Cross-Cultural Issues in Consumer Behavior

Cross-Cultural Issues in
Consumer Behavior
SHARON SHAVITT
University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign

ANGELA Y. LEE
Northwestern University

CARLOS

J. TORELLI

University of Minnesota

ne of the most difficult choices that multinational corporations face is deciding whether to run the same marketing campaign globally or to customize it to the local taste in different countries. In many cases, companies develop their marketing strategy in one country and then do "disaster checking" as they launch the same strategy in other countries instead of trying to discover what would work best in each market (Clegg, 2005). This often leads to ineffective marketing campaigns and damaged reputations. As new global markets emerge, and existing markets become increasingly segmented along ethnic or subcultural lines, the need to market effectively to consumers who have different cultural values has never been more important. Thus, it is no surprise that in the last decade or so, culture has rapidly emerged as a central focus of research in consumer behavior.

O

What Is Culture?
Culture consists of shared elements that provide the standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, communicating, and acting among those who share a language, a historical period, and a geographic location. As a psychological construct,
217

I

RT94983.indb 217

7/15/08 2:10:47 PM

I

218

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

culture can be studied in multiple ways-across nations, across ethnic groups within nations, across individuals within nations (focusing on cultural orientation), and even across situations within individuals through the priming of cultural values. As will be discussed presently, regardless of how culture is studied, cultural distinctions have been demonstrated to have important implications for advertising content, persuasiveness of appeals, consumer motivation, consumer judgment processes, and consumer response styles.

Coverage

References: Dube (1994) in text ordeleteenlryfrom Aaker, J . L -, Benet-Martinez, V., & Garolera, J • (2001) . Consumption symbols as carriers of culture: A study of Japanese and Spanish brand personality constructs Aaker, J. L., & Lee, A. Y. (2001). 'T ' seek pleasures and "we" avoid pains: The role of selfregulatory goals in information processing and persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 28(1), 33-49. Aaker, J. L., & Maheswaran, D. (1997). The effect of cultural orientation on persuasion. Aaker, J. L., & Sengupta, J. (2000). Addivity versus attenuation: The role of culture in the resolution of information incongruity Aaker, J. L., & Williams, P. (1998). Empathy versus pride: The influence of emotional appeals across cultures Agrawal, N., & Malleswaran, D. (2005). The effects of self-construal and commitment on persuasion Alden, D. L., Hoyer, W. D., & Lee, C. (1993). IdentifYing global and culture-specific dimensions of humor in advertising: A multinational analysis. Journal of Marketing, 57(2), 64-75. Bagozzi, R. P., Wong, N., Abe, S., & Bergami, M. (2000). Cultural and situational contingencies and the theory of reasoned action: Application to fast food restaurant consumption. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 9(2), 97-106. Batra, R., Ramaswamy, v., Alden, D. L., Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M., & Ramachander, S. (2000). Bellall, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1985). Habits ofthe heart: Individualism and commitment in American life Betsky, A. (1997). Icons: Magnets of meaning. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. Blodgett, J. G., Lu, L.-C., Rose, G. M., & Vitell, S. J. (2001). Ethical sensitivity to stakeholder interests: A cross-cultural comparison. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 29(2), 190-202. Bond, M. H. (2002). Reclaiming the individual from Hofstede 's ecolOgical analysis-A 20-year odyssey: Comment on Oyserman et al Brewer, M. B., & Chen, Y.-R. (2007). Where (who) are collectives in collectivism? Toward conceptual clarification of individualism and collectivism Brewer, M. B., & Gardner, W. (1996). Who is this "we"? Levels of collective identity and self representations Briley, D. A., & Aaker, J. L. (2006). When does culture matter? Effects of personal knowledge on the correction of culture-based judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3),395--408. Briley, D. A., Morris, M. W, & Simonson, I. (2005). Cultural chameleons: Biculturals, conformity motives, and decision making Briley, D. A., & Wyer, R. S., Jr. (2002). The effect of group membership salience on the avoidance of negative outcomes: Implications for social and consumer decisions. Chen, H., Ng, S., & Rao, A. R. (2005). Cultural differences in consumer impatience. Journal of Marketing Research, 42(3), 291-301. Chiu, C.-y., & Hong, Y.-y. (2006). Social psychology ofculture. New York: Psychology Press. Cho, B., Kwon, U., Gentry, J. W, Jun, S., & Kropp, F. (1999). Cultural values reflected in theme and execution: A comparative study of U.S Choi, I., Dalal, R., Kim-Prieto, C., & Park, H. (2003). Culture and judgement of causal relevance Choi, S. M., Lee, W.-N., & Kim, H.-J. (2005). Lessons from the rich and famous: A crossculhlral comparison of celebrity endorsement in advertising. Journal of Advertising, 34(2), 85-98. Clegg, A. (2005). A word to the worldly-wise. Marketing Week, 28(42), 43--48. Crowe, E., & Higgins, E. (1997). Regulatory focus and strategic inclinations: Promotion and prevention in deCiSion-making di Benedetto, C. A., Tamate, M., & Chandran, R. (1992). Developing creative advertising strategy for the Japanese marketplace Dwyer, S., Mesak, H., & Hsu, M. (2005). An exploratory examination of the influence of national culture on cross-national product diffusion Earley, P. C. (1999). Playing follow the leader: Status-determining traits in relation to collective efficacy across cultures. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 80(3), 192-212. Eya!, T., Liberman, N., Trope, Y., & Walther, E. (2004). The pros and cons of temporally near and distant action Forster, J., Higgins, T. E., & Bianco, A. T. (2003). Speed/accuracy decisions in task performance: Built-in trade-off or separate strategic concerns? Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 90(1), 148-164. Fu, J. H.-y., Chiu, C.-y., Morris, M. W, & Young, M. J. (2007). Spontaneous inferences from cultural cues: Varying responses of cultural insiders and outsiders Gabriel, S., & Gardner, W L. (1999). Are there "his" and "hers" types of interdependence? The implications of gender differences in collective versus relational interdependence racial/ethnic identity and moderated by gender. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72(6), 1460-1476.