Article an integrative framework for cross cultural consumer behavior

Article on an integrative framework for cross cultural consumer behavior

1. An Integrative Framework for Cross-Cultural Consumer Behavior Presented By: Kainat Yousaf Komal Shaikh Usman Saleem Sheikh M Gohar Iqbal

2. Purpose The purpose is for the marketers to have a better understanding of the new international markets and the cross cultural factors influencing consumer behavior .

3. Need for the Research Trigger for the study was changing marketplaces. Alternatives were rising of a single product. International competition was pushing local markets to compete in multicultural environment. Marketers needed to understand how culture shapes consumer behavior. Marketers needed a standard through which they could understand the foreign consumers. Existing models were too complicated to put into practice. Strong conceptual frameworks were needed to have a better understanding of the foreign consumers.

4. Challenges Faced By Earlier Marketer's The twentieth century marketers were challenged by the overwhelming multicultural marketplaces. Globalization was opening newer markets for consumers. Foreign consumers had there own cultural values which were not understood by the marketers. Communication media was developing rapidly and thus was exposing consumers to alternatives. Previous models did not gave the marketers substantial knowledge of how the cultural dimensions affect consumer behavior.

5. Impact Of Globalization Globalization has caused dramatic changes to business practices around the world. Globalization brings about a borderless world. Globalization leads to the interconnection between the countries of different culture, cast and heritage. It drives people to change their ways of living, prompts firms to change their ways of conducting business, and, spurs nations to establish new national policies . Firms that respond to these trends have been found to improve their performance. Globalization enables firms to outsource and find customers around the world, e.g., the auto and electronics industries . Globalization can be broadly defined as social, political and economic changes that we all adapt to.

6. Impact Of Globalization Globalization has both positive and negative impacts: POSITIVE IMPACTS NEGATIVE IMPACTS

7. Impact Of Globalization There is a huge Impact of Globalization which can be divided into: CULTURAL IMPACT ECONOMIC IMPACT POLITCAL IMPACT

8. Framework Describing Consumer Behavior Across-Culture Consumer Behavior Across Culture is a powerful source in regulating Human Behavior. Offering a dimentionalization of culture which is both easy to operate and theoretically detailed. Providing a widely accepted definition of consumer behavior in terms of its components instead of only listing consumer behavior which may or may not be affected by culture. Completely integrating and translating current research in light of the interactions between cultural manifestations and consumer behavior.

9. Hofstede’s Definition Of Culture “ The collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another”.

10. Interaction of Culture on Consumer Behavior The model suggests that culture affects consumer behavior which may support the manifestations of culture. These manifestations include Symbols, Values, Heroes and Rituals that any culture has of its own. Symbols are the broad category of process and objects that carry a meaning that is unique to a group of people. Values drive an individuals behavior. For instance happiness would certainly change the behavior. Hero’s refer to individual alive or dead or be they imaginary which posses certain characteristics that are highly prized in a culture. Rituals are sometimes mistakenly interpreted as behavior of religious significance.

11. Emic Approach for Culture Emic definition of culture is it focuses upon the understanding issues from the viewpoint of the subjects being studied . Culture is defined emically as ‘THE LENS” through which all the phenomena are seen. Emic approaches to culture do not intend to directly compare two or more differing cultures but promote a complete understanding of the culture of study through “THICK DESCRIPTION” The methods utilized in conducting emic research provide “CULTURE RICH INFORMATION”

12. Etic Approach for Culture The comparison of one culture with another is an Etic definition of culture. Etic definition of culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group from another. In this approach researchers generally look for universal or cultural free theories and concepts. This approach is typical of cross-cultural psychology and other comparative social sciences.

13. Emic vs Etic Approach The two definitions of culture Emic and Etic can be considered as two sides of the same coin. The choice of emic versus etic approaches depends on several important factors including the nature of research question, the researcher’s resources and training and the purpose of the study. Difference between the two approaches: The difference between emic and etic is that emic is the perspective somebody native to the area has of the area while etic is the perspective an outsider has of the area. By utilizing the research provided by both approaches, we gain a more complete understanding of the culture of interest.

14. Interaction of Culture on Consumer Behavior

15. Interaction of Culture on Consumer Behavior The model suggests that culture affects consumer behavior which may support the manifestations of culture. These manifestations include Symbols, Values, Heroes and Rituals that any culture has of its own. Symbols are the broad category of process and objects that carry a meaning that is unique to a group of people. Values drive an individuals behavior. For instance happiness would certainly change the behavior. Hero’s refer to individual alive or dead or be they imaginary which posses certain characteristics that are highly prized in a culture. Rituals are sometimes mistakenly interpreted as behavior of religious significance.

16. The Effect of Values on Consumer Behavior Cultures in which following tradition is considered a deadly value may have relatively slow adoption. In contrast, cultures in which innovativeness is seen as an important value will have much faster adoption cycles .

17. The Effect of Symbols on Consumer Behavior In advertising research, the resource matching hypothesis predicts that an ad's effectiveness depends on finding a balance between the required and available resources to process the ad.

18. The Effect of Rituals Values on Consumer Behavior Rituals and consumer behavior Consumer purchase models relying on scanner data which incorporate variables such as price, promotions or advertising may need to be generalized to include cultural variables.

19. The Effect of Heroes of Culture on Consumer Behavior Heroes influence the cognitive processes of consumers. Celebrity endorsement operates as a process of meaning transfer. Persona of the celebrity from celebrity into product finally, from product to consumer. Cultural specific heroes and consumer behaviour has effect on consumer decision making Family peer influence in consumer decision .

20. Research Issues for twenty-first century Cultural differences in social groups materialized in four manifestations. Values, Symbols, Rituals and Heroes. Values have received most of the attention. Symbols and Ritual must be more clearly understood in order to better define their effect on the dimensions of consumer behavior. What is the relationship among the different manifestation of culture? Are cultural values always the origin of symbol, ritual and heroes? If values indeed determine the specific form of the other three manifestations, is there also a reciprocal effect? How stable are the manifestation of culture?

21. Conclusion This article provides a framework that integrates and reinterprets current research in cross-cultural consumer behavior. The framework is of a practical nature in that it can be easily operationalized by managers and consumer researchers interested in understanding how culture shapes consumer behavior. This framework is distilled from a more general model of the relationship between culture and consumer behavior. Managers can use the framework as a template to examine how consumers in foreign markets will react to their products or services. For example, a marketer entering a foreign country could research each of the cells in Table I to identify potential culture- related problems or issues. Academic researchers will find the framework useful because it identifies strengths of the current body of literature and the areas that require further attention.

22. Conclusion Additionally, this article attempts to reconcile two different approaches in the study of culture as it affects consumer behavior. Etic and emic philosophies are seen as two sides of the same coin, each complementing the other. Through the integration of previous work on cross-cultural consumer behavior, our framework provides a global view of the interaction of culture and consumer behavior. Consumer researchers must now investigate the areas within the framework for which there is a lack of rigorous study.

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