level and both CFI and SRMR valuessatisfied the multiple criteria for the model fit The values of other indices(AGFI ECVI and CN) were also satisfactory and supported acceptable fit of the

Figure 3Standardised parameterestimates of the second-order-factor modifiedNATID model I

Table VIIISummaries of thesecond-order CFA forthe modified NATID Iand II models

ModelSatorra-Bentler

SCALED Agrave2 CFI SRMR AGFI ECVI Critical N

ModifiedNATID model I

5130(df = 50 raquo = 042)

097 005 093 052(075 181)a

26634

ModifiedNATID model II

5009(df = 50 raquo = 047)

097 005 093 051(075 255)

25553

Note a ECVI for saturated model and independence model

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

655

second-order-factor model for the modified NATID I and NATID II Overall theSatorra-Bentler SCALED Agrave2 statistic and other indices exhibited supportiveresults of goodness of the model fit

The parameter coefficients for the indicators were the same as those in thefirst-order CFAs for both models (only except minor changes of one unit in thesecond decimal place for a couple of coefficients) For the ` modified NATIDmodel Irsquorsquo the squared multiple correlations (R2) for the structural equations (iethe relation between the first-order factors and national identity) weresubstantial (above 050) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquoConsistent with these the strength of the paths connecting the second-orderfactor national identity to the first-order factors revealed that the coefficientsfor the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo were above070 and the path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquo was 058 indicating strong directeffects on them from the second-order factor The coefficient for the path to` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo shows a moderate (046) effect from the second-orderfactor

For the `modified NATID model IIrsquorsquo the R2 for the structural equations weresubstantial (above 060) for ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and ` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo butless so (below 050) for ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo Thecoefficients were above 080 for the two paths with ` belief traditionrsquorsquo and` cultural homogeneityrsquorsquo and was 050 for path with ` cultural heritagersquorsquoindicating strong direct effects on them from the second-order factor Thecoefficient was 044 for the path with ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo whichindicates moderate direct effect from the second-order factor

Figure 4Standardised parameterestimates of the second-

order-factor modifiedNATID model II

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

656

These results suggest that given the slight differences in measure items ontwo factors between the two modified NATID models there are four distinctdimensions of national identity which lends support for Keillor et alrsquos (19961999) conceptualisation of multidimensionality However the reliabilityappears to be poor for the two constructs ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and` cultural heritagersquorsquo as indicative dimensions of the national identity constructThis may reflect the inadequacy of some measure items for associatedconstructs (ie ` consumer ethnocentrismrsquorsquo and ` cultural heritagersquorsquo) for whichimprovement is needed in the future research

Implications limitations and directions for future researchIn order to insure the applicability of the NATID scale for characterisingnational identity for substantive inquiries at the global level it must beassessed and improved if necessary in new settings to verify that therepresentativeness of the measure items are not weakened by measure iteminadequacy (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) and the theoretical constructs donot vary in their meanings in different studies (Cohen et al 1990) This processrequires the fit of the measurement model with the sample data be assessed interms of global and local fit measures and alternative models be exploredwhenever possible (Baumgartner and Homburg 1996) The results from theassessment of the NATID scale by CFA judged by the multiple criteria andconstruct measurement estimates did not favour the fit of the NATID modelwith the Yemeni data This indicates that NATID in its original form isinappropriate for representing the Yemeni national identity and should not beused for marketing practice in Yemen

The model respecification and reestimation in this study resulted in twoalternative models that share substantial similarities with the NATID scalefrom the substantive viewpoint and show acceptable fit with the empiricaldata The two alternative models indicate that

(1) to a large extent the core elements of national identity conceptualised inNATID are transient (Keillor et al 1996) in Yemen

(2) the relations between the first-order factors and the higher-order factorof national identity are attainable which complements theconceptualisation of national identity in Keilor et alrsquos studies

Some limitations need to be noted For the objectives of the present study onlyone country sample was used This restricted the analyses to a one-countryanalysis other than multi-country analyses which may provide more usefulinformation for validating the NATID scale It is acknowledged that due to thenature of convenience sampling and imperfection of some items that need to beimproved in future research caution should be taken in generalising the resultsof the parameter estimates from this study as the ultimate indices of theYemeni national identity Data from a new sample should be used in the futureresearch for estimating the parameters of Yemeni national identity forcross-validation with other studies or for marketing practice Nevertheless as

