Buying Behaviour
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Buyer behaviour is a significant topic that seeks to explore the conduct of people when making consumption decisions. Although there are many factors that influence consumer behaviour, culture is perceived as one of the main factors that affect consumption choices. Thus, exploring buyer behaviour in relation to cultural contexts is critical towards the understanding of the topic. In the current paper, the focus is on culture as an important factor in buyer behaviour. Put differently, the paper explores how culture influences consumer behaviour. In order to develop a clear picture of the connection between the concepts, the paper is organized in two major parts. The first part covers culture while the second part explores the influence of culture on buying behaviour. In the first part, culture is explored deeply in respect to variations across different parts of the world. In order to get a clearer understanding of the concept, the Hofstede model of cultural dimensions is considered. The Hofstede model demonstrates that different societies show variations on many aspects of life. In the second part, the effect of culture on buying behaviour is explored before the high and low context cultural concepts are presented to increase the level of understanding of the topic.
Part One: Culture
Just like many other words, the word culture has many different meanings. For instance, some observers see culture through literature, art, music, and food (Hirsh, Kang & Bodenhausen 2012). However, for behavioural scientists or anthropologists, culture reflects the whole variation of learned human behaviour. Culture encompasses beliefs, knowledge, morals, laws, customs, habits and other capabilities that men acquire in societies (Foxall, Goldsmith & Brown 1998). Thus, it is evident that culture is created and passed on from one generation to another.
It is noted that culture is a powerful tool that influences survival and many other aspects of life. Worth noting is the fact that culture is highly dynamic (Kuester 2012). Culture keeps changing constantly, an aspect that implies that cultures can be lost completely. Moreover, since culture exists in the minds of people, it can be easily washed away by new influences. However, written or tangible forms of culture including buildings, languages, governments and other products are slightly difficult to alter. However, such cultural products should be confused as being culture themselves. This explains why archaeological excavations cannot be seen as culture. Instead, they are used to infer the culture of the people who used them.
Hirsh, Kang and Bodenhausen (2012) see culture as having three layers. The first layer is the body of those cultural traditions, which separate one society from another. For instance, when people talk about the English or Samoan culture, they are making reference to a shared language, beliefs and traditions that set such people apart from the rest. In practice, people who share a common culture do so because they learned the cultural practices.
The second cultural layer is based on an individual’s identity, which is viewed as a subculture (Armstrong 1991). Despite living in a complex and diverse world, where people from various backgrounds meet, individuals often retain some aspects of their initial cultural practices. Thus, a possibility always remains of identifying sub groups in a bigger society with largely similar practices. The shared sub cultural practices are the ones that set apart such subgroups from the rest. For instance, in the United States, there are some subcultures such as African-Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Mexican Americans, etc. Members of the subcultures have some aspects such as dialect, food and tradition in common. As time goes, subcultures tend to disappear as members discard their traditions in favour of those in the mainstream society. Thus, with time, subcultures may disappear. This is demonstrated by the cases of Irish and German Americans living in the US.
Cultural universals form the third layer of culture. Under the layer, learned behaviour patterns shared by the whole humanity assume significance (Hirsh, Kang & Bodenhausen 2012). In particular, it should be noted that irrespective of where one lives, some aspects are universal. For instance, communication based on some sounds and grammar is universal. Other aspects such as classification of people based on age, sex, marital status, family relations, etc. are also universal. The concepts of privacy and human rights have also assumed some form of universality.
Hofstede’ Cultural Dimensions
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory offers a functional framework, which concentrates on cross-cultural communication (Hofstede 2001). Based on the framework, societal culture influences the way members behave or what they value. Before developing the model, Hofstede applied factor analysis. Hofstede’s model, which was based on responses of IBM employees, proved to be a major framework, which is useful in understanding cultural differences. Initially, the theory proposed four dimensions individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and masculinity vs. femininity or task orientation versus person-orientation. Following further research, Hofstede added long-term orientation and indulgence versus self-restraint.
