PURPOSE OF CHAPTER
Consumers’ perceptions are highly subjective, and consumers can be quite unpredictable.The complex nature of consumers makes the study and understanding of consumer behavior imperative. Sweden and Colombia have both attempted to affect consumer perceptions. The Juan Valdez campaign of the Federation of Colombian Coffee Growers has been successful in creating a desirable image for its product and using it to communicate with consumers. Volvo, likewise, has successfully nurtured an image of safety. Because the influence of culture has already been discussed in depth in Chapter 6, this chapter covers other relevant concepts. The focus is on the major approaches used to study consumer behavior. The basic purpose of this chapter is to acknowledge the role that determinants other than culture play in influencing consumer behavior. The chapter thus examines the psychological and social dimensions, and these include motivation, learning, personality, psychographics, perception, attitude, social class, group, family, opinion leadership, and the diffusion process of innovations.

PERSPECTIVES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR
Consumer behavior may be defined as a study of human behavior within the consumer role and includes all the steps in the decision-making process. The study must go beyond the explicit act of purchase to include an examination of less observable processes, as well as a discussion of why, where, and how a particular purchase occurs.

Domestically, marketing scholars have employed a variety of techniques and concepts, including the cultural approach, to study consumer behavior. Yet consumer study on an international basis has employed the cultural approach almost exclusively without much regard for other psychological and social concepts.This is a very curious approach since it is the norm for virtually all consumer behavior textbooks to treat culture as only one of the many theoretical concepts which can affect purchase and the other behavioral dimensions.

It is a questionable practice to rely on culture as the sole determinant of behavior or as the only concept that largely, if not entirely, explains behavior. Culture undoubtedly affects the psychological and social processes and thus affects consumer behavior. However, too much emphasis is placed on a single concept (i.e., culture). Consumer behavior research must include international dimensions.

Differences in behavioral dimensions among national groups “should not be attributed to differences in culture unless components of culture have been specified.”1 For group mean differences to be meaningful, there should be some explanation as to why these differences should exist. Furthermore, there may be a need to develop an international consumer behavior model so that studies of consumer behavior in various countries can be more systematic and better coordinated.

The major behavioral sciences relevant to consumer study are psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology. Psychology, with the individual as its central unit of analysis, is the study of individual and interpersonal behavior. Behavior is governed by a person’s cognitions, such as values, attitudes, experiences, needs, and other psychological phenomena. Purchase, then, becomes a function of the psychological view of products, and the consumer buys a product not only for consumption but also because of a perception of how a product can be used to communicate with other people. Some psychological concepts relevant to the study of consumer behavior are motivation, learning, personality, perception, and attitude.

Sociology is the study of groups and human interactions. The unit of analysis is not the individual but rather the group. The group, consisting of a set of individuals who interact over time, is important because it can exert a significant influence on a person’s preferences and consumption behavior. In many instances, it may be useful for a marketer to view consumers as a group. For example, a family, not an individual, often makes a purchase decision that affects all members of the family group. Important sociological concepts are reference group and family.

Cultural anthropology is the study of human culture.Thus, the analytic perspective may be quite large. Culture involves an aggregate, social category level (i.e., a large group), and the social categories are significant in the sense that they influence consumers’ cognitive and personality development.The concepts from this discipline usually included in the analysis of consumer behavior are culture, subculture, and social class.

MOTIVATION
Motivation is fundamental in initiating consumer behavior. Motivation may be viewed as a drive that is directed by a motive formed in relation to a particular goal. Once the motive–drive relationship isdeveloped, the consumer initiates some forms of motivated behavior to satisfy a previously recognized need.

Consumer motives are determined largely by buying habits, though motives can vary, and it is important to recognize the various types of motives. Motives may be classified as rational and nonrational. Examples of rational motives are price, durability, and economy in operation. Nonrational appeals, in comparison, include prestige, comfort, and pleasure. Figure 7.3 is an automobile advertisement that combines both emotional and logical motives.

The problem with the conventional classification (i.e., rational vs. emotional) is that a consumer may not recognize emotional motives and may have a tendency to rationalize personal behavior by assigning only rational and socially acceptable motives. In addition, the process of classification is not always straightforward. Convenience, for instance, can be both rational and nonrational at the same time.

