INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

RESEARCH

Submitted by – PRAGATI PURWAR

COURSE – MIB 2 SEM

ERP ID. – 0190MIB041

TOPIC -- CROSS-CULTURAL
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
 ABSTRACTS

1. AN INTEGRATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR CROSS CULTURAL CONSUMER

BEHAVIOUR
The world economy is becoming increasingly cross-cultural. During the next decades, as marketers enter
new international markets, an understanding of how culture influences consumer behaviour will be
crucial for both managers and consumer researchers.

CROSS CULTURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR – It means comparison of consumer behaviour of two

different cultures.

The study of how consumer makes decisions about what they need want and Desire and how do they buy
use and dispose of goods of two different cultures is simply means cross-cultural consumer behaviour.

IMPORTANCE - to understand what influences the buying decisions of the consumers and why does it
show by this it is possible for marketers to fill the gap and identify which product is needed.

Eg. -- McDonald’s in Spain is better than America because of the menu in Spain it has some unique
dishes evening to appeal to those Mediterranean taste buds.

2. CULTURE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

CULTURE – Idea, beliefs, customs or social behaviour of a particular people or society.

Culture literacy is very important to marketers. If a person had to sell its product the person had to gone
through the culture of that particular place.

Eg. - A Chinese consumer may like a cup of coffee that sells at 29yuan more than that of of same
identical cup of coffee at 24yuan , because 4 is believe to be unlucky and 8 to be a lucky no.in Chinese
culture.

Cultural illiteracy could evoke strong negative emotions towards the brand and also among consumers.

Eg. When IPhone 3GSintroduced in Japan the product topped the list of bestselling smartphones. But
when Nokia’s dual mode introduced in japan it failed because of lack of awareness that Japan prefer
internet phones more than dual mode phones.

The biggest example of cross cultural consumer behaviour is of McDonald’s. It is serving in so many
countries by adapting and analysing the culture of the country like U.K, SPAIN, INDIA, U.S, etc.
3. CROSS CULTURAL AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
Until recently, very few serious research articles on cross-cultural have appeared in consumer research
journals and publications. Typical cross-cultural research studies involve a comparison of two countries
or regions (sometimes more).The following are some examples of recent studies:

Europe and Turkey and the United States (Ger and Belk, 1990); Romania and Turkey (Ger et al., 1993);
Canada and Germany (Rudmin, 1990); and the United States and the Netherlands (Dawson and Bamossy,
1990). . Rudmin (1990) used cross-cultural psychological methods to study German and Canadian data
on motivations for ownership. The scales and constructs he used were developed in the North American
context and then applied to the German data. Interpretations of the results were based on theories
developed mostly by American social theorists, Dewey and Mead. One could argue that Canada and
Germany are comparable because these regions share Eurocentric perspectives and, therefore, that it is
not necessary to take into account differential cultural norms and behaviours.

4. PRINCIPLES OF GENERALIZATION IN CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMER

BEHAVIOR
Comparison in this sense means cross-cultural comparison. Researchers speak of generalizations when
comparisons lead to valid generalizations across cultures on the basis of cross-cultural similarities. Of
critical importance here is that in moving from description to generalization, researchers lose a lot of
richness of data and begin to make unrealistic assumptions about the nature of reality. The positivist
tradition aims to generate universal principles of behaviour across different cultural settings.

The typical cross-cultural study is directed toward the analysis of a relatively small number of traits over
a relatively large number of societies.

Cross-cultural analysis makes sense only in an intellectual context that stresses the fundamental general
similarities among separate societies that are different in detail.

The term cross-cultural is more recent and is much looser in its orientation. Cross-cultural comparison
originated as a method of generating and testing hypotheses derived from the positivistic paradigms in
the social sciences that tend to regard comparisons within a unified framework.
5. INTERACTION OF CULTURE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The study of culture is the study of all aspects of a society. It is the language, knowledge, laws, and
customs that give society its distinctive character and personality. The impact of culture is so natural and
ingrained that its influence on behaviour is rarely noted. Yet, culture offers order, direction, and guidance
to members of society in all phases of human problem solving.

Culture is dynamic, and gradually and continually evolves to meet the needs of society. Culture is learned
as part of social experience. Children acquire from their environment a set of beliefs, values, and customs
that constitute culture (i.e., they are uncultured). These are acquired through formal learning, informal
learning, and technical learning.