Based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, individualism is one of the primary aspects that influence how people behave. Individualism entails the pursuit of the sense of belonging and matters that are personal (Mead 2005). Individualism is compared with collectivism, which captures the extent to which people are willing to partner or approach issues as a group. Whereas some cultures score high on individualism, other cultures score lowly. Societies such as the United States score high on individualism since family ties do not play a major role in relations. In regards to marketing, individualism and collectivism play a significant role since their cultural backgrounds influence consumption decisions. For instance, in a collective society such as Saudi Arabia, people are more focused on fitting into the society. Consequently, their consumption choices are likely to reflect a societal angle. On the other hand, in individualistic societies such as the use of fashionable consumption is likely to be witnessed since people are fee to make individual choices.
The other important aspect explored under the Hofstede cultural dimensions is the aspect of uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede 2001). Within collectivist societies, loyalty is highly regarded. Hence in such societies, loyalty is held in higher regards than societal rules or regulations. In collectivist societies, individuals fear bringing shame to their close relatives. Uncertainty avoidance is major factors when it comes to consumption of new products or engaging in new platforms such as the internet. Consumers from risk-averse societies are more inclined towards refusing opportunities to transact online business since they prefer to avoid uncertainty. On the contrary, other societies, which rank low on uncertainty avoidance, are more likely to embrace change. Hence, novel ideas such as doing online business are likely to be adopted more easily.
Power distance is also explored by Hofstede’s model. The dimension captures the ranking of power inequality across societies. Power is closely tied to wealth possession. As the model demonstrates, societies with higher levels of power distance have accepted that their leaders occupy a senior position, and should lead a separate life. Leaders are seen as unique in such societies. However, in societies where power distance is low, people do not fear leaders as they are seen as part of the larger society.
The Hofstede model of cultural dimensions brings out critical attributes that differentiate societies. Based on the model, culture is an influential factor on the behaviour of people. The cultural dimensions show that people behave differently based on their social backgrounds. Since cultural differences influence attitudes, perceptions and beliefs, then it is held that they also influence consumer behaviour since the latter aspects are critical factors in making consumption decisions.
Part Two: Culture and Consumer Behaviour
Buying behaviour is a subject to many factors. Although culture is an important factor, it would be inconclusive to claim that it has the biggest influence. When selecting goods and services, buyers consider maximising utility (Blythe 2008). The availability of resources is also a significant factor that people consider when making consumption decisions. Often, a big number of buyers analyse commodity prices before making their decisions.
Cultural factors play a critical role in influencing the behaviour of buyers. Culture, subcultures and social classes are some of the most influential factors affecting consumption decisions (Desmond 2003). Sub-cultures are based on aspects such as religion, nationality, geographic region, race, ethnicity and sex. Based on the differences that are evident among people based on the above factors, marketers are able to target various segments of buyers. It should be noted that the behaviour of buyers is influenced by sub-cultures such as religion since people from given religions cannot consume certain products. For instance, Muslims are not allowed to consume pork products. Consequently, devout Muslims are most likely to detest pork products. Similarly, geographical attributes influence consumption decisions that buyers make. For instance, people coming from cold geographical regions are more likely to buy heavy clothing than those from hot regions.
Important social factors such as reference groups, status, role, and family also influence consumption decisions among people (Hoyer & MacInnis 2005). Reference groups are those groups which offer a model for other people. The influence held by reference groups vary among various products. For instance, clothes, cars and shoes are some of the products that buyers are more interested in matching with those of persons from reference groups. It should be noted that reference groups also encompasses opinion leaders.
The family unit is a crucial factor in cultural development as well as in consumption. Keegan and Green (2011) view family members as wielding considerable influence when it comes to consumption. For instance, a wife is likely to influence the consumption decisions that their husband makes. For marketers, they study to know the member of a family that given products influence so that they can direct their advertisements appropriately.
Knowing the role that a person plays is also important in understanding their consumption decisions. Within societies, people play different roles, because they have different statuses (Khosla 2010). Hence, by virtue of the role played, people are members of given groups or clubs/organisations. When making purchase or consumption decisions, people do not want to deviate from the groups that they are members. Another factor is the age of buyers. Age has assumed added significance given the emergence of the aspect as a critical market segmentation factor (Laermer & Simmons 2007). Buyers are known to alter their purchase decisions with time. For instance, young singles, married and unmarried couples depict different consumption patterns. Moreover, marketers need to understand the age differential in order to supply appropriate goods to each market segment.
