Exploring the Impact of Cultural Value Orientations on Market Mavenism and Opinion Leadership

Market mavens and opinion leaders are two key types of consumer influentials. The focus of this research is to extend their predictor characteristics by drawing on the four-way horizontal and vertical individualism-collectivism typology. The theoretical and practical contributions of this study are established by the findings based on the survey data collected from 313 online consumer panelists in the United States. Market mavenism and opinion leadership were independent yet moderately related concepts. Vertical individualism and horizontal collectivism were significant predictors of both market mavenism and opinion leadership while horizontal individualism affected only market mavenism. Vertical collectivism did not predict either type of consumer influentials. Interaction with service employees moderated the relationships between horizontal collectivism and market mavenism and between vertical individualism and opinion leadership.     

Motivators of market mavenism in the retail environment

This study examines relationships between market mavenism and five other consumer characteristics. We conceptualize three of these characteristics as broad marketplace concepts at the same (or higher) level of abstraction as mavenism. The remaining two variables are involvement with specific product categories: mobile phones and clothing. The data come from a survey of 258 US student consumers. The results show that mavenism is positively associated with brand engagement in self-concept, status consumption, and materialism. Mavenism is also positively associated with involvement with mobile phones and with clothing. This pattern of relationships enriches the nomological network of market mavenism by describing possible motivators and consequences of this unique aspect of consumer behaviour.     

Market mavens: Psychological influences

Market mavens are consumers who are highly involved in the marketplace and represent an important source of marketplace information to other consumers. Because of their influence on other consumers across a wide range of product domains, market mavens are particularly interesting to retailers. Previous studies have clarified the behavioral tendencies of market mavens. The present study focuses on psychological influences on market mavenism. A structural‐equation model of the normative influences on the psychology of the market maven is developed and tested. The hypothesized model describes relationships between global psychological constructs (self‐esteem, tendency to conform), consumer traits (susceptibility to interpersonal influence, consumer need for uniqueness), and a domain‐specific tendency (opinion leadership), placing the market maven construct in a normative, nomological network. The hypothesized model was supported by the data. The findings reveal the complexity of the market maven by disclosing their susceptibility to normative influence despite their need for uniqueness. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Consumer Self‐Confidence in Searching for Information

Consumer behavior is often driven by the extent to which consumers feel confident regarding their decisions, which frequently hinge, especially in high‐stakes situations, on their information search. This article examines a multidimensional self‐confidence concept to explore how consumer self‐confidence influences information search. Findings of a mail survey document that high‐confidence consumers engage in more intensive search activities and that demographic patterns shape consumer self‐confidence scores. The findings empirically support a multidimensional measurement of self‐confidence to predict search behavior and suggest avenues to enhance the self‐confidence needed to produce positive marketplace experiences.     

An empirical assessment of cross‐cultural age self‐construal measurement: Evidence from three countries

This study investigated which age measures, independent or interdependent, were better for cross‐cultural consumer research. Specifically, it assessed the fit between the “actual” and “ideal” self‐concept model within the framework of self‐construal theory by examining the actual and ideal self‐attributed age identity across South Korea ( n = 480), China ( n = 207), and France ( n = 338) using both independent and interdependent age identity scales. Multivariate analyses revealed differences for individuated self‐schemata across the three countries for actual and ideal age self‐construal, as well as for actual other‐referent interdependent age self‐schemata. However, the reverse occurred too: The ideal interdependent ages showed a lack of difference across the three different cultures. Overall, the results indicate that interdependent decade scales are better than independent age scales for cross‐cultural consumer behavior studies. Though such scales are more complex, they are easy to translate and to administer, and simple to analyze and to interpret. Evidence also suggests that such scales are reliable and robust across disparate samples in the countries studied. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

From desire to help to taking action: Effects of personal traits and social media on market mavens’ diffusion of information

While extant research has studied traits of market mavens and the link from mavenism to market helping behavior, there is a need for more research to understand personal and contextual factors that influence actual recommendations of products and differences among market mavens with different traits in that respect. In this study, we took research in the area of market mavenism one step further and investigated the role of personal traits such as self‐esteem and susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence, and the contextual factor of social media, in the frequency of recommendations. We hypothesize that while market mavens with lower self‐esteem are likely to engage in less frequent recommendations, negative effect of their lower self‐esteem is attenuated when they use social media platforms as their medium of choice. Our findings lend support to our hypotheses, including the triple interaction effect between self‐esteem, choice of social media, and market mavenism on market recommendations.     