In the end, the success of a product is greatly affected by whether its target customers are properly motivated.Whether a motive is rational or irrational is not particularly important. What is important is to identify specific motives relevant for marketing purposes. A critical task is to select, carefully and properly, a relevant motive for the purpose of product promotion. In addition, the relevance of a particular motive may vary across countries. For example, one study of youths in Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and Hawaii compared their beliefs in money, business ethics, quanxi, and machiavellian personality. Surprisingly, Canadians believe that money can work wonders – even more so than their Hong Kong and Singapore counterparts.3

LEARNING
Like all habits, food and drink habits are learned. Before World War II, the British were accustomed to drinking tea, not coffee. Then along came the American troops, who brought the American taste for coffee – at first a relatively light, almost blond coffee. Before long, Britons had learned to drink coffee too. In another example, a large lunch with wine presents no problem to a Swiss, but the same will put an American to sleep. On the other hand, American-style cocktails may prove to be too much for Europeans, who are accustomed to milder drinks. Marketers must take these habits into consideration.

Motives, cultural norms, and consumption habits are all learned.Therefore, a marketer should understand the learning process. Learning is a change in behavior that occurs over time relative to a given set of external stimulus conditions. Baskin-Robbins, as the first fast-food franchise in Vietnam, has to teach the Vietnamese about the concept of fast food.When the ice cream parlor first opened, most Vietnamese customers walked in and sat down, expecting to be waited on. When they were asked to go to the counter, some felt insulted and left. In addition the Vietnamese are accustomed to linger at café tables and are thus not used to having to pay immediately. Naturally, a number of them got angry and felt that Baskin-Robbins did not trust them by asking them to pay for the ice cream immediately. Interestingly, one learned behavior is that the rum raisin flavor, not that popular in the plain vanilla US market, is quite popular among the Vietnamese as well as many other Asians.

A marketer can play a significant role in facilitating the learning process by using a variety of rewards to encourage learning. Infant formula, as an example, is useful in many non-Western countries for well-to-do women who do not want to bother with breast-feeding. Poor women seek the reward of using this status symbol and of having fatter babies – a benefit implied by this product. Furthermore, young mothers like the prestige of using American or European products.

PERSONALITY
Personality study has long been a subject of interest to marketers due to the assumption that product purchases are an extension of a consumer’s personality. Figure 7.4 makes a reference to a person’s personality as a factor in choosing a car. Personality, derived from a Latin word meaning “personal” or “relating to person,” is the individual characteristics that make a person unique as well as consistent in adjustments to a changing environment. Personality is an integrated system that holds attitude, motivation, and perception together.To study a personality is to study the person as a whole – not only the separate, individual elements that make up a person.

Personality traits
Personality traits are relatively stable qualities, but they do vary in degree from person to person. Because personality study applies to a person rather than to a group, it is difficult to make generalizations about personality traits among people of a particular country. Nevertheless, it is useful to consider the concept of national character, which states that “people of each nation have a distinctive, enduring pattern of behavior and/or personality characteristics.” The English, for example, are highly impulse-restrained and unassertive.

Despite the difficulty, particular personality traits seem dominant in certain countries. Koreans see themselves as being driven by two complementary passions that are uniquely theirs: han (bitterness) and jong (devoted love).The interplay of the two explains Korea’s ability to be at once intensely productive and violent, to both drive and stall a society, and to be capable simultaneously of love and hate.

While both South Korea and Japan display a mixture of ancient and modern Asian cultures, they also differ in a number of ways. In spite of South Korea’s Confucian culture and the bowing, deference, traditions, and formality, the Koreans are also passionate, emotional, intense, energetic, emotional, fun-loving, and impatient. In fact, one of the phrases that is heard most often in South Korea is “balli, balli” (hurry, hurry). Compared to Tokyo, Seoul is more chaotic.6

One study used the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory to contrast Canadian and Japanese MBA students and found differences in cognitive style.7 On the judging–perceiving dimension,the Canadians sought fast decisions and rushed to closure on data collection, while such actions may frustrate the Japanese who showed a preference for larger amounts of information. On the thinking–feeling dimension, the Japanese, as expected, preferred forming personal relationships before business was transacted.

One personality trait that has gained recent attention is consumer ethnocentrism. Adapted from the general concept of ethnocentrism, consumer ethnocentrism explains that, due to patriotic and nationalistic sentiments as well as a personal level of prejudice against imports, some consumers feel that it is inappropriate or even immoral to buy imported products. Highly ethnocentric consumers thus tend to buy domestic products.Table 7.1 shows the CETSCALE which is used to measure consumer ethnocentrism.