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

657

evidenced by the acceptable global and local fit measures as well as the ECVIshowing the attainability from cross-validation the two modified NATIDmodels indicate that national identity and its measurement can be used formarketers to identify the Yemeni consumersrsquo unique characteristics in theirmarketing decisions

From the substantive and empirical viewpoints the results from this studypoint to three important areas for future research First since the two resultantalternative measurement models are results from the exploratory approachusing one Yemeni sample data the results of the goodness of fit suggestattainability of the two alternative models for Yemeni national identity butfurther validation of the models is needed with new sample data from Yemen

Second the goodness of fit for the two alternative models indicates theirrepresentativeness of Yemeni national identity but the use of Yemeni sampledata restricts the results from being generalised to other cultures Furtherresearch with new sample data from Yemen and other cultural contexts throughsimultaneous multi-group CFA testing is needed to establish equivalence andinvariance of the constructs across Yemeni and other cultural contexts

Third because of ` incidental differences in appropriateness of the itemcontentrsquorsquo (van de Vijver and Leung 1997) for a construct across culturescross-cultural measures with equivalence can be achieved by restrictingindicators to those which work in all the cultures under study in which case therange of measurement may be attenuated or alternatively by including both` culturally specificrsquorsquo and ` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (Straus 1969 Ramsey andCollazo 1960 Przeworski and Teune 1966-1967) This gives rise to animportant issue of achieving construct equivalence while attaining optimalrepresentativeness of the construct domain ie achieving cross-culturalconstruct measurement equivalence but also optimising the measurementrsquosdomain representativeness of the construct as it is defined and measuredwithin as well as across those cultures According to Straus (1969) whensearching for cross-cultural measurement equivalence use of the identicalstimuli (ie questions items) in measurement instruments in different culturesfor eliciting and quantifying data (referred to as ` phenomenal identityrsquorsquo) doesnot necessarily result in the measurement of the same variable (referred to as` conceptual equivalencersquorsquo) since the stimuli may have different meanings indifferent cultures Similarly the same manifest response may not have thesame meanings in different cultures This means that phenomenal identity inmeasurement instruments does not necessarily produce conceptual equivalencein the measurement and a conceptually equivalent measure need not (andsometimes cannot) be phenomenally identical It is suggested that the idealsituation is one in which both phenomenal identity and conceptual equivalenceare attainable When it is necessary to depart from phenomenal identity inorder to seek conceptual equivalence a key issue concerns the criteria fordetermining if there is in fact conceptual equivalence One of the approaches toassess whether conceptual equivalence has been attained is to perform

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

InternationalMarketingReview196

658

construct validation However the current literature on cross-culturalmeasurement equivalence has not advanced in

criteria for validating equivalence when using a combination of` culturally universalrsquorsquo and ` culturally specificrsquorsquo items (ie items withoutphenomenal identity)

criteria for validating equivalence between using identical stimuli (iephenomenally identity) and using both ` culturally specificrsquorsquo and` culturally universalrsquorsquo items (ie items without phenomenal identity) and

criteria for assessing the extent of attenuation (or optimisation) ofconstruct domain representativeness when measure items are ` purifiedrsquorsquoto retain those which work in all cultures under study

This study has resulted in two alternative modified NATID measurementmodels both of which can be regarded as attainable in terms of the global fitand adequacy of the construct measurement Evaluation of the two alternativemodels (and possibly together with data from other cultural contexts) calls forfurther research that provides concrete and objective criteria for assessing themodel superiority between two acceptable models with regard to the choicebetween phenomenal identity and departure from phenomenal identity subjectto optimising construct domain representativeness

Notes

1 Unlike the drug culture in the West involving soft drugs qat consumption is legally andsocially sanctioned in Yemen It is consumed in public and often in a conspicuous manneras to many people it is regarded prestigious Qat consumption implies gregariousness aquality that is highly regarded in Yemeni culture Qat parties usually take place in thedecorated pavilion or Mafraj situated on a roof or in the garden and provide a forum forthe exchange of information and for political and legal discussions They are the hub ofthe local communication system an institutionalised grapevine for local news usuallylasting for four to five hours beginning after lunch