Young consumers’ innovativeness in apparel choices: A model including consumer self‐confidence

In industries with network effects, consumer innovators help to trigger the critical mass needed for a product innovation to be successful. Thus, firms can benefit from actions that increase consumer innovativeness in their target markets. Consumer innovativeness has been associated with variables such as hedonic shopping motivation, impulsiveness and status seeking. There is limited work on the impact on consumer innovativeness of consumer characteristics that reflect consumers’ self‐confident ability to choose. This study proposes and tests a model for consumer innovativeness that incorporates variables from previous research and uncovers the importance of consumer self‐confidence. We collect survey data from 534 Chilean girls, ages 10–15. After building constructs with the help of exploratory factor analysis, we analyze the data with linear regression estimation (via OLS). Our results reveal that consumer self‐confidence is positively and significantly related to consumer innovativeness. Our findings also add evidence ‐from a younger age group‐ regarding the significance of status seeking, impulsiveness and hedonic shopping motivation on consumer innovativeness. Results suggest that companies could leverage consumer innovativeness by taking actions to increase consumers’ self‐confidence. Innovative apparel choices in young consumers could possibly also be strengthened by communicating status achievement and by enhancing shopping enjoyment.     

Materialism,Status Consumption,and Market Involved Consumers

Materialism has by all accounts an important impact on many aspects of consumer behavior. The psychological mechanisms through which materialism influences behavior, however, are not well studied. This paper describes a study of the influence of materialism on shopping intensity and amount of spending that takes into account the mediating influences of three important consumer characteristics: status consumption, brand engagement in self‐concept, and market mavenism. The researchers fit a model of these relationships based on the Meta‐theoretic Model of Motivation (3M) model to data from a sample of 351 adult U.S. consumers. The model fit the data well, and the results showed that indeed, status consumption, brand engagement, and market mavenism mediate at least partially the influence of materialism on shopping and spending.     

Marketplace literacy education and coping behaviors among subsistence consumer–entrepreneurs during demonetization in India

We study the impact of marketplace literacy education on marketplace coping behaviors in the face of systemic shock due to demonetization, deriving important implications for consumer affairs from this radically distinct context. We study whether and how such education can have positive impact even in the face of such macrolevel disruption that disproportionately affects those with the least resources and renders them even more vulnerable. Marketplace literacy education encompasses awareness and knowledge about marketing as well as self‐confidence and awareness of rights as buyers and sellers. We examine the influence of marketplace literacy in urban and rural areas on coping behaviors of low‐income women consumer–entrepreneurs during demonetization in India, using a retrospective survey. We derive implications to mitigate the effect of future shocks on consumers and entrepreneurs at the vulnerable end of the income spectrum.     

Effect of consumer self‐confidence on information search and dissemination: Mediating role of subjective knowledge

Consumers search for information about products to make a satisfactory purchase decision and gain knowledge about new features and updates. Consumers also use this knowledge to be vocal about their product experience because several consumers seek interpersonal recommendations. This phenomenon has contributed to the emergence of information search (IS) and information dissemination (ID) as a key research area in the field of consumer behaviour. However, the role of personal factors such as consumer self‐confidence and subjective knowledge has received little attention in the extant IS and ID literature. The major argument of this study is that information acquisition confidence and social outcome confidence enhance subjective knowledge and consequently increase the will of consumers to search and disseminate information in the context of smartphone buyers in India. Structural equation modelling was employed to test the proposed hypotheses using a convenience sample of 259 consumers obtained through a cross‐sectional survey. The study shows that subjective knowledge is crucial in strengthening the association between consumer self‐confidence and consumer intention for IS and ID. Additionally, enhancing consumer’s social outcome confidence contributes towards high subjective knowledge and consequently accelerates information dissemination. Results suggest that firms could focus on enhancing the social outcome confidence and subjective knowledge of consumers to motivate them to disseminate information. The results also show that consumers with high confidence in information acquisition ability have the high subjective knowledge and are more likely to search for information. Overall, this study contributes to the emerging literature regarding the role of personal factors in IS and dissemination behaviour.     

