Through the Lenses of Culture

Abstract

This study examines the influence of culture on Chinese consumers’ intentions to purchase Australian products. Data were obtained from an online survey completed by 3,171 respondents across 20 cities in China. Results indicate that ingroup influence, product perception, but not marketing efforts have a significant main effect on purchase intentions. In addition, ingroup influence moderates the effects of product perception and marketing efforts on intentions. When ingroup influence is low, product perception has a greater impact on purchase intention than when ingroup influence is high. Similarly, marketing efforts have a greater impact on purchase intention when ingroup influence is low than when it is high. In addition, self-identity as a consumer of imported products also moderates the strength of association between product perception and purchase intention. When self-identity is low, product perception has a greater impact on purchase intention than when self-identity is high. Implications of the findings for theory and practice, in the context of trade between an individualistic culture like Australia and a collectivistic one like China, are discussed.

Keywords

Chinese consumers ingroup influence product perception purchase intention self-identity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agrawal

Maheswaran

(2005). The effects of self-construal and commitment on persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 841-849.

Aiken

L. S.

West

S. G.

(1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Ajzen

(2002). Constructing a TPB questionnaire: Conceptual and methodological considerations. Retrieved November 12, 2007 from http://wwwunix.oit.umass.edu/~aizen/pdf/tpb.measurement.pdf

Armitage

C. J.

Conner

(1999). The theory of planned behaviour: Assessment of predictive validity and “perceived control.” British Journal of Social Psychology, 38(1), 35-54.

Arnett

J. J.

(2002). The psychology of globalization. American Psychologist, 57(10), 774-783.

Bagozzi

R. P.

(1993). Assessing construct validity in personality research: Applications to measures of self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality, 27, 49-87.

Bagozzi

R. P.

Heatherton

T. F.

(1994). A general approach to representing multi-faceted personality constructs: Application to state self-esteem. Structural Equation Modeling, 1, 35-67.

Campbell

D. T.

Fiske

D. W.

(1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin, 56(2), 81-105.

Chan

R. K.

Lau

L. B. Y.

(2001). Explaining green purchasing behavior: A cross-cultural study on American and Chinese consumers. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 14(2/3), 9-40.

10.

China Development Index. (2007). Retrieved April 9, 2008, from http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/1037/ 5417031.html

11.

China Statistical Yearbook. (2007). Population and its composition. National Bureau of Statistics of China. Retrieved April 9, 2008, from http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2007/indexeh.htm

12.

Choi

Geistfeld

L. V.

(2004). A cross-cultural investigation of consumer e-shopping adoption. Journal of Economic Psychology, 25(6), 821-838.

13.

Cook

A. J.

Kerr

G. N.

Moore

(2002). Attitudes and intentions towards purchasing GM food. Journal of Economic Psychology, 23, 557-572.

14.

Cui

Liu

(2001). Executive insights: Emerging market segments in a transitional economy: A study of urban consumers in China. Journal of International Marketing, 9(1), 84-106.

15.

Darling

J. R.

Van Wood

(1990). A longitudinal study comparing perceptions of US and Japanese consumer products in a third/neutral country: Finland 1975-1985. Journal of International Business Studies, 21(3), 427-450.

16.

Fischer

Ferreira

M. C.

Assmar

Redford

Harb

Glazer

. (2009). Individualism-collectivism as descriptive norms: Development of a subjective norm approach to culture measurement. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(2), 187-213.

17.

Fischer

Vauclair

C. M.

Fontaine

R. J.

Schwartz

S. H.

(2010). Are individual-level and country-level value structures different? Testing Hofstede’s legacy with the Schwartz value survey. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(2), 135-151.

18.

Ger

Belk

R. W.

(1996). I’d like to buy the world a Coke: Consumptionscapes of the “less affluent world”. Journal of Consumer Policy, 19(3), 217-304.

19.

Gong

(2003). Chinese consumer behavior: A cultural framework and implications. The Journal of American Academy of Business, 3(1/2), 373-380.

