The effect of personal cultural orientations on consumer decision-making styles through consumer involvement

Abstract

Every individual is a consumer who purchases goods and services on a regular basis. Indeed, from a very young age, individuals are involved in consumer behaviour as an integral part of their everyday lives. From searching for, purchasing and consuming, through to evaluating and disposing of goods and services, consumer behaviour affects nearly every aspect of an individual's life. Globalisation has brought about a renewed interest in the influence of culture on consumer behaviour. Culture is viewed as the collective programming of the hands, heart and mind which distinguishes individuals or groups of individuals from each other and encompasses not only beliefs, attitudes and skills but, most importantly, a system of values. It affects all aspects of human existence within societies. Its influence is particularly apparent when considering the effect of national culture on decision-making. The influence is, however, not just limited to the national level but extends to the individual level as well. A knowledge gap currently exists in terms of understanding the relationship between individual-level culture and decision-making. Besides culture, consumer involvement also influences consumer behaviour. Considered to have a causal effect with a number of related consequences on the purchase and communication behaviours of individuals, it influences the extent or complexity of decision-making processes. However, despite the growing importance of consumer involvement as a construct that explains consumer behaviour, a further knowledge gap exists in that the relationship between individual-level culture and decision-making through consumer involvement has not been thoroughly researched. The conceptual framework adopted for the purpose of this study is based on the Antecedents-Involvement-Consequences (A-I-C) model described by Flynn and Goldsmith (1993). This model includes involvement as its central component, along with two sets of related variables, namely antecedents and consequences. In terms of this research, antecedents relates to two dimensions of national culture, namely Uncertainty Avoidance – concerns the extent to which individuals feel threatened by, and try to avoid, uncertainty – and Masculinity/Femininity – relates to the affect of biological differences on the emotional and social roles of individuals. These national culture antecedents were reconceptualised at the individual-level as Risk Aversion – concerns the reluctance of individuals to assume risk – and Ambiguity Intolerance – relates to the extent to which individuals are able to tolerate uncertainty – and as Masculinity – concerns the dominance of masculine values – and Gender Equality – relates to the extent to which the genders are perceived as being equal, respectively. Further, involvement distinguishes between different types of Consumer Involvement, both cognitive, namely Risk Involvement – concerns product risk and the relative importance or probability of this risk – and Normative Involvement – relates to the importance of a product to an individual's values – and affective, namely Situational Involvement – concerns the purchase or use of a product in a particular situation – and Enduring Involvement – relates to the importance of a product to an individual's values across all and not just specific situations. Finally, the consequences measured in this study relate to two styles of consumer decision-making associated with choosing brands, namely Brand Loyalty – an orientation towards consistently choosing the same brands – and Brand Consciousness – an orientation towards buying expensive, well-known brands. A descriptive research design was employed, consistent with the postpositivism research paradigm and deductive research adopted for the purpose of this study. The survey method entailed using online self-administered questionnaires to collect primary data. The target population encompassed adults, 21 years and older, who spoke English as either a first or second language, who resided in South Africa, and who were responsible for purchasing their own clothing. The sampling frame was an online panel which leveraged third-party applications and websites to target respondents. A final sample of 814 respondents was obtained. In addition to the analysis of descriptive data, the results of the survey research were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling. It is evident from the findings of the study that firstly, Consumer Involvement does not fulfil a role in the relationship between Uncertainty Avoidance, measured at the individual-level by Risk Aversion and Ambiguity Intolerance, and Brand Loyalty and Brand Consciousness. Indeed, the findings indicate that there is only a direct relationship between Risk Aversion and Brand Loyalty. Marketers should, therefore, with regard to their messaging, emphasise the mitigation of risk in terms of those product attributes that are important to risk averse consumers.