Culture

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Understanding consumer behaviour in a cross-cultural environment is an essential part of marketing activities in a world that is becoming more consumer-centric. As markets are becoming increasingly globalised, the need for understanding consumers in different cultures is a priority in marketing activities.

What are the key facets of culture involved in shaping consumers’ decisions during online purchasing?

In Hofstede’s collectivistic cultures Maslow’s social needs of belonging and prestige can be seen as affiliation, admiration and status which tend to be the main driving forces of consumer behaviour. As a collectivistic culture the high level of interdependence among Indian individuals corresponds with lesser personal attachment to material objects and a greater attachment to human beings.

As a collectivistic society, it is imperative to project the right image as being classy, upmarket and prestigious by securing the term ‘face-saving’ where they rank high in power distance society. According to Hofstede (1984), in high power distance societies, differences in power are expected to translate into visible differences in status.

According to Mooij (2004), dimensions of national culture provide excellent variables that can be employed to analyse cross-cultural consumer behaviour.

Hofsteede (1980) defines culture as the “interactive aggregate of common characteristics that influence a group’s response to its environment.” Hofestede empirically identified five key criteria by which national culture differed, which are power distance, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity versus femininity, and long-term orientation.

Explored is how online shopping behavior can be adapted to culture-related shopping behaviour of expatriates.