20.

Harb

Smith

P. B.

(2008). Self-construals across cultures: Beyond independence interdependence. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(2), 178-197.

21.

Hofstede

(1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

22.

Hogg

M. A.

Terry

D. J.

White

K. M.

(1995). A tale of two theories: A critical comparison of identity theory with social identity theory. Social Psychology Quarterly, 58, 255-269.

23.

Hui

C. H.

Triandis

H. C.

(1986). Individualism-collectivism: A study of cross-cultural researchers. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 17(2), 225-248.

24.

Lam

Hsu

C. H.

(2004). Theory of planned behavior: Potential travelers from China. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research, 28(4), 463-482.

25.

Lee

Green

R. T.

(1991). Cross-cultural examination of the Fishbein behavioral intentions model. Journal of International Business Studies, 21(2), 289-305.

26.

Mannetti

Pierro

Livi

(2002). Explaining consumer conduct: From planned to self-expressive behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 1432-1456.

27.

Markus

H. R.

Kitayama

(1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224-253.

28.

McGregor

S. L. T.

(2000). Using social and consumer values to predict marketplace behaviour: Questions of congruency. Journal of Consumer Studies and Home Economics, 24, 94-103.

29.

National Bureau of Statistics of China. (2008). Overview of economy in second quarter of 2008: Consumption takes the lead – expecting more effective measures. Retrieved October, 26, 2008, from http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjfx/ztfx/2005sbnjjsp/t20080731_402495701.htm

30.

Smith

J. R.

Liu

Liesch

Gallois

Ren

Daly

(2009). Through the eyes of Chinese: The theory of planned behavior and Chinese consumer behavior in relation to Australian products and services. Proceedings of the Australia & New Zealand Marketing Academy Conference, Melbourne, Australia.

31.

Smith

J. R.

Terry

D. J.

Manstead

S. R.

Louis

W. R.

Kotterman

Wolfs

(2007). Interaction effects in the theory of planned behavior: The interplay of self-identity and past behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(11), 2726-2750.

32.

Sparks

Shepherd

(1992). Self-identity and the theory of planned behavior: Assessing the role of identification with “green consumerism.” Social Psychology Quarterly, 55, 388-399.

33.

Spence

Townsend

(2006). Examining consumer behaviour toward genetically modified (GM) food in Britain. Risk Analysis, 26(3), 657-669.

34.

Steenkamp

J. E. M.

Hofstede

Wedel

(1999). A cross-national investigation into the individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness. Journal of Marketing, 63, 55-69.

35.

Takano

Sogon

(2008). Are Japanese more collectivistic than Americans? Examining conformity in in-groups and the reference-group effect. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 39(3), 237-250.

36.

Triandis

H. C.

(1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.

37.

Triandis

H. C.

(1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview.

38.

Triandis

H. C.

(2000). Culture and conflict. International Journal of Psychology, 35(2), 145-152.

39.

Turner

J. C.

Hogg

M. A.

Oakes

P. J.

Reicher

S. D.

Wetherell

M. S.

(1987). Rediscovering the social group: A self-categorization theory. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

40.

Xiao

Kim

J. O.

(2009). The investigation of Chinese consumer values, consumption values, life satisfaction, and consumption behaviors. Psychology & Marketing, 26(7), 610-624.

41.

Ybarra

Trafimow

(1998). How priming the private self or collective self affects the relative weights of attitudes and subjective norms. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24(4), 362-370.

42.

Zhang

Khare

(2009). The impact of accessible identities on the evaluation of global versus local products. Journal of Consumer Research, 36, 524-537.

43.

Zhao

(1998). Chinese protectionism or simple competitiveness? Business Week, 19, 5.

44.

Zhou

Hui

M. K.

(2003). Symbolic value of foreign products in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of International Marketing, 11(2), 36-43.

45.

Zhou

Wong

(2008). Exploring the influence of product conspicuousness and social compliance on purchasing motives of young Chinese consumers for foreign brands. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 7, 470-483.