Consumer Behavior and Culture

`It is no exaggeration to say that de Mooij's theory and findings as presented in this book might serve as a basis and a source of inspiration for an emerging sociology of translation, not only in terms of modelling and empirical research, but also for didactic purposes. Her model and findings have the potential to offer invaluable input into the practice of translation at large, rather than just the translation of advertising, as they may facilitate the discovery of deep-level cultural factors underlying discoursal practices' - The Translator It is increasingly understood that consumers worldwide are not the same. This book is the first that provides empirical evidence that differences in consumer behaviour across countries are not decreasing but increasing. It points at the increased need to understand culture to explain the differences because all aspects of consumer behaviour are culture-bound. Culture is not just an environmental factor, it is integrated in all of human behaviour, and thus in consumer behaviour. The book presents a model of consumer behaviour in which culture is integrated. The structure of the book follows this model. After reviewing the myths of global marketing the concept of culture and models of culture are explored, and empirical evidence is provided of convergence and divergence in consumer behaviour. After that the various psychological and sociological aspects of human behaviour are covered that are used for explaining consumer behaviour. Examples are the concept of self and personality and the various social and mental processes such as group-influence, motivation, emotion, perception, information processing.

Marieke de Mooij, Ph.D. (Netherlands), is a consultant in cross-cultural communications, as well as a retired profesora associada of international advertising at the University of Navarra in Spain and visiting professor at several universities across the world. She is the author of several academic publications on the influence of culture on marketing and advertising. She has also authored books on culture and consumer behavior as well as culture and communication theory worldwide.

Chapter 1: Global consumers in a global village?
The global village
Globalization and global consumer culture
Converging and diverging consumer behavior
Post scarcity societies and the culture paradigm
Global communities?
New media
Universalism
Lack of a sense of history
Branding and advertising: From global to multi-local
Consumer behavior theory across cultures
Chapter 2: Values and culture
Values
Values are enduring
Values in marketing
Culture defined
Comparing cultures
Dimensions of culture
Hofstede: Five dimensions of national culture
Schwartz: Seven value types or motivational domains
Comparing models
Culture relationships
Chapter 3: Convergence and Divergence in Consumer Behavior
Convergence theory
Modernization
Convergence: Macro- and micro-level
Convergence-divergence in consumer behavior
National wealth as an explaining variable
Over time culture replaces income as an explanatory variable
With increased wealth cultural values become manifest
Other measurement variables
Urbanization
Population density
Education
Age distribution
Social classs
Ethnicity
Climate
Consumer behavior, national wealth and culture
Chapter 4: The Consumer: Attributes
A model of cross-cultural consumer behavior
Personality
The brand personality concept
The concept of self
Implications for marketing, branding and advertising
Self-enhancement and self-esteem
Personal traits
Brand personality traits
Identity and image
Corporate identity and brand identity
Attitude
Attitude and behavior
Lifestyle
Chapter 5: Social processes
Motivation, needs and drives
Culture-related consumer needs and motives
Emotion
Emotions in advertising
Group processes
Reference groups
Opinion leaders
Chapter 6: Mental processes
Cognition and cognitive styles
Learning and socialization
Cognition and affect
Language
Perception
The creative process
Attribution
Locus of control
Information processing
Involvement theory
Communication and culture
Communication styles
Advertising styles
Decision-making
Chapter 7: Consumer behavior domains
Product acquisition, usage and ownership
Food and beverages
Non-durable household products
Non-durable personal goods
Clothing and footwear
Household appliances
Consumer electronics
Luxury articles
Communication technology
Computers and the Internet
Cars
Leisure
Finance
Shopping and buying behavior
Complaining behavior
Brand loyalty
Diffusion of innovations
Media behavior
Responses to marketing-communications
Chapter 8: Applications to global marketing and adverting
Product-market development across countries
Branding strategies
Retailing
Segmenting international markets
Cross-cultural values and lifestyle studies
Academic cross-cultural studies
Research techniques and methods across cultures
Predicting market success
The purpose of advertising
Advertising research
The future of global advertising
Appendix 1 GNP/capita 2001 (US$) and Hofstede country scores for 64 countries
Appendix 2 Data sources