Cross-Cultural Research in Transition Economies—A Marketing Perspective: From Theory to Practice

ABSTRACT

Transition economy research has emerged during the last two decades as a new lens for the examination of marketing and business phenomena. This study examines major theoretical and practical issues that must be addressed when conducting marketing research in transition economies. The paper is both conceptual in terms of integrating different streams of cultural research for transition economy study, and prescriptive in terms of recommendations for conducting marketing studies. Three inter-related fields of study, individualism/collectivism; value types; and World Values Surveys; serve as frameworks for developing a marketing research agenda in markets in transition. The existence of non-trivial differences between people, and therefore consumers, within transition versus developed economies is also reviewed. The relevance of such research is considered from the perspective of both academic and practitioner applications.

KEYWORDS:

• Culture typologies
• marketing research
• transition economies