The national markets also possess some other personality characteristics which may affect marketing strategies. Scotland set up Project Galore to develop a strategy to promote the commercial power of Scottishness. Based on the reactions received in Scotland and other parts of the world, tenacity is a true Scottish characteristic. Integrity is another core value, since Scotland and the world believe that Scotland has this attribute to a greater extent than most, if not all, other countries. Spirit is another virtue that defines Scotland. However, although the Scots (as well as the English) believe that they have inventiveness, the rest of the world does not seem to subscribe to the same notion, since they do not have enough knowledge of Scotland’s inventiveness. While the European Union is unifying markets, it will take time to construct a unified set of European marketing theories. There is still a wide divergence in terms of economic development levels, languages, religions, and legal systems. Generalizations are both difficult and dangerous. Marketers must still consider a country’s history, national character, and cognitive styles.

Hofstede’s national cultures
Hofstede has strongly indicated that ethnocentric management theories (i.e., based on a particular country’s value system) are untenable. Based on his study of work-related values in fifty countries, national cultures have four largely independent dimensions: (1) individualism vs. collectivism, (2) large or small power distance, (3) strong or weak uncertainty avoidance, and (4) masculinity vs. femininity. Power distance describes how a society treats unequal people. “Collectivist countries always show large power distance, but individualist countries do not always show small power distance.” Regarding uncertainty avoidance, some countries have weak uncertainty avoidance in the sense that they accept uncertainty and they are thus able to take risks easily. In contrast, strong uncertainty avoidance societies create institutions to offer security and avoid risk.With regard to masculinity/ femininity, the classification is derived from whether a society has well-defined roles for men and women. A masculine society clearly expects men to be assertive and dominant and women to assume more service-oriented and caring roles.This society clearly differentiates between what men should do and what women are supposed to do.

Based on Hofstede’s research, countries that are low in power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance include Australia, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, and the USA. In comparison, those cultures that are low in individualism but high in power distance, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance include Greece, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela, and Japan.

As explained by Hofstede, management is an American invention. However, the practices of management in many parts of the world can deviate greatly from management as practiced in the USA. American management theories emphasize market processes, managers, and individualism – things that assume less significance elsewhere. In Japan, the emphasis is on workers – not managers. In fact, management as practiced in the USA does not bear much resemblance to management practiced in Japan.

A literature review of the five dimensions of national culture (individualism, power distance, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and Confucian dynamic) led Nakata and Sivakumar to propose that these dimensions affect new product development – both positively and negatively.

One study of ten countries and sixty regions found that cultural power distance, cultural individualism, and regional socioeconomics affect brand image strategies (see Figure 7.5). In low power distance countries, people are not too focused on social roles and group affiliation, and it is thus appropriate to use functional brand images that de-emphasize the social, symbolic, sensory, and experiential benefits of products. However, social and/or sensory needs should probably be stressed in a country with a high degree of power distance. In addition, marketing in high individualism cultures (e.g., European countries) should focus on functional, variety, novelty, and experiential needs, whereas cultures with low individualism (e.g.,Asian countries) may find social brand image strategies to be more appealing. Finally, when regional socioeconomics is high, it is appropriate to focus on social and sensory brand images.

The dimensions of national culture have marketing relevance. A study of TV commercials from Japan, Russia, Sweden, and the USA in terms of the masculine–feminine continuum found that feminine countries showed a higher degree of use of relationships for male and female characters. Since not all cultures share the same values, advertising standardization appears to be strategically unwise.

Clustering: commonality and diversity
The impact of Hofstede’s fifty-country study requires no debate. It has spawned a great deal of discussion as well as numerous studies. Another rigorous and large-scale study is just as valuable even though it is yet to attract the same kind of attention. Project GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness), based on a collaboration of scholars in all parts of the world, is a study of thousands of middle managers in food processing, finance, and telecommunications industries in sixty-one countries. The study focuses on nine dimensions of national cultures: performance orientation, future orientation, assertiveness, power distance, humane orientation, institutional collectivism, in-group collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and gender egalitarianism. In the process, six global leadership attributes have been identified.

The project uses discriminant analysis to confirm the ten a priori clusters: South Asia, Anglo, Arab, Germanic Europe, Latin Europe, Eastern Europe, Confucian Asia, Latin America, Sub Saharan Africa, and Nordic Europe.The results offer strong support to the existence of these proposed clusters.

Reflecting Latin America’s paternalistic orientation, this cluster shows the practices of high power distance, and low performance orientation, uncertainty avoidance, future orientation, and institutional collectivism. The hallmark of the southern Asia cluster is its high power distance and group and family collectivism practices. Charismatic, team oriented, and humane leadership is highly valued. The members of the Anglo cluster are all developed countries, and their orientation is toward individualist performance. A leader is expected to provide charismatic inspiration and a participative style.

