Cheng Lu Wang

Consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy domestic products in a developing country setting: testing moderating effects

Previous studies conducted in developed countries have demonstrated that ethnocentric consumers are more willing to buy domestic products. This study investigates the moderating roles of quality judgment of domestic products and conspicuous consumption (CC) in the relationship between consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy domestic products (WBD) in the context of a developing country, namely the Peoples Republic of China. The results support the hypothesis that the impact of ethnocentrism on consumer WBD tends to be weaker when consumers judge them as being of lower quality, or when consumers hold higher CC values. The conceptual and managerial implications for developing countries, including China, are discussed.

Consumer decision‐making styles on domestic and imported brand clothing

The relationship between consumers’ decision‐making styles and their choice between domestic and imported brand clothing is investigated using a sample of Chinese consumers. The multivariate analysis of variance and discriminant analysis results indicate that seven decision‐making styles together with other consumer behavioural characteristics can be used to distinguish and profile consumers who prefer to buy domestic, imported or both types of clothing. Empirical findings reveal that consumers who prefer to buy imported brand clothing tend to have a unique lifestyle and shopping orientation that differ from those who prefer domestic brand clothing. Conceptual contributions and managerial implications are discussed.

The impact of affect on service quality and satisfaction: the moderation of service contexts

Purpose – As an alternative explanation of incongruent findings in the literature, the purpose of the present study is to introduce the concept of hedonic versus utilitarian service context as a moderating variable in the relationship between the affect (pleasure and arousal) and perceived service quality and satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – A consumer survey was conducted to test moderation hypotheses, which was analyzed with hierarchical regression equations.Findings – The results show that pleasure had stronger influences on perceived service quality and satisfaction in the hedonic service context than in the utilitarian service context. Arousal is found to influence perceived service quality and satisfaction in the hedonic service context but not in the utilitarian service context.Research limitations/implications – It is likely that in hedonic related services, consumers will often use some affective criteria to evaluate service quality, in addition to the traditional service quality measur...

Alternative Modes of Self-Construal: Dimensions of Connectedness–Separateness and Advertising Appeals to the Cultural and Gender-Specific Self

This research examines how variations in consumers’ connectedness–separateness (C–S) self-schema, which refers to an individuals perceptions of others as an extension of self or of the self as distinct from others, may explain cultural and gender-level persuasion effects. Results from a cross-cultural experiment demonstrate that a connected advertising appeal stressing interdependence and togetherness results in more favorable brand attitudes among Chinese and women consumers than does a separated appeal stressing independence and autonomy. Conversely, a separated appeal results in more favorable attitudes among U.S. and male consumers. Most important, the results suggest that the interactions detected between ad appeal and culture, as well as between ad appeal and gender, are mediated by distinct dimensions of consumers’ C–S. The self-orientation dimension of C–S is shown to account for cultural-level persuasion effects, whereas gender-level effects are attributable to the dependence dimension. Thus, individual differences in these dimensions compose an important factor in explaining cultural and gender variations in consumers’ responses.

The Influence of Hedonic Values on Consumer Behaviors

Summary This study investigated the influence of hedonic values on the consumer behavior of young Chinese. The results show that hedonic values are negatively associated with utilitarian orientation and positively associated with novelty seeking, responsiveness to promotion stimuli, and preference for foreign brands. Personal income moderates the relationship between hedonic values and brand consciousness. Conceptual importance and managerial implications are discussed.

A contingency approach to international marketing strategy and decision‐making structure among exporting firms

Purpose – Although the relation between standardization/adaptation strategy and performance has been extensively examined in the international marketing literature, the findings concerning these factors are still inconclusive. The conflicting results might relate to the analysis approach adopted in prior research, which tends to focus on the direct effect of marketing strategies. By utilizing the contingency theory, the purpose of this paper is to uncover the moderation factors for the strategy‐structure‐performance paradigm in the export sector. Internal, external and product‐related factors are explored.Design/methodology/approach – This study focuses on four strategy and structure combinations: The global approach (standardization‐centralization); the glocal approach (standardization‐decentralization); the regcal approach (adaptation‐centralization); and the local approach (adaptation‐decentralization). The interactive effect of the four approaches and a set of contingent factors are examined based on ...

The heterogeneity of Chinese consumer values: a dual structure explanation

Purpose – This paper aims to discuss inconsistent and often contradictory consumer values and consumption behaviours in contemporary China. The seemingly paradox is explained by the dual structure theory of consumer value system.Design/methodology/approach – This study provides a comprehensive overview and an in‐depth analysis of Chinese cultural values from a theoretical perspective.Findings – Although the Chinese value system may appear coherent relative to those of other societies, it contains inconsistent elements that are the seeds of conflict, confusion, and change. Those contradictory values have coexisted and interacted with each other from a historical perspective.Research limitations/implications – Although the argument raised in this paper has support from prior literature and anecdotal observations, it should undergo further empirical validation.Practical implications – Given that consumption values vary across different consumer segments, different strategies should be developed for each segm...

A content analysis of connectedness vs. separateness themes used in US and PRC print advertisements

Psychologists and anthropologists have long observed that people in different cultures have different self‐concepts in terms of the relation between self and other people. The separated self‐schema or “separatedness” is most often attributed to Western cultures. Applies the connectedness‐separateness theory to test a set of hypotheses using content analysis of advertising themes across cultures. Results revealed that “connected appeals” were used more in PRC advertising, while “separated appeals” were used more in US advertising. Target audiences and product types were found to moderate the cultural effect. The findings were predicted and explained by the connectedness‐separateness self‐schema theory. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

The asymmetric influence of cognitive and affective country image on rational and experiential purchases

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to differentiate and examine how country image (cognitive and affective image) has different impacts on product judgment and purchase intention in rational versus experiential purchases. Design/methodology/approach – A large-scale survey involving over 1,200 consumers was conducted in China. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data and test hypotheses. Findings – Empirical results show that the impact of country image on consumer purchase intention is mediated by general and category product image. In particular, the impact of cognitive country image on category product image is fully mediated by general product image in both rational and experiential purchases, whereas the affective country image has a direct impact on category product image in experiential but not in rational purchases. Research limitations/implications – This research extends the extant country-of-origin literature and shows that the product image dimension of the country-of-or...

Gender Differences in Responding to Sad Emotional Appeal: A Moderated Mediation Explanation

ABSTRACT An experiment was conducted to investigate gender differences in response to public service advertising with sad emotional appeal vs. rational appeal. Results showed that females showed more favorable attitude towards helping when exposed to the sad emotional appeal ad than the rational appeal ad. However, males showed no significant differences in attitude to helping in the two conditions. Such gender differences in effectiveness of sad emotional appeal were found to be mediated by ad evoked empathic emotions.