Impact of culture on marketing strategy: Introduction to the special issue

Research in Business

“Impact of culture on marketing strategy: Introduction to the special issue”

Сontents:

1. Culture and marketing communication

2. Culture and consumer socialization

3. Culture, materialism, identity and religiosity

4. Culture and service quality

5. Culture and language effects

6. Culture and consumer revenge behavior

7. Culture and government action

8. Conclusion

1. Culture and marketing communication

Walsh and Beatty (The Customer-based Corporate Reputation Scale: Multi-Country Replication and Development of a Short Form) use the scale of customer-based corporate reputation (CBR), previously developed by Walsh and Beatty (2007), in the UK and Germany to test the cross-cultural validity of this scale. In addition, an abbreviated version of the CBR scale (with 15 items) is shown to have equally good dimensional properties as the original full scale. More of these validation studies are needed to help advance cross-cultural research. Mikhailitchenko et al. (Cross-Cultural Advertising Communication: Visual Imagery, Brand Familiarity, and Brand Recall) address the important issue of the role and effectiveness of visual imagery in cross-cultural contexts.

They investigate the relationship between visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand claim recall in two different cultural environments, namely, the U.S.A. and Russia. The findings suggest that image-intensive communication tools generate different responses in the two countries depending on the level of brand familiarity and communication media. Extensions of this approach to other countries that differ in Hofstede's (1980) dimensions should provide a rich source of new findings.

Lee et al. (The Relationships among Corporate Philanthropy, Attitude towards Corporations and Purchase Intentions: A South Korea Study) used Korean data to test a model integrating attributions about perceived motives of corporate philanthropy (CP), attitudes towards corporations, and purchase intentions. The findings indicate that only when corporations are perceived as conducting CP for public-serving motives did CP influence attitudes towards corporations.

When the sample was divided into two different stakeholder groups, different patterns were found for relationships between motives and attitudes: managers had favorable relationships between motives and attitudes, while consumers became more skeptical.

Rojas-Mendez, Davies, andMadran (Explaining Universal Differences in Advertising Avoidance Behavior: A Cross-Cultural Study) study avoidance of TV advertising, with the aim to: identify factors that predict avoidance in three cultures (U.K., Chile and Turkey), and compare the influence of demographics on avoidance with those of attitude toward advertising.

Among the key findings,males usemoremechanical avoidancemethods, whereas females use more behavioral ones; family size and age explain avoidance in some countries but not in others; a negative overall attitude towards advertising explains mechanical avoidance; behavioral avoidance is explained by a combination of demographic and attitudinal factors; country of residence was significant in predicting behavioral avoidance.

2. Culture and consumer socialization

Kim, Yang, and Lee (Cultural Differences in Consumer Socialization: A Comparison of Chinese-Canadian and Caucasian-Canadian Children) compare Chinese- and Caucasian-Canadian families on communication patterns, children's decision-making styles, and their influence in purchase decisions. Significant findings include: Chinese-Canadian children perceive both parents as more socio-oriented than Caucasian ones, whereas no significant difference was found on conceptorientation for either parent; Chinese-Canadian children, compared to Caucasian ones, show more utilitarian and “confused-by-overchoice” orientations but less social/conspicuous and impulsive orientations; Chinese-Canadian children exercise greater purchase influence than Caucasian ones for the adolescent convenience category but no difference was found for the adolescent durable one.

This is a most interesting and fruitful research area for studying the role of culture in family communication patterns.

3. Culture, materialism, identity and religiosity

Cleveland and Chang (Migration and Materialism: The Roles of Ethnic Identity, Religiosity, and Generation) argue that many values immigrants bring to their adopted home, have their basis in religious beliefs. The key question concerns how members of immigrant communities cope with conflicting values associated with materialism, and those associated with ethnic communal ties and religious fulfillment. They study how materialism manifested among first- and second-generation Korean-Canadians is a function of ethnic identity and religiosity.

