Literature Review: Consumer Behavior And Cultural Values

1. Introduction

This paper represents a literature review, and contains critical analysis of the most noteworthy contributions of other authors to the research question. The literature starts with the explanation of the search for the literature. This is followed by definitions of the terms closely associated with the research area.

The literature review also addresses major frameworks and models to the issue of consumer behavior and culture differences such as Hofstede’s six-dimension model of national cultures and cultural values will be discussed. Identifying and explaining the current pool of literature complete this literature review.

2. Explanation of the search strategy

My search terms for this research are consumer behavior, cultural

Cultural values

Culture is complex, which is defined by knowledge, tradition, art, belief, morals, law, customs, and any other resources and practices acquired by humans as members of society. All these factors influence the living and character of a person because humans grow up surrounded by a specific environment. Culture is not static and changes over time; globalization also has a high influence on the culture.

However, to identify the connection between cultural values to consumption patterns, it is important to look at the norms and sanctions of the region/country. Norms are rules, which specify or prohibit specific behavior in certain situations. Sanctions are penalties for violating norms. Norms and sanction influence a person’s behavior of purchasing a product or service. Cultural values are core values, which vary across culture and influence consumer’s behavior, there are three groups: other-oriented values, environment-oriented values, and self-oriented values.

i. Other-oriented values:

Other-oriented values are the view of the society of the connection/relationship between individuals and groups in one’s society. Examples are individual/collective, youth/age, extended/limited family, masculine/feminine, competitive/cooperative, and

Environment-oriented values

Environment-oriented values are the relationships between the society to economic, technical, and physical environment. This is shown in cleanliness, performance/status, nature, risk taking/security, tradition/change, and problem solving/fatalistic. iii. Self-oriented values.

Self-oriented values are what objectives and attitudes an individual has to life and what is find desirable. Examples are active/passive, religious/secular, sensual gratification/abstinence, postponed gratification/immediate gratification, material/nonmaterial, hard work/leisure.

b. Hofstede’s model