Advertising enhances formal learning by reinforcing desired modes of behaviour and expectations; it
enhances informal learning by providing models for behaviour. Culture is communicated to members of
the society through a common language and through commonly shared symbols. Because the human
mind has the ability to absorb and process symbolic communication, marketers can successfully promote
both tangible and intangible products and product concepts to consumers through mass media.

The elements of culture are transmitted by three pervasive social situations: the family, the church, and
the school. A fourth social institution that plays a major role in the transmission of culture is the mass
media, both through editorial content and through advertising.

6. ROLE OF CULTURE ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The culture a person is born into goes a long way toward determining that individual's behaviour
patterns, beliefs and values. Culture is defined as a shared set of practices or beliefs among a group of
people in a particular place and time. Marketers, analysts and consumers themselves use an awareness
of culture to learn how and why consumers in a particular culture behave the way they do. Culture is
an important factor in determining consumer behaviour.

It explains why some products sell well in certain regions or among specific groups, but not as well
elsewhere. Besides purchasing decisions, culture also affects how consumers use the products they buy
and how they dispose of them. Product use helps marketers position their products differently in each
market, while the culture's effects on product disposal can lead governments to adopt more effective
recycling and waste reduction strategies.

Consumers can examine how members of other cultures use the same products, or fulfil the same
needs with different products, as a way to find more efficient, cost-effective options in the marketplace.
7. CULTURAL FACTORS AND CONUMER BEHAVIOUR
The Cultural Factors are the factors that an individual learns at a very early stage of life due to
socialization within the family and other key institutions, such as the set of values, preferences, behavior
patterns, and perceptions are learned as the individual grows. Cultural factors comprise of set of values
and ideologies of a particular community or group of individuals. cultural factors exert great influences
on buying behaviour

For example, in the West, it is common to invite colleagues or friends at home for a drink or dinner. In
Japan, on the contrary, invite someone home does not usually fit into the local customs. It is preferable to
do that this kind of outing with friends or colleagues in restaurant.

8. IMPACT OF CULTURAL FACORTS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

An individual and a consumer is led by his culture, his subculture, his social class, his membership
groups, his family, his personality, his psychological factors, etc. and is influenced by cultural trends as
well as his social and societal environment. By identifying and understanding the factors that influence
their customers, brands have the opportunity to develop a strategy, a marketing message (Unique Value
Proposition) and advertising campaigns more efficient and more in line with the needs and ways of
thinking of their target consumers, a real asset to better meet the needs of its customers and increase
sales.

1. CULTURE

McDonald s is a brilliant example of adaptation to the specificities of each culture and each market
Basically, culture is the part of every society and is the important cause of person wants and behaviour.
The influence of culture on buying behaviour varies from country to country therefore marketers have to
be very careful in analysing the culture of different groups, regions or even countries. Throughout his
existence, an individual will be influenced by his family, his friends, his cultural environment or society
that will teach him values, preferences as well as common behaviours to their own culture.

2. SUB-CULTURE

Subcultures are groups of people who share the same values based on a common experience or a similar
lifestyle in general. Each culture contains different subcultures such as religions, nationalities, geographic
regions, racial groups etc. Marketers can use these groups by segmenting the market into various small
portions. For example in recent years, the segment of ethnic cosmetics has greatly expanded. These are
products more suited to non-Caucasian populations and to types of skin pigmentation for African, Arab
or Indian populations for example.

3. SOCIAL CLASS

Social classes are defined as groups more or less homogenous and ranked against each other according to
a form of social hierarchy. A consumer from the lower class will be more focused on price. While a
shopper from the upper class will be more attracted to elements such as quality, 55 innovation, features,
or even the social benefit that he can obtain from the product.

9. THE EFFECT OF VALUE ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Values can be divided into many different groups , cultural/ethnic values, family values and individual
values.

Cultural/ethnic values -- The context of consumer behavior, culture refers to the collective memory.
Culture affects people in two ways: Create consists of the history, values, beliefs, social structure,
religion and ways of living and relationships. These grow up from childhood. Culture is also typical by
external factors such as different symbols, traditions, rituals and heroes. Each created a cultural
environment and it shapes a person’s personality. It adopts the practices, models, values and attitudes.
Culture changes slowly over time.

