INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

 INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR-

MBA / BBA MARKETING MANAGEMENT 

                                QUESTION PAPER OCTOBER 2019    

                PUNE UNIVERSITY 

Culture

Culture, thus, consists of those behaviors of a society, which are well established and accepted by the members of that society.

 Ø  culture is a pattern of behavior;

Ø  culture is learned; and,

Ø  culture is transmitted from one generation to the next.

 Defined culture as ‘patterns of learned behavior which are held in common and transmitted by the

members of any given society.’

 

Definition and Meaning of Culture

Culture is an extremely broad and encompassing term which includes

what we have learned, our history, values, morals, customs, art, and habits. Culture is an extremely broad and encompassing term. the impact of cultural influence is both intangible and tangible. people leave

physical evidence of their culture, through art and craftwork, buildings, furniture, laws, and food. It is the man-made part of the environment, the total way of life of a people, the social legacy that the individual acquires from his group

 Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior, acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievement of human groups including their embodiments in artifacts.

 TOP 20 IMP POINTS-

1)      While it is easy to state the general significance of culture, it is more difficult to define the term in a way which will receive general acceptance,

2)      What we have learned, our history, values, morals, customs, art, and habits.

3)      Cultural forces are not static; they change and adapt just as marketing adapts to its environment.

4)      Man passes culture along, so it is inculcated.

5)      Consumer behavior is influenced very much by the culture to which he belongs

6)      Culture is a comprehensive concept, which includes almost everything around us and also influences individual’s thought processes and behavior

7)      The influence of the religious, family, educational, and social system of a society on the behavior of consumer, and their impacts on marketing, comprise a company’s cultural environment.

8)      it is hard to be precise about the impacts of culture on consumer behavior.

9)      Certainly, culture is the most pervasive external force on an individual’s consumption behavior. How people work and play, what they eat, how they eat, how and what they buy are all affected by the cultural traditions and socially developed modes of behavior.

10)  Failure to carefully consider cultural differences is often responsible for monumental marketing failures.

11)  Marketing across cultural boundaries is a challenging and difficult task.

12)  Since culture, to some degree, determines how products are purchased and used, it in turn affects the development, promotion, distribution, and pricing of products.

13)  cultural diffusion - Exposure to Another Culture’s Values: People’s consumption behavior also changes because of the exposure to other cultures. This is known as cultural diffusion. Cultural diffusion basically means the changes that take place in people’s consumption and lifestyles as their cultures are exposed to others. Number of reasons may be identified causing cultural diffusion

14)  Some international marketers fail because they do not or cannot adjust to cultural differences. In order to adjust your marketing strategies with other cultures, you need a sound knowledge of those cultures in terms of every aspect. The idea of cross-cultural study has emerged from the need to know other cultures.

15)  Cultural Relativism-  is ‘ethnocentrism’ which gave birth to the concept of cultural relativism. One of the basic human tendencies is to consider their cultures as superior to others.

16)  Culture, in a deeper anthropological sense, includes patterns, norms, rules and standards which find expression in behavior, social relations and artifacts.

17)  Culture provides patterns that guide individuals in the satisfaction of their biological needs. Thus, the child learns the diet pattern of his culture

18)  Why the same object or situation is seen differently by people of different cultures. The reason is that their learning differs. Wearing mini-skirts by females, for example, is seen negatively in

Indians, where it is seen positively in Western countries.

19)  To be successful in foreign markets, a marketer must adapt his marketing decisions with that of the new culture- ot of companies made mistakes and incurred huge loss in overseas markets by following marketing strategies successful in their own cultures.

20)  Most firms examine a new market with an existing product or product technology in mind.

21)  Marketers should know exactly, what particular need might be satisfied by his product in the new culture. He should also try to find out what changes may be brought in his product to make it more acceptable in the new culture.

 

 Example-

A.     For example, even though the economic characteristics of Western European countries are similar to each other, their cultural dimensions make for very different eating habits.

B.     For example, in US, in early 1980s, some religious groups begun a movement to boycott products promoted on certain highly popular but “immoral” (sex-oriented)

C.     For example, in our urban culture, the problem of time scarcity is increasing because of the

D.     increase in the number of females who work and because of the current emphasis we place on physical and mental self-development. Many people do time saving shopping and buy time saving products such as instant noodles to cope with the scarcity of time.

E.      For example, majority of  Indian women wears ‘sharee’, and it is an established pattern of behavior in this culture. here are exceptions to this pattern as well. Some women, for example, may wear T-shirts and trousers, but this will not be considered as a pattern, since it is not found in the majority’s behavior.

F.      Bicycles, for example, meet the recreational needs in the developed countries, where it meets basic transportation needs in underdeveloped countries.

G.     In Pakistan & Bangladesh, for example, the culture places high value on religious training; therefore,   norms specify formal religious education for every child up to a certain age. The norms of mass religious education create need for religious teachers, books, and other related materials.

H.     In UK, for example, Indian British, American British, Somalian British, and so on, may display different consumption behavior. Therefore, a standardized marketing policy will not be effective in such a culture.

I.        a leading US golf ball manufacturer was initially Expressive symbols are those that may carry different meaning to people of different cultures. disappointed in its attempts to penetrate the Japanese market. Its mistake was packaging its golf balls in sets of four, which is a symbol of death in Japan.