Other aspects such as beliefs, attitudes and perception are also critical in understanding the role of culture in buying behaviour. It is noted that customers hold given beliefs and attitudes about products (Solomon 2012). Such beliefs and attitudes contribute significantly towards the creation of brand image. Hence, beliefs and attitudes have a bearing on the consumption patterns of people. For this reason, marketers need to focus on understanding and altering buying attitudes and beliefs in order to influence their choices.
Perception is about selection, organization and interpretation of information in a manner that produces a meaningful experience to observers (Blackwell, Miniard & Engel 2006). Such experiences are the perceptions that buyers hold about products. Three selective processes: attention, distortion and retention play a major role in the creation of perceptions (Schwartz 2004). Regarding selective attention, people chose what they pay attention to and what to ignore. Under selective distortion, buyers interpret information in ways consistent with their existing ideas. In the same way, selective retention reflects that buyers retain only that information, which is consistent with what they believe.
Examining concepts such as high and low context cultural concepts is significant in understanding variations regarding how people behave when consuming products or services. Five main categories distinguish low from high context cultures (Hall 1983). The categories include: association, interaction, territoriality, learning and temporality (Hall 1983). Under the association category, high context cultures are characterized by relationships based on trust and build slowly. In such a relationship, one is able to distinguish insiders and outsiders in their circles. On the other hand, relationships in low context cultures are characterized with high formation and termination speeds. In such a context, it is not easy to tell the boundary between insiders and outsiders in individual relationships. When it comes to consumption, people in high cultural contexts tend to buy products that they have experienced or those that members of their societies have used. Such people are also likely to visit trusted shopping outlets. On the contrary, people from low cultural contexts make personalized consumption decisions which are based on convenience.
Hall (1983) observed that under the category of territoriality, high context cultures reflect a presence of communal spaces where people are close to one another. On the other hand, under the low context cultures, available space is compartmentalized in addition to being owned privately. The implication for buying behaviour is that consumption decisions under high cultural contexts are shaped by the spaces occupied. However, in low context cultures, consumption choices are personalized since the societal space is reduced into personalized spaces. The other aspect, temporality shows that under high context cultures, each concern is dealt with at time, although not adhered to strictly. Under low context cultures, everything must fall within its timetable. Linking the aspect of temporality with buying behaviour demonstrates that high cultural contexts consumption is driven by the need for a product, but the time factor does not count. On the other hand, under low context cultures, time is of the essence when consuming products. For example, in a high context culture, a buying would want to buy an electronic good at any time while in a low cultural context a buying would want to buy an up to date electronic. The focus is on efficiency as opposed to getting things done. Regarding the learning aspect, under high context cultures, knowledge is embedded in situations and thinking takes a global perspective. On the other hand, under low context culture, learning is fragmented in addition to being compartmentalized since few sources of information are consulted.
Conclusion
Based on the paper, culture emerges as a powerful tool, which influences many other areas of life such as buying behaviour. Another major finding about culture is that it remains overly dynamic. The high level of dynamism implies that beliefs, values or myths are tentative although they influence how people conduct their affairs. Another highlight of the paper is based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions model. The model offers a functional framework, which is based on cross-cultural communication. The framework demonstrates that societal culture influences the way members behave. Although the theory proposed four dimensions such as: individualism vs. collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, power distance and masculinity vs. femininity or task orientation versus person-orientation. Based on later research, Hofstede added long-term orientation and indulgence versus self-restraint as significant factors that influence behaviour.
Culture influences values, perceptions, attitudes, role play, societal classification and many more aspects. All factors mentioned above are critical elements regarding consumption since buyers make their decisions based on different factors. It also emerges that social classes are some of the most significant elements that influence consumption decisions. Subcultures emerge on the basis of religion, nationality, geographic region, race, ethnicity and sex.
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