Family values -- The family has really strong influence on consumer behavior. If the family will
appreciate, for example ethics, it will be seen for sure in the future of children. And if parents will
appreciate certain kinds of values it has impact on younger values. Family members have an effect on
decisions. This means that family decisions are often together, and each consumer’s decision to
participate in more than one person. Human behavior is largely learned. Often people learn the values at
an early stage, for example, from school or from parents.
Individual values -- Today, the environment is considered very important and appreciated. It also shows
the consumers behaviors because today favor the environment to support and promote the products.
That’s a big part of our life nowadays. Consumer behavior depends on personal factors such as age, stage
of life, occupation, education, income, lifestyle. At different ages and stages of life, consumers have
different needs, desires and values. Furthermore, the economic situation, education, occupation, lifestyle,
and personality influence the issues on which the consumer is interested in, and what services and
products they use at the moment. Different economical circumstance influences consumer behavior,
because for example of the different life situations may not be used in the same way money

10. THE EFFECT OF SYMBOLS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Most research in this area has explored the impact of language on consumers' cognition, for the most part
in an advertising context. The study of cognition and cognitive structures lends itself naturally to being
studied through the tools of cognitive psychology. Hence, several studies in this area apply
psycholinguistics theories to consumer information processing. The study of language in advertising has
experienced increased attention from researchers.

Studies that focus on the impact of symbols on the observed behaviour of consumers across cultures
follow two distinct methodologies. Some practice traditional methods adopted from psychology (or
psycholinguistics), and others employ an interpretative approach in the anthropological tradition. The
former tend to focus on the role of language on consumers' behaviour, while the latter venture into
symbols other than language.

11. THE EFFECT OF RITUALS ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Few cross-cultural studies explore the role of rituals in consumer behaviour. Mehta and Belk's (1991)
study of the possession ritual of Indians and Indian immigrants to the USA. The authors describe the use
of possessions by immigrants in securing identity. Possessions are seen as a symbol to retain their Indian
identity in public settings, and the possession ritual helps shape their cognitive structures, their perception
of the self. Arnold (1989) describes the preference formation process within ritualistic behaviour in the
Niger Republic and also how rituals influence the behaviour of consumers in that culture. Solomon and
Anand (1985) describe how female rites of passage in contemporary New York determine clothing
consumption.

12. INDIVIDUALISM-COLLECTIVISM AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMER

CONSUMPTION BEHAVIORS
This refers to ―the relationship between the individual and the collectively that prevails in a given
society‖ (Hofstede 1980). It is reflected in the way people live together, and is intimately linked to
societal norms (Hofstede 1980). Individualism pertains to societies where ties between people are loose,
and everyone is expected only to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family.
Collectivism on the other hand, refers to societies in which people are integrated into strong, cohesive
ingroups, which throughout people‘s lifetime continue to protect them in exchange for unquestioning
loyalty (Hofstede 1991). There is value implications involved here. For example, in some cultures,
individualism is widely accepted and seen as a blessing, while in other cultures, it regards individualism
as alienating and as a character flaw. The consumer behaviors associated with the cultural dimension of
individualism-collectivism are all pertaining to the behavior of people in groups, their relationships with
others and their perceptions of themselves in relation to others. These consumer behaviors are reference
group influence, information sharing, self-concept, family orientation, opinion leadership and
ethnocentrism.

13. UNCERTAINTY AVOIDANCE AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMER

CONSUMPTION

BEHAVIORS
A basic fact of human life is the uncertainty regarding the future and the means and ways through which
human beings try to cope with this uncertainty Using technology, law and religion. But will always face
an uncertain future and are conscious of it. Furthermore, as extreme uncertainty causes anxiety and stress,
society has to develop ways to cope with living on the brink of an uncertain future. Technology, law and
religion thus become the means through which it defends us against this prevailing uncertainty (Hofstede
1980).

One of the main concepts behind uncertainty avoidance is the ability to tolerate risk. Therefore, when
identifying the consumer behaviours related to uncertainty avoidance, it is necessary to determine those
with an element of risk or uncertainty involved as these will be the behaviours most affected.

