Consumer Behavior,
Ninth Edition
Schiffman & Kanuk
Chapter 12
The Influence of Culture on Consumer Behavior
MKT 344
Lecturer: NNA
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What is Culture?
How Culture Is Learned
The Measurement of Culture
American Core Values
Culture
The sum total of learned
beliefs, values, and customs
that serve to regulate the
consumer behavior of
members of a particular
society.
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Supranational
National
Group
Copyright 2007 by Prentice Hall
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Culture satisfy needs
Culture is learned
Culture is dynamic
Issues
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Enculturation and
acculturation
 Enculturation
 The learning of one’s
own culture
 Acculturation
 The learning of a new or
foreign culture
HSBC could successfully use Acculturation in their ads
Issues
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Language and
symbols
 Without a common
language shared meaning
could not exist
 Marketers must choose
appropriate symbols in
advertising
 Marketers can use “known”
symbols for associations
The old spice
symbol may
discourage the
product to the
teens
Issues
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Ritual
 A ritual is a type of
symbolic activity consisting
of a series of steps
 Rituals extend over the
human life cycle
 Marketers realize that
rituals often involve ritual
artifacts
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Products that are associated with
or somehow enhance the
performance of the ritual
 Birthday: cake
 Birth of child: silver spoon
 Wedding: white gown
 Valentines day: roses, candies
 Thanksgiving: turkey
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What are some rituals (religious, educational,
social) that you have experienced?
What artifacts or products were part of that
ritual?
How did marketers influence the choice of
these artifacts?
Issues
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Sharing of Culture
 To be a cultural
characteristic, a belief,
value, or practice must be
shared by a significant
portion of the society
 Culture is transferred
through
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family,
schools,
houses of worship, and
media
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Content Analysis
Consumer Fieldwork
Value Measurement Instruments
Content
Analysis
A method for
systematically analyzing
the content of verbal
and/or pictorial
communication. The
method is frequently
used to determine
prevailing social values
of a society.
Field
Observation
A cultural measurement
technique that takes
place within a natural
environment that
focuses on observing
behavior (sometimes
without the subjects’
awareness).
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Takes place within a natural environment
Performed sometimes without the subject’s
awareness
Focuses on observation of behavior
ParticipantObservers
Researchers who
participate in the
environment that they
are studying without
notifying those who
are being observed.
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Rokeach Value Survey (RVS)
 A self-administered inventory consisting of eighteen
“terminal” values (i.e., personal goals) and eighteen
“instrumental” values (i.e., ways of reaching personal
goals)
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List of Values (LOV)
 A value measurement instrument that asks consumers to
identify their two most important values from a nine-value
list that is based on the terminal values of the Rokeach
Value Survey
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Values and Lifestyles (VALS)
 A value measurement based on two categories: self-
definition and resources
Table 12.5
Excerpt from the Rokeach Value Survey
TERMINAL VALUES
INSTRMENTAL VALUES
A comfortable life
Ambitious
An exciting life
Broad-minded
A world at peace
Capable
Equality
Cheerful
Freedom
Clean
Happiness
Courageous
National security
Forgiving
Pleasure
Helpful
Salvation
Honest
Social recognition
Imaginative
True friendship
Independent
Wisdom
Intellectual
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Achievement and
success
Activity
Efficiency and
practicality
Progress
Material comfort
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Individualism
Freedom
External conformity
Humanitarianism
Youthfulness
Fitness and health
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Have you observed changes in any of the core
values over the past 4 years?
Why did those changes occur?
How have they affected marketers?
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Is shopping what we do to create value in our
lives?
The younger generation is shopping more
This has an effect on credit card debt