A Consumer Perspective on Reshoring Production: Insights from Sweden

Abstract: Background: Reshoring refers to the process of bringing back manufacturing activities from foreign countries to the home country. The phenomenon is receiving increasing attention from companies and academics for factors such as increasing labor costs in offshore locations, supply chain disruptions, and a growing preference for locally made products. Sweden is home to many world-renowned multinational companies and multinational brands, many of which have established production operations in developing countries. However, reshoring from a consumer-side perspective has not received much research attention, especially from a Swedish consumer perspective. Purpose: This study investigates factors influencing Swedish consumers’ purchase intention on reshored products. This study focuses on five factors: brand attitude, social acceptability, individual ethnocentrism, made-in effect, and perceived social responsibility.  Methodology: This study adopts a quantitative research design and conducts a questionnaire regarding reshored apparel among Swedish consumers to test hypotheses. The data was collected through a web-based survey that 151 respondents answered. Findings: The empirical results indicate that brand attitude, social acceptability, and perceived social responsibility positively affect Swedish consumers' purchase intention on reshored apparel, while individual ethnocentrism and made-in effect do not have any significant effect.  Contributions: This study contributes to a deeper understanding of the implications of reshoring from a demand-side perspective, complementing the reshoring literature that primarily focuses on the business perspective. As the study is limited to a Swedish context, it provides a deeper understanding of Swedish consumers and their influence on reshored products.