The societies found in the Arabic cluster are predominantly Muslim, and they share common literature, architecture, educational background, and religious characteristics.They are highly group oriented, hierarchical, and masculine while being low on future orientation. The cluster of Germanic Europe is a model of cooperation between labor and capital. Co-determination leads to participative leadership.

The Eastern European cluster, reflecting both tradition and transition, stresses high power distance and high family and group collectivism. The Latin Europe cluster scores close to mid-range on all but one dimensions of societal practices on a 7-point measurement scale.The only exception is in terms of a high average of over 5 on power distance. The societies in this cluster attempt to balance the need for competitiveness with their traditional preference for a paternalistic and interventionist government.

PSYCHOGRAPHICS
Because of the disappointing results in using personality to predict purchase behavior, marketers have turned to other meaningful purchase variables that might be used in conjunction with personality characteristics. This area of purchase behavior study is known as psychographics, also known as lifestyle or AIO (activities, interests, and opinions) study. Psychographics is a quantitative analysis of consumers’ lifestyles and activities with the purpose of relating these variables to buying behavior. The analysis encompasses both the strength of the qualitative nature of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory and the statistical and methodological sophistication of trait and factor theories. As a result, questions are well organized, and responses are subject to numerical representation and multivariate analysis.

Questions normally included in psychographic studies are those related to demographics, personality traits, and activities such as media habits, retail patronage, and general interests. People can be classified by their lifestyles and then be contrasted in terms of their consumption habits. For example, respondents from England and Denmark do not view Denmark’s furnishing interiors in the same way. The two cultures have different ideas of appropriate product syntax or how furnishing items could and should be combined. It is generally believed that Japan is so homogeneous that the market should not be segmented and that there will either be a mass response or little response. Actually, psychographics can yield useful information. As an example, the VALS (Values and Lifestyles) instrument was tailored to the Japanese market.Ten Japanese segments have been identified: integrators who are well educated and modern (4 percent), sustainers who are resistant to change (15 percent), self-innovators who are young and self-directed (7 percent), self-adapters who are shy and look to self-innovators (11 percent), ryoshiki – “social intelligence” – innovators who are careeroriented and middle-aged (6 percent), ryoshiki adapters who are shy and look to ryoshiki innovators (10 percent), tradition innovators who are middleaged and active in the community (6 percent), tradition adapters who are young and affluent (10 percent), high pragmatic who are withdrawn and suspicious (14 percent), and low pragmatic who are attitudinally negative and oriented to inexpensive products (17 percent).

Marketers, in addition to identifying lifestyle variations within a country, may also identify lifestyle groups on a worldwide basis. According to Backer Spielvogel Bates Worldwide, there are five distinct groups of consumers worldwide: (1) strivers (26 percent) – relatively young people who work very hard and seek convenience and instant gratification, (2) achievers (22 percent) – affluent opinion and style leaders who pick brands that make statements about status and quality, (3) pressured (13 percent) – predominantly women who contend with economic and family pressures and have little room for pleasure or enjoyment, (4) adopters (18 percent) – older consumers who live comfortably in a changing world by respecting new ideas without losing sight of time-honored values, and (5) traditionals (16 percent) – those who embody the oldest values of their countries and cultures and resist change while preferring familiar products. However, 5 percent of the consumers did not fit into any of these categories.

PERCEPTION
To learn, a person must perceive. Perception goes beyond sensation by providing meaning to sensory stimulations. It is the process of interpreting nervous impulses or stimuli received that the brain must organize and give meaning through cognitive interpretations. The Chinese, for instance, perceive Coke to look and taste like medicine. One’s culture greatly affects one’s perception and behavior. Americans, for example, generally prefer steak on the “rare” side, in order to retain moisture and flavor. Asians, on the other hand, would not dream of eating steak this way, believing meat in that condition to be unsafe. Furthermore, Americans prefer to cook a big piece of meat, to be cut up or sliced on a serving plate at the dining table when they are ready to eat. The Chinese, however, prefer to cut the meat into small, bite-sized pieces before cooking and thus have no need for a knife at the dining table.