They found generational differences on the interrelationships among these three constructs. Ethnic identity and acculturation have emerged as key variables in research involving the interplay of multiple ethnic and national groups, and it is gratifying to see earlier calls being heeded by researchers (Laroche, 2007).

4. Culture and service quality

Ueltschy et al. (Is There Really an Asian Connection? Service Quality Perceptions and Customer Satisfaction) used scenarios involving dental services to test whether Asian cultures are similar enough to allow standardization of service offerings. Levels of service quality and performance were controlled and manipulated with Japanese, Chinese, and Korean subjects. Significant cultural differences were: Chinese subjects perceived higher service quality and expressed higher customer satisfaction when performance was high and lower customer satisfaction when performance was low than Japanese and Korean ones.

Although all three are high-context cultures with their roots in Confucianism, differences in national culture lead to the conclusion that “one size does not fit all” in terms of service offerings. Lai, Griffin, and Babin (A Collective Model of Service Quality, Value, Image, Satisfaction, and Loyalty: A Study of China's Mobile Communications Industry) tested a model with service quality, value, image, satisfaction, and loyalty in China. Using a survey of customers of a Chinese mobile communications company, they found that service quality affects perceived value and image perceptions; value and image affect satisfaction; corporate image affects value; satisfaction and value affect loyalty. Value has a direct and an indirect (through satisfaction) effect on loyalty. The relationships of service quality and corporate image on loyalty are mediated by the other variables. This study is important as China is shifting from a government-controlled monopoly to a more competitive economy.

5. Culture and language effects

Richard and Toffoli (Language Effects in Responses to Questionnaires by Bilingual Respondents: A Test of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis) examine how sub-cultural bilinguals differ in their answers to questionnaire items measuring their acculturation and ethnic identity; how bilinguals exposed to a questionnaire in English would perceive it compared to those exposed to the same instrument in their native language.

Their framework is based on the Whorfian hypothesis and the Revised Hierarchical Model. Using data from Greek-Canadians residing in a metropolitan area, they found the existence of several non-invariant factor loadings and covariances. They caution researchers carrying out ethnic identity studies with respondents who are given the choice of the language of the questionnaire. Research on how languages affect consumer information processing can shed light on a newform of response style in cross-cultural research.

More of this type of research is needed to advance our understanding of the use of multiple languages in questionnaires in different cultures.

6. Culture and consumer revenge behavior

Zourrig, Chebat, and Toffoli (Consumer Revenge Behavior: A Cross- Cultural Perspective) propose a new conceptual model of consumer revenge behavior. Founded on cognitive appraisal theory, the article suggests that revenge is a coping process influenced by cultural values.

After reviewing models of revenge behavior, they adapt the Lazarus (1991) cognitive-emotive model of coping to the revenge context. To extend theirmodel to other cultures, they relate the cognitive, emotional and motivational patterns to individual-level differences in values. In addition, consumer allocentric and idiocentric tendencies are suggested asmoderators. This paper provides an interesting avenue to explore and contrast this under-researched behavior in different countries.

7. Culture and government action

O'Connor and O'Connor (Tax Exemption as a Marketing Tool: The Irish Republic and Profits Derived from Artistic Creativity) argue that the Irish culture has been a source of uniquely creative fine art, writing, drama, and philosophy.

As a result, the Irish look upon creativity differently frommost other countries, and have created a tax exemption formany of the financial rewards reaped by creators of “art” in any of these art forms. This note examines themarketplace effects of the Irish exemption from taxation of revenues derived from artistic creativity.

8. Conclusion

These articles add to our understanding of the role of culture and culture change on the consumer decision-making process and subsequent marketing strategy. Some area like culture and marketing communication are well developed, while others are awaiting new developments. More work is needed on other aspects of marketing strategy, such as international branding issues, pricing issues, sales force and sales promotion issues, distribution issues (beyond retailing), industrial and business-to-business issues, an so on. Also, researchers need to continue developing and validating measurement instruments that are invariant across cultures; developing consumer decision-making structural models that are invariant across cultures; finding new approaches to studying the global consumer culture, and in understanding the cultural impacts of the new medium of the Internet and so on.

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