Culture and Consumer Behaviour Notes

Culture and Consumer Behaviour

Introduction

This lecture explores the influence of culture on consumer behaviour, covering key basics, characteristics, meaning transfer models, cultural systems, and the culture hierarchy. It distinguishes between non-material and material culture and provides a detailed look at how each affects consumer choices and marketing strategies.

Key Basics of Culture

Definition of Culture

Culture is defined as the accumulation of shared meanings, rituals, norms, and traditions among members of an organization or society. It shapes human communities, individuals, social organizations, and economic and political systems (Solomon et al., 2013).

Characteristics of Culture

Avery et al. (2013) identify six key characteristics of culture:

  1. Culture is learned: It is not innate but acquired.

  2. Culture is shared: It is common among a group of people.

  3. Culture makes living more efficient: It provides guidelines for behaviour.

  4. Culture regulates society: It offers norms and standards.

  5. Culture is adaptive: It evolves with environmental changes.

  6. Culture is hierarchical: This is especially evident in multicultural contexts.

Subjective Nature of Culture

Consumers view themselves and their environment through the lens of their culture, reacting based on their cultural framework (Ueltschy & Krampf, 2001). Culture is inherently subjective.

McCracken’s Meaning-Transfer Model

This model explains how cultural meaning is transferred from the culturally constituted world to consumer goods and then to individual consumers through advertising and fashion systems. The consumer then engages in rituals such as divestment, possession, exchange, and grooming, to further integrate the meaning.

Culture and Consumer Behaviour

Culture impacts various aspects of consumer behaviour:

  • Perception: Influences how shapes, colors, and spaces are perceived.

  • Motivation: Affects the desire to own, buy, spend, consume, show, share, and give.

  • Learning and Memory: Literacy and education levels play a role.

  • Age: Purchasing power and value across generations vary.

  • Self-Concept: Impacts self-status and public self-perception.

  • Group Influence: Reference groups and conformity levels are affected.

  • Social Class: The importance and exclusivity associated with social classes.

  • Gender Role: Gender divisions of labor and decision-making processes.

  • Attitude Changes: Resistance to changes in consumption behavior.

  • Decision Making: Varies between nuclear and extended families.

  • Purchase: Influenced by loyalty, ethics, and salesperson influence.

  • Post-Purchase: Consumer complaint behavior and dissatisfaction responses.

Culture System

Components of Culture

Culture is organized as an open system of interrelated elements (Solomon et al., 2019) including:

  1. Ecology

  2. Social Structure

  3. Ideology

Non-Material vs. Material Culture

  • Non-Material Culture: Includes values, norms, rituals, customs, myths, knowledge, science, technology, laws, religion, arts, signs, signals, and symbols.

  • Material Culture: Includes all man-made physical things.

Elements of Non-Material Culture

  • Values: Ideas or beliefs about desirable end-states guiding behavior.

  • Norms: Unwritten rules of dos and don’ts.

  • Rituals: Symbolic activities in a fixed sequence, repeated periodically (Rook, 1985).

  • Customs: Traditional ways of doing things.

  • Myths: Stories expressing key societal values.

  • Knowledge, Science, and Technology: Reflect society's mastery over nature.

  • Laws: Norms with legal sanctions.

  • Arts: Society’s appreciation of aesthetic experience.

  • Signs, Signals, and Symbols: Means of conveying messages.

  • Religion: Beliefs about the supernatural and human behaviour.

Rituals and Consumption

Rituals help pass societal values from generation to generation, convey symbolic meanings, and set things apart as unquestionable.

Examples of Rituals and Artefacts

Ritual

Typical Artefacts

Spring

Early-blooming flowers, baby animals, gardening tools

Thanksgiving

Turkey

Water Festival

Strongly colored water, water balloons, new clothing, bonfire, March

Wedding

Something old, something new, something blue, something borrowed

Exercise

Towel, iPOD, exercise clothes, water

Chinese New Year

Dumpling, midnight, fireworks, red envelope

Valentine's Day

Hearts, Cupid, chocolate, roses

Easter

Bunnies, decorated eggs, church scenes

Rite of Passage

A rite of passage involves a transition from one role to another, often requiring ritual artefacts to facilitate the transition. Examples include graduations, initiation ceremonies, weddings, and funerals.

Myths

Myths are stories containing symbolic elements that express shared emotions and ideals of a culture (Solomon et al., 2013). They are handed down through history and serve four interrelated functions:

  1. Metaphysical: Explains the origins of existence.

  2. Cosmological: Emphasizes the universe's components.

  3. Sociological: Maintains social order.

  4. Psychological: Provides models for personal conduct.

Signs, Signals, Symbols, and Consumption

  • Verbal: Syntax, semantics, phonology, morphology.

  • Nonverbal: Gestures, touching, body language.

Silent Language of Cultures

  • Formality and protocol

  • Friendships

  • Personal space

  • Explicitness

  • Relationships and business

Culture Hierarchy

Levels of Culture

  • Supernational Culture: Cultural differences crossing national boundaries.

  • National Culture: Shared national characteristics.

  • Subculture: Cultural divisions within a society.

Supernational Culture

Refers to subjective cultural differences present in more than one country (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2014).

Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions

Geert Hofstede’s model includes six dimensions:

  • Power Distance (PDI)

  • Individualism vs. Collectivism (INV)

  • Masculinity vs. Femininity (MAS)

  • Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

  • Long Term Orientation (LTO)

  • Indulgence vs. Restraint (IND)

Cultural Differences in Emotion and Music Preference

Westerners tend to be independent, prioritizing autonomy, while East Asians are interdependent. This affects music preferences. Westerners prefer high-arousal music, seeking strong 'happiness' experiences, while East Asians prefer calm, subdued music (Liew & de Almeida, 2021).

Dimensions of National Identity

  • Belief structure

  • National heritage

  • Ethnocentrism

  • Cultural homogeneity

Subculture

Subcultures are cultural divisions containing collections of individuals in a particular society (Evans et al., 2011). Each consumer belongs to many cultural groups, moving in and out of microcultures (Babin & Harris, 2016).