Formation of perception
It is important to keep in mind that perceptions are formed though a highly subjective and selective process. The consumer’s cognitive map of the environment is not a photograph of that physical environment. It is instead a partial and personal construction of a situation in which certain cues – selected and given emphasis – are perceived in an individual manner. More precisely, when one forms a perception, one is not a photographer but rather an artist who draws or paints an object in the way one thinks it is or should be. Therefore, no object or product is ever perceived exactly in the way it actually appears. Because of the selectivity and subjectivity characteristics of perception, people “seeing” the same thing can have vastly different interpretations. In Spain, accepting credit is viewed as an inability to pay – a shameful situation. While American consumers take it for granted that, if not satisfied, they can simply return a product for a full refund, German consumers are unlikely to share this view. Whether or not a product will be successful depends significantly on how it is perceived. A marketer should provide some cues about a product in order to aid consumers in perceiving the product in the desired manner. Volvo, for example, has done quite well through emphasizing safety features.

Country of origin and perceived product quality
One of the cues often used by consumers in evaluating products is where a product is made. It is not unusual for consumers to categorize countries (e.g., rich, poor, developed, developing) and to use these categories to judge product quality. There is evidence of country-category effect in the sense that consumers use stereotyping in typing product classes and brands. At a more specific level, consumers may use country of origin as a guide to product quality. Not only do consumers harbor general images about certain countries, but they also form specific attitudes about products made in those countries. This topic has received a great deal of interest and has been researched in depth.28 Many empirical studies support the hypothesis that consumers have stereotyped opinions about specific products from particular countries. For example, an investigation of product-country images and ethnocentric behaviors found that Turkish consumers’ perceptions of product attributes were influenced by products coming from countries at different levels of socioeconomic and technological development.29

When a “made in” designation is not favorably received, a marketer may want to deliberately conceal or not mention the product’s origin. Many countries, however, including the USA, require proper origin identification in the form of a tag, label, or other identification means before foreign products can be imported. The effects of country of origin can be moderated by consumer expertise and the type of attribute information. As shown in one study, when encountering unambiguous attribute information, experts based their evaluations on attribute strength, but novices relied on country of origin. In the case that attribute information was ambiguous, both experts and novices then utilized country of origin stereotypes.30 Likewise, motivational intensity and direction moderate the effect of information type of country of origin evaluations. When country of origin is salient and when consumers find new information relevant to their judgment, evaluations of the country of origin become more favorable.31 There is a relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and consumer attitude toward foreign products (when there is no domestic alternative). According to one study, consumers with high levels of consumer ethnocentrism adopt more favorable attitudes toward products from culturally similar countries when compared to products from culturally dissimilar countries.32 Country of origin is a multidimensional construct. As such, its effect is neither simple nor straightforward. Two particular dimensions are country of assembly and country of design. According to traditional wisdom, a manufacturer in a newly developed country or less developed country should conceal the identity of its manufacturing locations. However, if its product is designed in an advanced country, that fact can improve consumers’ ratings of the product.

Consumer willingness to buy a country’s particular product increases when the country image is also an important characteristic for that product category.

ATTITUDE
Attitude is the learned tendency to respond to an object in a consistently favorable or unfavorable way. Attitude is a complex and multidimensional concept. It consists of three components: cognition, affect, and conation (behavioral intention). Based on this definition, a few properties of attitude can be identified. First, the relationship between an individual and an object is not neutral: the reaction to the object is either favorable or unfavorable. Most people, for example, have favorable attitudes toward such automobiles as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Rolls-Royce, viewing them as status symbols. On the other hand, except for American consumers who have long been conditioned to prefer large automobiles, most consumers have strong reservations about large cars because they look unsightly and are difficult to maneuver on the narrow roads found in most parts of the world, and they are also more uneconomic in terms of fuel consumption. Second, attitudes are relatively enduring and patterned and not temporary or transient. As a person becomes older, attitudes become more established. This becomes a challenge for international marketers who want to introduce change. A new product often involves a change in a long-held attitude. Finally, attitude is not innate – it must be learned. One’s attitude about an object is formed by one’s experience of the object, either directly or indirectly.

There is a relationship between consumer attitudes and their purchases. For instance, many Singaporeans are outshoppers who go to Malaysia to buy food, beverages, and grocery products due to competitive prices and ample parking space. Compared to their infrequent counterparts, frequent outshoppers perceive fewer secondary costs. In addition, since they engage in outshopping primarily for economic reasons, they do not feel guilty (i.e., a lack of national pride or low consumer ethnocentrism).

Attitude is greatly influenced by culture (see Marketing Ethics 7.1).Attitudes toward women, for example, vary from country to country. In many countries, women are still considered as a man’s property, and a woman must seek her husband’s approval before entering into a contract or being allowed to apply for a visa or passport. In Saudi Arabia, strict Muslim restrictions make it very uncommon for women to work. In Japan, working women are common but rarely have the opportunity to rise to a managerial position. Therefore, when women are portrayed in advertisements, the portrayal should be consistent with the expected role of women in that particular culture.