Understanding the Relationship between Individualism and Word of Mouth: A Self‐Enhancement Explanation

This study examines factors moderating the relationship between individualism and word‐of‐mouth (WOM) transmission. The conceptual model is based on the premise that high‐individualism consumers are highly driven by the self‐enhancement motive when they transmit WOM and that they change their willingness to provide WOM based on the perceived opportunity for self‐enhancement. The results reveal that high‐individualism consumers are more willing than low‐individualism consumers to transmit WOM in relation to satisfactory consumption experiences (vs. unsatisfactory), when WOM is unsolicited (vs. solicited), and when the context involves high perceived social risk (vs. low perceived social risk). Thus, the findings indicate that self‐enhancement may indeed be the underlying mechanism in the relationship between individualism and WOM transmission.     

In Search of the “Meta‐Maven”: An Examination of Market Maven Behavior across Real‐Life,Web, and Virtual World Marketing Channels

Recently, a new set of channels for consumer and business interaction have emerged—three‐ dimensional “virtual” worlds. This study attempts to better understand the nature of market maven behavior (diffusers of general marketplace and shopping information) across three different channels—virtual worlds, the Web, and real‐life—and to examine the extent to which market maven behavior is transferable across channel context (i.e., “fluid”) or channel dependent. Using data from two surveys (one in the virtual world “Second Life” and a follow‐up Web survey for the same respondents), this paper explores differences and determinants of maven behavior. Employing partial least squares analysis, the findings indicate that market maven propensity is transferable across channels (i.e., high‐scoring market mavens retain this across channel). However, while there may be the transferability of market maven behavior across channels, the findings demonstrate that maven propensity is influenced by the channel context. Consequently, individuals with high maven propensity tend to exhibit channels in which this behavior is more prominent. Therefore, market maven behavior might not only span general product categories, but also the channel itself (i.e., maven behavior remains fairly constant—or fluid—across channel). The findings also point to possible characteristics that may be used in the identification of market mavens: market mavens typically have greater cognizance of other mavens, are technology‐savvy and individualistic, are of either gender and tend to be older and more intensive and experienced users of Web platforms and also intensive users of virtual worlds than those with low maven propensity. The findings of the study contribute to understanding market maven behavior, and provide an insight into the practices of mavens in a multichannel context, particularly in the case of the emerging channels that are virtual worlds.     

Policy‐related implementational fluidity in subsistence marketplaces

This paper sheds light on policy‐related implementational fluidity—a context‐dependent adaptation of policies—adopted by policy implementers to address heterogeneous needs of subsistence consumer‐merchants (SCMs). In subsistence research, despite the emphasis on bottom‐up policymaking, implementational fluidity persists because of institutional and sociocultural factors that hinder policy implementers’ from effectively and accurately implementing the policies. To enrich the current bottom‐up policy process, this paper shares insights from an ethnographic study of Fijian market traders and marketplace personnel (policy implementers) and shares insights on how implementational fluidity manifests in subsistence marketplaces. Analysis reveals the interplay amongst sociohistorical context, marketplace relational dynamics and policies leading to policy adjustments and re‐negotiation by marketplace personnel and perceived injustices amongst the SCMs. The paper provides policy recommendations and practice ideas for subsistence researchers and policy practitioners to examine policy implementation gaps and the role of policy implementers in subsistence marketplaces.     

A psychometric evaluation of a revised version of the Lennox and Wolfe revised self‐monitoring scale

Self‐monitoring has developed over the past decade or so to where it has become an important construct in both psychology and consumer behavior. Even though there is now a considerable literature largely in psychology, concern still remains at both a theoretical and measurement level about this construct. This article attempts to address some of the concerns raised in the literature about measuring self‐monitoring. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to explore the robustness and fit of a revision of the Lennox and Wolfe (1984) revised self‐monitoring scale and to test differences in variables across respondents' degree of self‐monitoring. The findings from a data set of 450 respondents indicate a factor structure similar to that found in previous studies, but with improved reliability and fit to the data. The results were sufficiently strong to warrant continued use of this instrument. The results also indicate significant differences in key consumer behavior variables, consumer confidence, subjective knowledge and concern for image across self‐monitoring. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The roles of trust and experience in consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce: a cross‐cultural comparison between France and Germany

Based on the Eurobarometer survey data, this study examined the roles of experience and cultural propensity to trust in consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce. Compared with consumers in a low‐trust culture (France), consumers from a high‐trust society (West Germany) exhibit more confidence in conducting e‐commerce. This cultural difference is only evident among consumers with no prior e‐commerce experience but disappears among consumers with prior e‐commerce experience. There is no interaction effect of culture and experience. While consumer confidence in conducting e‐commerce declines with age within each culture, consumers of the same age groups tend to have higher confidence in conducting e‐commerce in West Germany than in France. Academic and practical implications were provided.     

