How does national culture impact on consumers' decision-making styles? A cross cultural study in Brazil, the United States and Japan.
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Introduction
The phenomenon of globalization has changed the way people think, behave and do business. Therefore, to achieve successful outcomes in their marketing strategies, marketers should carefully analyze the intrinsic reasons that motivate consumers to respond positively to these marketing stimuli, and how they make choices. Although consumer decision-making style represents a relatively consistent pattern of cognitive and affective responses, national culture has been proved to impact significantly on individual values and attitudes (Hofstede, 1984), and to have a significant influence on consumer decision-making style (Leo, Bennet, & Hartel, 2005).
This article investigates the relationship between national culture and consumer decision-making styles regarding the purchase of cell phones, a product category that appears to be required by consumers independent of social class, age, gender, race or nationality. It examines how cultural differences impact the way consumers behave during the decision-making process when purchasing the product. To make this research measurable, we have used Hofstede's cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1984) and Sproles and Kendall's (1986) Consumer Style Inventory [CSI] framework on consumers from Brazil, Japan and USA.
Consumer decision-making style has to do with the mental orientation or approach a consumer has towards making choices (Sproles & Kendall, 1986). Previous literature has identified ways to characterize consumer decision-making styles: the consumer typology approach seeks to categorize consumers into groups that are related to retail patronage (Westbrook & Black, 1985); the psychographics/lifestyle approach identifies characteristics related to consumer behavior based on general personality traits, or general needs and values associated with the consumer's general activities, interests or lifestyle (Lastovicka, 1982); the consumer characteristics approach emphasizes the cognitive and affective orientations towards purchasing in consumer decision-making, being of the assumption that consumers possess cognitive and affective orientations to determine their consumer decision-making styles (Fan & Xiao, 1998; Sproles & Kendall, 1986). All three approaches are in agreement that consumers respond to the market with basic decision-making styles. However the consumer characteristics approach has been perceived as more explanatory due to its focus on consumers' mental orientation (Lysonski, Durvasula, & Zotos, 1996), and it will be applied in this article.
Understanding cross-cultural decision-making styles may generate insights to reduce the gap left by international management on whether managers should apply a common or personalized management style to a specific culture. We decided to study the cell phone product because, although its usage, popularity, accessibility and availability vary across countries, it has caused an enormous social impact everywhere. Wherever in use, cell phone technology has altered the way individuals conduct their everyday lives, having extensive implications for the cultures and societies in terms of communication and affecting identities and relationships.
The countries we selected for the empirical research rank in the top ten of the world's largest cell phone market according to the Central Intelligence Agency (2009) (Table 1). Japan and the USA have the highest score in masculinity and individualism, respectively, according to Hofstede's cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 1984). Brazil does not take the first position in any of Hofstede's dimensions, but it deserves special attention since it represents the sixth largest world cell phone market, and thus far no research comparing Brazilian consumers' decision-making styles with other important markets has been found in the scientific literature.
The article is structured as follows: this introduction presents the objectives and relevance, next we present the literature review, followed by the empirical research method and results. We conclude by presenting the main implications and suggestions for future research.
Literature Review
Hofstede's (1984) cultural dimensions and Sproles and Kendall's (1986) Consumer Style Inventory are key features of this research to determine how culture influences the consumer's decision-making style. Culture has been referred to as a set of values, ideas, artifacts and other meaningful symbols that help individuals communicate, interpret and evaluate as members of society (Engel, Blackwell, & Miniard, 1993). Hofstede (1991) defines culture as the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category from those of another. Culture is a learned, shared, compelling, interrelated set of symbols whose meanings provide a set of orientations for members of society. These orientations, taken together, provide solutions to problems that all societies must solve if they are to remain viable (Terpstra & David, 1991).
Despite globalization, people from different nations continue to have their own distinct habits and tastes, their values and norms rooted in their national cultures (Zhu, Quan, & Xuan, 2006). Usunier (1996) found that there is no empirical evidence to show homogenization of tastes or the appearance of universal price-minded consumer segments. Culture is dynamic and is constantly influenced by changes in the environment in social institutions (legal, political, commercial, etc.) and in an individual's own values. The shared cultural priorities in society help shape the social and economic reward contingencies to which people must adapt in the institutions in which they spend most of their time (families, schools, businesses, etc.) to function smoothly and effectively (Smith & Schwartz, 1997). People belonging to a particular national culture are subject to the conflicts and compatibilities between their own value structure and the national cultural priorities, so values and attitudes that are opposed to cultural priorities may be discouraged (Schwartz, 1994).
Some marketers have become convinced that the role played by people's values is absolutely central to their personal development, to their actions as citizens and to their behavior as consumers (Lowe & Corkindale, 1998). A country's culture has long been identified as a key environmental characteristic underlying systematic differences in consumer behavior (Lynn, Zinkhan, & Harris, 1993). A nation's culture may affect the needs consumers satisfy through the acquisition and use of goods (Roth, 1995), but this does not imply that culture is always specific to the country. It can be conceptualized at different levels, and the national level can be only one of them (Dawar & Parker, 1994).
Hofstede's Four Cultural Dimensions
Hofstede (1984) characterized national culture into four cultural dimensions: Power Distance Index [PDI], Uncertainty Avoidance Index [UAI], Individualism Index [IDV], and Masculinity Index [MAS]. Those dimensions have been used by many marketing researchers to compare countries in terms of culture (Dawar & Parker, 1994; Lynn et al., 1993; Roth, 1995).
Power Distance Index [PDI]: Power distance is defined as the extent to which the less powerful person in a society accepts inequality in power and considers it as normal. Inequality exists within any culture, but the degree of it that is tolerated varies among cultures (Hofstede, 1984, p. 390). Hierarchy or unequal power distribution among elements of a society is more common in large power distance cultures. Elements of a society can be referred to as the groups that a member belongs to, such as family, school, workplace and the community. Countries that score high in the power distance index [PDI] tolerate more inequality and have more need for power, wealth, prestige and status (Hofstede, 1991).
In China, for example, a large power distance country, it is not surprising to encounter many types of formalities: at school, students call their teachers by their last names; at the workplace, orders from superiors are accepted by subordinators without objection; and at home, the younger are supposed to respect and listen to the elder. Only few languages in the world, as the case of Chinese, have specific words for: older brother (ge ge), older sister (jie jie), younger brother (di di), and younger sister (mei mei). By contrast, for example, in the workplace, American subordinates and superiors consider each other equal but playing different roles, and each could possibly be switched in the future.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index [UAI]: This measures the degree of tolerance for uncertainty. Cultures with higher UAI are less tolerant of ambiguity and unexpected situations, therefore their societies are structured with stricter rules for social behavior, acting as planned in a very straightforward way. When things do not happen as expected, frustration and intolerance are visible. Societies with low UAI are more willing to accept risks, and their actions incline more towards innovativeness and entrepreneurial spirit.
Individualism [IDV]: This measures the degree to which individuals see themselves and make decisions based on 'I' rather than 'We' (Hofstede, 1991). In individualistic countries, individuals are mainly concerned about their own opinion, they value their personal time to spend on their personal activities, freedom to adjust their work schedule to better suit their lifestyle, and challenge in terms of achieving a personal goal. By contrast, members from collectivistic cultures feel that they belong to a large group and care about the well-being of other members.
Brazilians and Japanese are considered fairly collectivistic cultures, while Americans seem to be individualistic (Hofstede, 1991). In the USA, young people generally leave their parent's house without feeling obliged to look after them when they become older or to consult them before taking decisions.
Masculinity [MAS]...
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