14. MASCULINITY VERSUS FEMININITY AND IMPACT ON CONSUMER

CONSUMPTION BEHAVIORS
Another fundamental fact that different societies deal with in different ways is the duality of the sexes.
The main issue in this concept is whether biological differences between males and females should have
any implications on their societal roles. The agents of socialisation – families, schools, peer groups and
the media – are crucial in sex role distribution and transference of ideas in society. The predominant
pattern of socialisation however, is for men to be assertive and for women to be nurturing. This pattern
leads to men being more dominant in politics, economics, and within the household.

In general, girls are usually socialised towards nurturance and responsibility while boys are socialised
towards achievement and self-reliance.

The masculinity-femininity dimension developed by Hofstede (1980) is thus derived from the sex roles
characteristics. It further states that masculine cultures will place more emphasis on tasks, money,
achievements, and performance, while feminine cultures value the quality of life, helping others,
74preserving the environment and not drawing attention to oneself (Hofstede1980).

The fundamental idea behind masculinity is the differentiation of sex roles within society. This idea is
manifested when it comes to decision making in the family.

15. THE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON CULTURE AND CONSUMER

Globalization has caused dramatic changes to business practices around the world. Companies such as
IBM, Intel, Microsoft, and Philips have started to outsource specialists from various parts of the world,
causing job shifts and changes in companies ‘structures.

―Globalization‖ refers to the process of increasing social and cultural inter connectedness, political
interdependence, and economic, financial and market integrations that are driven by advances in
communication and transportation technologies, and trade liberalization. Some definitions of
globalization focus solely on cross-border trade -- for example, globalization as the absence of borders
and barriers to trade between nations (Ohmae, 1995).

Globalization has resulted in increased access to more goods for consumers in many countries (Evenett,
1999), reduced prices due to competition with local monopolies, and increased food supply due to
industrial agricultural in some countries (Mander and Goldsmith, 1996).

16. CONSUMERISM AS A CULTURAL PHENOMENON

Consumerism As An Ethno cultural Phenomenon After pursuing literature on cross-cultural fieldwork in
different settings and varied forms of cultural and textual material, consumer behavior should be consider
all as primarily sociocultural phenomena that must, therefore, be discussed in sociocultural terms. There
is a confusion in the field (consumer behavior or, more generally, marketing) that results from observing
behaviour at the individual level and subsequently regarding the phenomenon itself as individualistic.
The argument is less than convincing, because it has been chosen to study consumer behavior at the
individual level.
In fact, quite often, it describes consumer behavior as cultural group, explicitly or implicitly, as the level
of analysis-Americans, Californians, Indians, Hispanics, and so forth. The reason for it is because only at
that level does consumer behavior seem to make intuitive sense.

17. CONSUMERISM AS A GLOBAL CULTURAL PHENOMENON

No culture stands still. There is no such thing as a pure culture except in the minds of people. By both
definition and historical circumstance, cultural phenomena are subject to change. Cultures evolve
constantly, because of either their own internal dynamics or external (global) influences. About the only
thing that can be said in regard to cultural change, or constancy is that some cultures change more rapidly
than other cultures, and some cultures may experience more rapid changes at some points in their history
than at other times. History is full of examples of how cultures have changed because of external
influences.

The rise of Buddhism in China and Japan and other Eastern countries in ancient times and the spread of
Christianity and Islam during the first millennium are good examples of how cultural changes were
brought about globally. Similarly, the expansion of colonial regimes to Africa, Asia, and South America
in more

18. ETHNICITY AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMER CONSUMPTION

BEHAVIOR
The burgeoning interest in the topic of ethnicity among consumer researchers in the United States
demonstrates just how important this area of research has become. The increase in consumer research
interest is partly a result of the changing ethnic landscape of the United States, especially in the states of
California, Texas, Florida, and New York, 3 which have been affected by recent immigrants from
Mexico, Latin America, and Asia. In the field of consumer behavior, ethnic research is not recent. The
first wave of ethnic-oriented studies was reported in the literature in the mid-1960s to the late 1970s and
focused primarily on Blacks. See Engel, Blackwell, and Kollat (1978) for a summary of these studies.