J.       A manufacturer of water recreation products lost heavily in Malaysia because the company’s predominant color, green, was associated with the jungle and illness in Malaysia.

K.     examples of different interpretations of the same symbol by the people of different cultures. Red is considered as an unlucky sign in Chad, Nigeria, and Germany. The same color is considered positive in Denmark, Rumania, and Argentina.

L.      Yellow flowers are the signs of death in Mexico and infidelity in France.

M.    The number seven is considered unlucky in Singapore, Kenya, and Ghana. It is considered as a lucky number in India,Morocco, Nicaragua and in Bangladesh.

N.     Triangle is a negative sign in Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan and positive in Columbia.

O.     When India Cricket Team, for example, won world cup  and ICC Trophy, it created a cricket craze among the youth of this country resulting in huge demand of items used in cricket.

P.      If a US citizen, for example, finds a baby wearing a blue outfit, he would most likely assume the child to be a male. The same assumption may not be true to other parts of the world. In Holland, blue for example, connotes femininity.

Q.     In Bangladesh, for example, consumer goods are distributed following very extensive distribution channels as people opt for it. The same channel may not work in other countries

for the same type of product. In Western countries, for example, people prefer to buy their necessities from department stores or super markets, as they do not want to be disturbed at home

R.     The Chinese, for instance, dislike milk and milk products, while dairy products make up an

important part of the English diet.

 S.      For example, the hunger need is satisfied with different food items by people of different

cultures. A man in Bali, Indonesia, is likely to satisfy this need eating mango, whereas a Indian will take rice to meet this need and western will take burger or Pizza, Chinese will eat noodles 

 T.      A Indian child, for example, if grows in a European country among the Europeans,

will definitely not learn Indian cultural aspects but, the European cultural aspects, which will influence his behavior. It clearly indicates that culture is learned, not present from birth. 

U.     The pattern of behavior that you will see in Indian culture definitely will not be seen in

other cultures like chinese or European, arab, African cultures

V.     In Bangladesh, for example, we consider ourselves as friendly, warm, and hospitable.

According to us, Western people are heartless. Again, Westerness consider us dirty and backward

W. In Bangladesh, for example, radio is found to be the most effective medium of communication, where in other cultures it may prove quite ineffective. 

 

The Characteristics Culture -

(a) The invisible hand of culture;

(b) Culture satisfies needs;

(c) Culture is learned;

(d) Culture is shared; and,

(e) Culture is dynamic.  

 Concept-

A culture is “the complex of values, ideas, attitudes, and other meaningful symbols created by people to shape human behavior and the artifacts of that behavior as they are transmitted from one generation to the next.”2 The above definition highlights three important attributes of an

individual’s culture. First, it is ‘created by people’, evolving over time as a result of the human activities and passed on to the succeeding generations.

 The components may be named as (i) cognitive component; (ii) material component; and, (iii) normative

 1. Cognitive Component -

 The basic component of any culture is one relating to people’s knowledge about the creation and existence of the

universe. This aspect is based on either people’s observation or on certain factual evidence that they have. An individual of a backward

culture believes in gods, superstitions, and some other objects as a part of his culture’s cognitive aspect. But, in a technologically

advanced society the cognitive aspect is based on scientific experiments and their applications.

 2. Material Component -

 It is based on the technological state that the society has

achieved and understood looking at the artifacts of the society. The

artifacts include type of housing where people live, furniture they use,

and other material goods they possess.

 3. Normative -

Norms are rules and guidelines setting forth proper attitudes and behaviors for specific situations.

 cultural environment evolves over time, and it is most often evolves over lengthy periods. Changes in women’s roles in the home and in business, and the outward desire for leisure time have come about quite slowly. Other changes, however, occur quicker. Clothing styles for

example, come and go rather hastily.

 It is the man-made part of the environment, the total way of life of a people, the social legacy that the individual acquires from his group. The culture, into which we are born, provides a good many ready-made solutions to problems growing out of the geographic, biologic, and social environment in which we live. These ready-made solutions are provided in the form of cultural patterns relating to the ideology, role definitions, and socialization procedures of the  society in which we live. These cultural patterns are transmitted to individuals through such  social institutions as the family, educational institutions, religious institutions, and social classes, by means of languages, parents’ attitudes and behavior, and reading. As a result, the cultural patterns that consumers learn influence their ideas and values, the roles they play, the way in which they carry those roles out, and the manner in which their needs and desires are handled.

 Taylor defined culture as that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of a society. Culture is thus composed of common habits and patterns of living of people in daily activities and of the common interest in entertainment, sports, news, and even advertising.

 Different studies on cultures identified two types of symbols used by people in communicating among them. They are: 

(a) Referential symbols; and, 

(b) Expressive symbols.

 Referential symbols are those that mean or indicate specific objects.

  The word ‘pen’, for example, means an item which is used for writing purpose. It is easy for the marketers to understand the meaning of referential symbols, and as a result they do not face much problem  

 Expressive symbols are those that may carry different meaning to people of different cultures. They need to be interpreted from the particular cultural context since they carry connotative or implied meaning. The meaning of the same expressive symbol may be interpreted differently by

people of different cultures. Thus, their meanings are not limited. An expressive symbol, such as showing thumb, may mean an appreciation to an American, whereas, the same symbol may carry a negative connotation to a Bangladeshi. Marketers thus face a lot of problems with regards to

the expressive symbols.