Reshoring from a demand-side perspective: Consumer reshoring sentiment and its market effects

The article aims is to explore the consumers' beliefs on manufacturing reshoring adopting a quantitative approach based on 1.149 in-depth interviews with costumers. More specifically, authors developed a scale, the Consumer Reshoring Sentiment (CRS), that measures long-term positive beliefs associated by consumers with firms' decisions to reshore earlier offshored production activities. The scale is composed by 18-item and six dimensions: “superior quality of the re-shored production”, “made-in effect”, “competency availability”, “government support”, “greater ability to fulfill needs”, and “ethical issues in host countries”. The study was carried out in Italy, and the validity of the method was then tested in the US. Findings show consumers have a positive attitude towards reshoring companies and a greater propensity to buy their products. The analysis also demonstrates that CRS index concept is separated from consumer ethnocentrism and patriotism issues. Lastly, the paper suggests managers to adopt the index to segment the home-country market.