New Research on the Role of Culture in International Consumer Behavior

Introduction

It is our goal to gain recognition for the Journal of Global Marketing among the top-tier journals and attract the best research papers with a global, cross-cultural, and/or cross-national research in marketing.

Presently, a special issue titled, “Ethical Issues in Pharmaceutical Marketing from an International Perspective” was recently issued. It is Guest Edited by Yam Limbu, Montclair State University, and Bruce Huhmann. The deadline for submission of manuscripts for the special issue is December 31, 2020. The details of the special issues are available at the Journal homepage (web link given in the Reference section.)

We welcome all scholars to contact Tarek Maddy, Senior Associate Editor, Special Issues and Book Reviews ([email protected]) if you would like to propose a special issue, or recommend a book for review, or review a book. I would also like to invite you to submit your best research papers in the international, cross-cultural and cross-national areas for publication consideration in the Journal of Global Marketing, JGM. Please visit the journal website (web link provided in the reference section) to check out our (Associate Editors and ERB members, 2020) as well as a list of research topics covered in the journal.

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Volume 33, Number 3 issue of the Journal of Global Marketing, JGM. In this issue, we have included five excellent manuscripts on new research on the impact of culture on international consumer behavior.

First paper

The lead paper by Peerayuth Charonensukmongkol examines the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on adaptive selling behaviors and international sales performance of Thai salespeople. The research study draws from the categorization and cognitive resource theories to demonstrate the way CQ enables salespeople to make effective selling adaptations to achieve high performance in cross-cultural sales situations. The data were collected from 365 Thai salespeople using a questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the partial least squares regression analysis. The results revealed a significant positive relationship between CQ and adaptive selling behaviors. Interestingly, the adaptive selling behaviors also mediated the positive association between CQ and international sales performance. The positive relationship between CQ and adaptive selling behaviors was stronger in salespeople who possessed a high level of trait mindfulness. The author discusses both theoretical and managerial implications of the research as well as provide directions for future research.

Second paper

The second paper by Morris Kalliny et al. is an empirical study on the use of religious symbols for promotional purposes, a topic, that has not been researched well in a cross-cultural context in the extant literature. In this article, the authors examine the attitudes of Christian and Muslim consumers in Egypt and the United States of America toward religious symbolism in advertisements. The authors conducted an experimental study with 145 Muslims (85 in Egypt and 60 in the USA) and 241 Christians (68 in Egypt and 173 in the USA). The results of the experimental study reveal that a consumer’s religion, country, and level of religious commitment, as well as an ad’s level of symbolism explicitness directly influence attitudes toward religious symbols in advertising. Interestingly, the relation between religious affiliation and attitudes toward such ads is moderated by country. Christians and Muslims differ in the extent to which their cultural context and minority religious status influences their attitudes toward ads containing religious symbols. The authors discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of the research as well as provide directions for future research.

Third paper

The third paper by Surat Teerakapibal is an insightful empirical research study. The author examined the relationship between human values and overall life satisfaction using the 2010–2014 World Value Survey data. The data comprises of 85,512 respondents residing in 56 countries around the world. Several ordinal logistic models were estimated using socio-demographic data. The results reveal significant relationships between human values and overall level of life satisfaction. Furthermore, these relationships were found to be moderated by both the cultural regions and age. The notion of cultural-level values was supported, but the findings also suggested that rational consumers shift their value priorities as they age to gain a higher level of overall life satisfaction. The author discusses implications of the research results for marketers and also provide directions for future research.

Fourth paper

The fourth paper in this issue by Dario Miocevic and Srdan Zdravkovic examined acculturation behaviors of expatriates. They used the consumer acculturation literature and congruity theory, to explore how expatriate’s acculturation behaviors affect consumer’s purchase of local food brands with mental attachments to home country. The proposed model was tested using responses from 212 expatriates from developed economies living in the Greater Middle East. The results of the study reveal that expatriate consumers’ acculturation led to buying local food brands when: 1) the consumers perceive higher similarity between their home and host country retailers, and 2) locally produced food brand’s perceived value is equal or better than the perceived value of food brands from their home country. The authors discuss managerial implications of the research study as well as provide directions for future research.

Fifth paper

The fifth and final paper by Alessandro De Nisco and colleagues proposes a conceptual model and corresponding hypotheses in the context of ethnocentric tendencies favoring purchase of domestic products as compared to foreign made products. The authors propose and empirically test that such ethnocentric tendencies are exacerbated by nationalism and animosity toward a specific foreign country that the consumer consider responsible for the problems that they are facing in their own country. A critical empirical finding of the research is that nationalism has significant moderating effect by way of amplifying the effect of both animosity as well as ethnocentrism on willingness to buy. The authors discuss managerial implications, research implications of the research study as well as provide directions for future research.

Ajay K. Manrai
Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Global Marketing
[email protected]

Acknowledgment

I would like to thank Associate Editors, Editorial Review Board members, and ad hoc reviewers for their time and effort in providing highest quality feedback to the authors in a timely fashion. I also sincerely appreciate the invaluable support from the editorial, production, and marketing staff at Taylor and Francis.