Attitude can affect marketing plans in other ways. Some countries have favorable attitudes toward foreigners, wealth, and change, making it relatively easy for MNCs to introduce new products. In fact, attitudes toward marketing itself should be considered. In India, marketing is viewed as unnecessary, annoying, and wasteful. Nestlé’s infant formula received enormous adverse publicity because of the negative view in less developed countries about the company’s marketing activities in poor countries.

One problem firms have in marketing their products overseas involves the negative attitudes toward situations associated with their products and sometimes toward the products themselves. For example, customers may have favorable attitudes toward German machinery but not toward the purchase of such machinery because of the high cost, service, or availability of parts. It is important for a marketer to distinguish between private and public attitudes, because an expressed public attitude can differ widely from a private attitude, especially when the private attitude contradicts the society’s cultural norms.

SOCIAL CLASS
Social class implies inequality. Even in the USA, where all are supposed to be equal, some people seem to be much more equal than others. Social class exists because it provides for and ensures the smooth operation of a society. For a society to exist, many functions must be performed – some of which are not very pleasant. In this regard, members of society are not that different from bees in a hive – different types of bees exist for different purposes (e.g., working bees, queen bees, soldier bees, and so on). In Japan, even though the government long ago abolished the social caste system to allow for the mixing and reshuffling of people at all social levels, the selective access to higher education still impedes certain individuals from becoming career officials within the government.

Many societies see nothing wrong with the existence of a social hierarchy. In fact, many Asian and Middle East countries view status differences positively. Elders and superiors command respect. Connections with socially acceptable persons are often important in securing business. The criteria used to assign people to social classes vary from country to country. In the USA, relevant characteristics generally used in the construction of a social class index for classification purposes are occupation, source of income, house type, and dwelling area. In other countries, occupation and/or amount of income (rather than source of income) are the dominant discriminating variables. In some societies, royalty affiliation is employed as well to distinguish one social class from another.

The US social system differs from those of other countries in several respects. Its greatest representation occurs approximately at the middle (i.e., the lower-middle and upper-lower categories) of the social class scale. Many developing countries have a very large lower class, and the graphic composition of all social classes resembles a pyramid: the upperclass is a small minority group at the top and the vast number of lower-class people occupy the large base at the bottom. Furthermore, the US system allows for social class mobility, while systems elsewhere may be much more rigid. Even when the same distinguishing variable is used in different countries for classification, it may not have the same meaning and does not necessarily yield the same result. If the classification of occupation is considered, in the USA, financial considerations very likely explain why attorneys are accorded the kind of status and prestige rarely found elsewhere. Engineers, on the other hand, are regarded much more highly in societies outside of the USA.

Social class has a great deal of relevance for marketing strategies. It influences store selection, product selection, media selection, advertising appeal selection, and sales promotion selection. Different motives may thus have to be employed for different social classes. Thresher, a British liquor store chain of 990 outlets, used the results of its marketing research to divide its shops into three designations: drinks stores, wine shops, and wine racks.The designations are based on the social status of a neighborhood. The down-market drinks stores are located in working-class areas, and they stock mostly beer.Wine racks, offering a larger selection of wines and champagnes, are found in wealthier locations and have a better educated staff.The middlebrow wine shops are somewhere in between.

GROUP
A group consists of two or more persons who share a set of norms and have certain implicitly or explicitly defined relationships with one another in such a way that their behavior is interdependent. Group norms influence both general behavior and consumption behavior. Originally formed for defense and survival, a group now serves its members more for needs of social and psychological satisfaction. An individual cannot operate well in isolation because all persons are biologically and socially interdependent. An individual needs to belong to a group to interact with those who can provide identification and help to meet needs in a more efficient manner.The influence of a reference group is derived in part from its capacity to disseminate information.

The relevance and strength of influence of a reference group is not constant across product categories. Its influence is determined in part by the conspicuousness of the product in question. A product can be conspicuous in two ways: by having the qualities of visibility and by standing out. The more the product is visible and stands out, the more conspicuous it becomes. Product conspicuousness allows a reference group to operate in exerting its influence on consumer behavior. For example, Philip Morris’s Galaxy brand was perceived at one time as a “diet” cigarette, and for that reason Brazilians became ashamed to be seen with it because social and personal pressures were placed on those who smoked Galaxy.