2 Five of the original items were amended during the back-translation process Item B1 inNATID used the phrase ` specific religious philosophyrsquorsquo which was found to be culturallyambiguous and unintelligible by Yemeni translators Thus this item was modified with ` aspecific religious dogmarsquorsquo in its Arabic version Regarding item B2 the translators reportedthat in an almost entirely Muslim country ` keeping the religious practicesrsquorsquo was moreeasily understandable than the original phrase ` some form of religious activityrsquorsquo Hencethis item was rephrased as `A true Yemeni is one who follows the religious practicesrsquorsquo ForItem E1 a phrase ` rather than imported products rsquorsquo was added in order to avoidconfusion Item E4 required an amendment due to the lack of relevance in the specificcultural environment a less-developed country In the developed world it is often the casethat locally produced goods using high labour and utility costs cost more at retail pricesthan imported goods produced in countries with low labour and utility costs Thus inorder to support the local economy one might be prepared to pay more for locally madesubstitutes However in a less developed country such as Yemen locally manufacturedgoods are perceived as having lower quality than imported goods and retailed at a lowerprice than equivalent imported goods Thus the consumer has the choice of taking a cut inquality in order to support the local economy Hence this item was modified as `Yemeniproduced products are of lower quality than others but we should support the nationaleconomyrsquorsquo

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

References

Adler N (1983) `A typology of management studies involving culturersquorsquo Journal of InternationalBusiness Studies Vol 14 No 3 pp 29-47

Anderson JC and Gerbing DW (1988) ` Structural equation modeling in practice a review andrecommended two-step approachrsquorsquo Psychological Bulletin Vol 103 pp 411-23

Bagozzi RP (1981) `Attitudes intentions and behavior a test of some key hypothesesrsquorsquo Journalof Personality and Social Psychology Vol 41 No 4 pp 607-27

Bagozzi RP (1994) ` Structural equation models in marketing research basic principlesrsquorsquo inBagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research Blackwell Publishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Baumgartner H (1994) `The evaluation of structural equation models andhypothesis testingrsquorsquo in Bagozzi RP (Ed) Principles of Marketing Research BlackwellPublishers Malden MA

Bagozzi RP and Phillips LW (1982) ` Representing and testing organizational theories aholistic construalrsquorsquo Administrative Science Quarterly Vol 27 pp 459-89

Baumgartner H and Homburg C (1996) `Applications of structural equation modeling inmarketing and consumer research a reviewrsquorsquo International Journal of Research inMarketing Vol 13 pp 139-61

National identityand NATID

659

3 Several considerations were accounted for sampling because of the unique culturalenvironment in Yemen Owing to the exclusive use of PO boxes by the postal service andthe poor rate of uptake by the Yemenis the postal survey would be unreliable for thisstudy The lack of accurate and up-to-date population census data that are necessary forconstructing a sampling frame coupled with cultural restrictions on the interviewing offemale respondents by male interviewers rendered any type of probability samplinginapplicable The male-dominated society would lead to bias towards the opinions of themale members of a household if a household by household ` drop-off and pick-uprsquorsquosampling technique were used The `mall-interceptrsquorsquo method used in the previous NATIDstudies was inapplicable to this specific cultural equivalent ie the open marketplacebecause requesting the stating of personal views on questions relating to religion andnational identity in a public place would be unacceptable and the tendency for people tocrowd around the researcher would lead to respondent bias due to interference fromoutsiders Owing to these cultural and practical constraints the convenience samplemethod was used

4 The official statistics (Republic of Yemen 1998) show the population over the age of 14 are47 per cent of the total Yemeni population According to the US Bureau of the Census(httpwwwcensusgov) in 2001 the population of the age under 14 are 47 per cent the agebetween 15-24 are 22 per cent the age between 25-34 are 11 per cent and the age between35-44 are 8 per cent and the age between 55-64 are 3 per cent of the total Yemenipopulation

5 When analysing data under non-normality weighted least squares (WLS) procedure inLISREL830 is preferred by some researchersHowever when the number of measurementitems are equal to or more than 12 (which is the case in this study) WLS requires thesample size to be at least 15q(q+1) (q is the number of the items) (JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom1986) to estimate the asymptotic covariance matrix accurately When the sample size doesnot meet this criterion the maximum likelihood (ML) method is to be preferred to WLS(JoEgravereskog and SoEgraverbom 1988) The ML method is known for its robustness with the samplesize similar to the one in this study (Jaccard and Wan 1996 Hu and Bentler 1999)

6 The cutoff criteria were printed as CFI lt 095 and SRMR gt 009 (or 010) in Hu andBentlerrsquos (1999) article It was clarified through correspondence with Bentler that theyshould have been stated as CFI gt 095 and SRMR lt 009

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