19. POWER DISTANCE AND ITS IMPACT ON CONSUMER CONSUMPTION

BEHAVIORS
The concept of human inequality is the basic issue involved in power distance. Such inequality can occur
in areas such as prestige, wealth and power and these are given different emphasis in different societies.
However, a ―pecking order‖ will always exist in every society. The only variation across cultures is how
dominance is worked out in human social existence. Some have elaborate, formal structures of
dominance; others go to great lengths to de-emphasise dominance (Hofstede 1980). The terms caste,
estate and class are the three types of rank inequalities used to differentiate society into different
functional areas (Bohannan 1969).

Consumer behaviors that are associated with power distance should be influenced by cultural differences
associated with the degree of respect given to authoritative and powerful figures in societies. In view of
this, opinion seeking is suggested as the one factor that can vary according to differences in power
distance.

20. CROSS CULTURAL VARIATIONS IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The global marketplace is getting congested with inter-market segmentation comprising consumers of
various ethnic groups. Such attributes of markets have posed uphill challenges to the companies to
develop marketing strategies that caters to the consumer preferences of varied cultural backgrounds. The
cross-cultural variations often build discontentment among consumers as their preferences are not
meticulously attended by the companies. This chapter defines culture and describes the cross-cultural
drivers with a focus on cultural diversity, gender, society, and personality perspectives. The discussions
in the chapter argue that the cultural interventions have become very subtle with the increasing market
competition, and uniform marketing strategy does not cater to the cross-cultural consumer segments.

21. CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR AND MULTINATIONAL

STRATEGIES
Today, almost all major corporations are actively marketing their products beyond their original
homeland borders. In fact, the issue is generally not whether to market a brand in other countries but
rather how to do it. Because of this emphasis on operating as a multinational entity, the vocabulary of
marketing now includes terms such as global, which refers to companies that are both “global” and
“local”.

Marketers must learn everything that is relevant to the product and product category in the society in
which they plan to market, and then they must persuade the members of that society to break with their
traditional ways of doing things to adopt the new product. There is an urgent need for more systematic
and conceptual cross-cultural analyses of the psychological, social, and cultural characteristics
concerning the consumption habits of foreign consumers. Such analyses would identify increased
marketing opportunities that would benefit both international marketers and their targeted consumers. So
marketers should conduct extensive cross-cultural research and set multinational strategies accordingly.

22. CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMER RESEARCH IN INDIA

With the emergence of India as a world market, the importance of understanding its consumer activities
has become critical. This paper examines current literature addressing cross-cultural consumer research.
Specifically, consumer research in demographics, psychographics, decision making, and the diffusion of
innovation is examined from the perspective of extending these areas of study to the Indian market. The
review examines the state of cross-cultural research, identifies areas that need to be more fully addressed
by marketing researchers, and discusses implications with regard to the Indian market.

23. CROSS CULTURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR AN INTERNATIONAL

PERSPECTIVE
Most marketers agree that it is important to be a global marketer in order to survive in the market. But
they also realize there are serious challenges in global marketing.Most governments are working to help
the movement of goods and services by creating changes in their government. Consider the European
Union’s effort to form a single market and the establishment of NAFTA, which aids the U.S., Canada,
and Mexico in trade relations. In addition to changes in these large countries, marketers must realize that
about 85% of the world’s population live in what are classified as emerging markets and include Brazil,
Russia, India, and China to name a few. These countries, like the rest of the world, are being exposed to
cultures from other countries and have increased interest in global products.

24. CURRENT ISSUES IN THE CROSS-CULTURAL AND CROSS-NATIONAL

CONSUMER RESEARCH
A conceptual model of effects of culture on consumer behaviour is developed in this paper. The model
focuses on the social, personal, and psychological components/consequences of culture and identifies
intermediary variables and processes associated with each of these three components.

The findings in the literature represent that Islam refers to the norms and moral standards, which
elaborate responsible and efficient consumption and suggest that Muslims should use Culture is a vital
strength arising from the interaction of people who share the same values in a specific geographic. 
Religion is a system of symbols, which treat to determine strong, widespread beliefs and attitudes in
individuals by formulating ideas of a common order on presence Geertz (1973) Subjective norms
attitudes towards behaviour SN is related to the perception of social influences that tolerate or do not
tolerate the behaviour Individuals' attitudes towards a specific behaviour determine their set of beliefs
that might turn into an intention to apply the Luxury products Items which are not needed for daily life
contribute to luxurious living and help the owner to obtain esteem from others their budget for goodwill
and to arrange for future uncertainty Islamic philosophy implies that the primary guide for Muslims is the
Holy Quran and the Sunnah and symbolises the unchangeable standards .

25. CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN CONSUMER DECISION MAKING

STYLE
This article compares consumer decision‐making styles between Singaporeans and Australians. Utilising
Hofstede’s framework, the paper argues that cultural dimensions influence consumer decision making
styles. It is essential that managers understand cross‐cultural consumer decision‐making styles to make
strategic decisions or effectively handle members of these nationalities. Marked differences were found
between the two populations for: brand consciousness, innovativeness and overchoice confusion. The
results suggest that some consumer decision‐making styles differ due to consumers’ cultural values.

26. CROSS CULTURAL CONSUMER RESEARCH – DEALING WITH ISSUES

EMERGING FROM GLOBALISATION AND FRAGMENTATION
To understand the effects of globalization and fragmentation, macro marketing scholars need insights
about links between individual consumer behaviour and societal outcomes. The challenge in this regard
is to create a program of macro oriented cross-cultural research. This article offers a cross-cultural
consumer behaviour research framework for this purpose. The framework encompasses four key areas of
consumer behaviour that are related to the forces of globalization and fragmentation, including the
environment, identity, wellbeing, and market structure and policy. A discussion of these substantive areas
is followed by a suggested macro-micro oriented research agenda and a call for paradigm plurality in
pursuing this agenda.
27.CONVERGENCE AND DIVERGENCE IN CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR –
IMPLICATIONS FOR GLOBAL ADVERTISING
One aspect of globalisation is the convergence of income, media and technology, which in turn is
expected to lead to homogeneous consumer behaviour. This convergence thesis is increasingly
questioned. With converging national wealth there still is substantial variation of consumer behaviour
across nations, which is not disappearing. Variation is found in all aspects of consumer behaviour: in
consumption of packaged goods, in usage and ownership of durable goods, and in media behaviour. With
disappearing differences of GNP per capita, culture is a powerful explaining variable. This paper
provides evidence of divergence of consumer behaviour rather than convergence, it describes the
influence of culture, how cultural variables can explain variance of consumption, and presents the
consequences for international brand management and for global advertising.

28. METHODOLOGY IN CROSS CULTURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The present study reviews the methodologies used in recent cross-cultural consumer studies. We examine
published cross-cultural consumer studies in nineteen journals between 1991 and 1996 in terms of
research design, data equivalence and reliability check, as well as data analysis methods. Results show
that despite the increase in international business activities and the great efforts spent in advancing cross-
cultural business studies, the status of cross-cultural consumer studies remains low. Moreover, it is found
that about half of the recent cross-cultural consumer studies involve only two cultures. Most of the recent
cross-cultural consumer studies have been non-experimental and have used surveys to collect data. In
addition, cross-cultural consumer researchers appear to have paid limited attention to data equivalence
issues. Only a few have reported making attempts to establish metric and sample equivalence. Finally,
recommendations are made to advance the quality of cross-cultural consumer studies.

29. CROSS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

The present study reviews the methodologies used in recent cross-cultural consumer studies. We examine
published cross-cultural consumer studies in nineteen journals between 1991 and 1996 in terms of
research design, data equivalence and reliability check, as well as data analysis methods. Results show
that despite the increase in international business activities and the great efforts spent in advancing cross-
cultural business studies, the status of cross-cultural consumer studies remains low. Moreover, it is found
that about half of the recent cross-cultural consumer studies involve only two cultures. Most of the recent
cross-cultural consumer studies have been non-experimental and have used surveys to collect data. In
addition, cross-cultural consumer researchers appear to have paid limited attention to data equivalence
issues. Only a few have reported making attempts to establish metric and sample equivalence. Finally,
recommendations are made to advance the quality of cross-cultural consumer studies.
30. CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: A REVIEW OF RESEARCH
FINDINGS
Most aspects of consumer behavior are culture-bound. This article reviews the cultural relationships with
the self, personality, and attitude, which are the basis of consumer behavior models and branding and
advertising strategies. The Hofstede model is used to explain variance. Other consumer behavior aspects
reviewed are motivation and emotions, cognitive processes such as abstract versus concrete thinking,
categorization and information processing, as well as consumer behavior domains such as product
ownership, decision making, and adoption and diffusion of innovations. Implications for global branding
and advertising are included.