The relevance of group appeal may be dictated by cultural norms. In contrast to Americans, who are more individually oriented, the Japanese are more committed to group membership and are consensus oriented. Group pressure is very great in Japan.The Fishbein behavioral intentions model was found to reflect cultural differences (i.e., the collectivist culture of Korea and the individualistic culture of the USA).The greater importance of subjective norm in Korea and of attitude toward an act in the USA indicates that social pressures, while having a relatively weak influence on Americans, play a major role in the formation of Koreans’ behavioral intentions.Therefore, international marketers operating in Confucian cultures should keep in mind that a product may not be evaluated independently of group conformity and face saving. A marketing mix program should take into account these social factors.

FAMILY
In the USA, the word “family” has a narrow meaning because it encompasses only the husband, wife, and their offspring (if any). This family is known as a nuclear or conjugal family. In other parts of the world, the word has a much broader meaning because it is based on the concept of an extended or consanguine family. A family can be vertically extended when it includes several generations. It can also be horizontally extended when such family members as uncles, aunts, and cousins are included. Thus non-Americans count vertical and horizontal relatives of either the husband or wife or both as part of their family. It is not uncommon for a son to live in his parents’ home even after getting married. When his parents become old, it will become his responsibility to take care of his parents, the home, and the business. In such a country, nursing homes are relatively rare, and the placement of elderly or ill parents in homes for the aged is frowned upon. The Chinese culture emphasizes familial over private self. Attainment of family-oriented goals is a measure of self-realization and self-fulfillment. Boundaries of familial self may include romantic partners and close friends who are “like family.” In family and like-family contexts, there is no need for reciprocity.

As a subset and special kind of reference group, the family can be distinguished by its characteristics. First, a family allows its members ample opportunity to interact with one another on a face-to-face basis. In effect, each member operates as both a counselor and an information provider. Second, the family is a consuming unit in the sense that most members share the consumption of many products, especially those that are durables or that affect family budget. Third, individual needs are usually subordinated to family needs. Finally, one member is often assigned the primary duty of buying products for other users, thus acting as a gatekeeper or purchasing agent. Americans and non-Americans raise their families in very different ways. Americans emphasize individual freedom, and children are taught to be self-sufficient and independent. In Japan and China, the family is the main focal point. Similar to the Hispanics’ family orientation, the Japanese feel a strong sense of responsibility and obligation toward their families, and these obligations predominate in family decisions.

Because of the emphasis on family orientation, nepotism is an expected and accepted practice in most parts of the world. The tradition may even be carried on to include business partners. In Japan, close bonds among all members of a manufacturer’s distribution channel explain why unprofitable members are not dropped from the system. Pillsbury has to accommodate this different style of doing business in Japan, where the emphasis is on long courtship, trust, sincerity, and Asian “old friends.” Joint ventures are akin to a marriage, and a divorce of this kind is strongly frowned upon.The family tradition also explains why Japanese corporate priorities are employees, suppliers, customers, community, government, bankers, and finally shareholders.

A family functions more efficiently when its members specialize in the roles they are most comfortable with or are capable of performing better than other family members. A marketers must determine the kind of decision making that is relevant to the product. Once that fact is known, the marketer can direct promotional effort toward the party making the purchase decision. It is thus useful to consider and to assess the relative influence of each spouse in the decision-making process.

A study of two cultures – the USA and China – found that emphasis on joint, husband-dominated, and wife-dominated decisions varied by stage of the decision process as well as by stage–culture interaction. Compared with the US sample, the Chinese sample exhibited: (1) lower levels of egalitarianism, (2) more husband-dominated decisions, and (3) fewer joint decisions.49 Similarly, in the case of Hispanic ethnic identification groups, the effect of ethnic identification on marital roles in decision making was found to interact with the phase of the purchase decision process. In addition, there is a positive relationship between ethnic identification and husband dominance in decision making.50

OPINION LEADERSHIP
Within each social group, there are some individuals who are able to exert a significant influence on other members in such a way as to affect their thinking and behavior in a desired direction. These individuals are known as opinion leaders. In the context of consumer behavior, their opinions about products can affect subsequent purchases made by others. In marketing products overseas, MNCs should attempt to appeal to opinion leaders. In general, these are likely to be people who command respect from others. In Ghana, government health workers gain better cooperation and reception by asking for village witch-doctors’ approval before inoculating people or spraying huts to fight malaria. In developing countries, it is a good strategy to market new ideas to teachers, monks, or priests first, because their opinions influence the acceptance of these ideas by others.
When it is doubtful who the opinion leaders are, marketers should try to identify those with influence and affluence. BMW, for example, sells its cars at a discount to diplomats, believing that its target consumers will take notice of the kind of cars driven by those in power. In foreign countries, business periodicals and English-language newspapers are usually an effective means of reaching government and business leaders who are potential opinion leaders.

DIFFUSION PROCESS OF INNOVATIONS
The diffusion process of innovations is an acceptance over time of a product or idea by consumers, linked to a given social structure and a given system of values or culture. Innovators possess certain characteristics that distinguish them from noninnovators. Innovators are frequently opinion leaders, and it is thus desirable to identify and contact innovators. The diffusion process varies from culture to culture. The conservative business etiquette in South Korea is reflected in Korean firms’ organizational structure as well as in their managerial approach, which emphasizes harmony and structure over innovation and experimentation. Diffusion of the Internet differs between the USA and Japan. Japan, as a collectivist culture, values high uncertainty avoidance and has large power distance. As such, Japan has a slower adoption process.

One study investigated consumer innovativeness in a cross-cultural context by examining data collected from 2283 consumers in eleven EU countries. According to the findings, innovation orientation differs both among consumers and among countries, reflecting the fact that national cultural variables can explain systematic differences in innovativeness between countries. In collectivistic countries, a marketing message should emphasize social acceptance and a product’s local origin. In contrast, Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the USA, and Canada have national cultures that are characterized by low uncertainty avoidance, high individualism, and high masculinity. As such, they are receptive to product innovations.52

Culture not only affects the diffusion process in general, but it also exerts a great deal of influence on the adoption of a product in particular.A product that is suitable in one culture may be totally inappropriate elsewhere. The Italian and Asian preference for fresh meat and vegetables has hampered the acceptance of frozen foods. In Italy and Southeast Asia, markets open and close early, and shoppers who wish to select the best items must get to market very early in the morning. By the early afternoon the market is ready to be closed, with only a fewinferior items left.

As explained by the international product lifecycle concept, a new product is not adopted at the same time or at the same rate in various countries. It is thus necessary to ask whether innovators should be classified on a national (local) or international (worldwide) basis. If innovators are defined as the first 10 percent of adopters, how should a consumer be classified if he is not in the first 10 percent internationally but well within the first 10 percent of purchasers within his home country? The answer is that the diffusion rate should be based on segmentation criteria for each target market. Special consideration must be given to certain ethnic groups, age levels, social classes, geographic areas, and so on.Therefore, innovators should be classified as the first 10 percent of a particular target market, regardless of the percentages of adoption in other countries or on a worldwide scale. It should be pointed out that innovators are small in number and that their influence is not always positive in that they may reject a new product.Although innovators are important, the evidence suggests that “the basic strategy should be aimed at imitators in the market in order to stimulate demand for the new product. Furthermore, the product should be tailored carefully to the needs and wants of that segment.

CONCLUSION
Consumer behavior, as a discipline of study, has been researched extensively in the USA at both the macro and micro levels. Surprisingly, it has not been so rigorously and diligently investigated in the international context. All too frequently, studies that compare consumers in various countries attribute differences in consumer characteristics and behavior to cultural differences.This convenient approach (i.e., culture) is inadequate by itself and does not enhance the understanding of consumption behavior overseas. Instead of explicitly or implicitly attempting to use culture to explain most variations in consumption, researchers should redirect their attention toward smaller units of analysis. This requires a study of psychological concepts as well as social concepts which are not based solely on cultural determinants.

At the psychological level, relevant concepts such as motivation, learning, personality, psychographics, perception, and attitude should be closely examined. Because consumer needs vary acrosscountries, as does the degree of importance attached to a particular need, it is unrealistic to expect consumers everywhere to be motivated in the same way. The varying motives that occur are due in part to individual personality traits and lifestyles. The learning and perception of a product and the attitude toward it will also affect consumers’ motivations in acquiring the product. At the social level, it is redundant to state that consumer behavior is affected by the cultural environment. It is more important to list specifically the cultural norms in a country and to understand why those norms vary from country to country. It is thus important to appreciate how these norms are shaped by reference groups, social class, family, opinion leadership, and the diffusion process of innovation. Consumer preference depends in part on how well a product fits into the cultural circumstances and on whether the product will have the approval of a consumer’s reference group, social class, and family.

In conclusion, marketers and researchers should guard against using culture as a catch-all term and should not use it on a wholesale basis to explain overseas behavior. It is necessary to go beyond noticing cultural differences and instead to attempt to understand the underlying causes of cultural variations. This goal requires researchers to be more specific and rigorous in their investigation by extending the application of relevant psychological and social concepts to the international scene. It is time to move away from a vague and generic explanation of consumption behavior to a more precise and better-focused avenue of research.