The influence of personality on active and passive use of social networking sites

Managers are more and more interested in social networking sites because they provide opportunities for strengthening relationships with customers as well as site content and service. Using social networking sites effectively, however, depends on understanding both the psychological attributes and social interactions of participants. This paper addresses these topics by presenting the results of a two‐study inquiry into the importance of two personality traits (consumer innovativeness and expressiveness) to active and passive use of social networks among Italian consumers. In Study 1 ( n = 753) it was found that innovativeness is positively related to active and passive use. Study 2 ( n = 277) revealed that self‐identity expressiveness and social identity expressiveness positively influence only active use. These results suggest that managers need to distinguish bet‐ween, and differentially encourage, joining and browsing such sites on the one hand and actively contributing to them on the other. Managers can also enhance the impact of their social networking sites by taking into account social and self‐identity expressiveness to increase affiliation and market share and by encouraging consumers to use these sites actively. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Using social and consumer values to predict market‐place behaviour: questions of congruency

Social values and consumption values, although intricately linked, are not exactly the same. Nonetheless, marketers contend that the central premise of social value monitoring is that, if one understands people’s values, one can better predict how they will behave in the market‐place. This paper challenges this assumption because policy analysts and industries are relying on both the consumer and social value profiles at a time when society and the market‐place are undergoing a profound transition. Using Canada as a case study, the general societal values of consumers identified by pollsters are discussed relative to nine consumer values espoused by marketers. This comparative analysis suggests that many of Canadians’ alleged consumer values seem to be in direct conflict with their espoused social values. This conclusion implies that the validity of using social values as a proxy variable or predictor for consumer values needs to be examined by researchers and policy analysts. Also, future dialogue needs to occur about adhering to the convention of monitoring social and consumer values using public opinion polls while not marrying this process with public judgement dialogues. Finally, other countries are urged to examine the situation in their market‐place so as to facilitate cross‐cultural comparative analysis of consumer market‐place values.     

Relationships among consumer vanity,gender, brand sensitivity,brand consciousness and private self‐consciousness

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among consumer vanity, gender, brand sensitivity, brand consciousness and private self‐consciousness within a context of social comparison theory. The four dimensions of consumer vanity are concern for and positive view of physical appearance and concern for and positive view of achievement. Participants were 400 college students (284 women; 116 men). Participants above the median in three of the four dimensions of vanity (except vanity achievement view) were more sensitive to and more conscious of brand names. Participants above (vs. below) the median in vanity achievement view scored higher on private self‐consciousness. Women scored higher on brand sensitivity, brand consciousness and private self‐consciousness than men. There was a significant correlation between brand sensitivity and brand consciousness. Results support the notion that consumers’ decisions, especially regarding brand names, may be guided by vanity‐related concerns and views.     

消费文化变迁测量及其对冲动购买的影响研究

随着市场经济的快速发展,中国消费文化也在变迁。尽管越来越多的学者和企业已关注到了消费文化变迁的重要作用,但是目前多数对于消费文化变迁的相关研究还停留在理论描述的定性研究阶段。文章基于霍夫施泰德的文化模型并结合中国消费文化变迁的研究成果严谨地开发了消费文化变迁构念的测量量表,并系统地研究了中国消费文化变迁对冲动购买的影响。研究结果显示消费文化的五个维度,即权力距离、个人主义、不确定性规避、社会的男性化程度和长期导向的变迁都与冲动购买正相关。文章的理论贡献在于首次系统开发并形成了关于消费文化变迁的量表,从而实现了对中国消费文化变迁的定量测量,并进一步系统地研究了消费文化变迁对冲动购买的影响。     

An investigation into the perceptions of Chinese consumers towards the country‐of‐origin of dairy products

The dairy incident in 2008 influenced Chinese residents’ attitudes towards domestic and foreign brands in the market. This paper highlights the strong consumer perceptions existing in the Chinese dairy market towards the country of origin of dairy products. Chinese residents generally believe dairy products from foreign countries are superior than those from China. A new theoretical framework is developed to explore the driving factors of country‐of‐effects and its corresponding impacts. Consumers’ image of different countries and national stereotypes, consumer ethnocentrism and animosity, product familiarity and experience, product involvement and some cultural value differences were found to drive country‐of‐origin effects. These effects directly impact on consumer's perceived quality, brand awareness, brand association and loyalty towards the related goods in the market, then influence the brand equity of products from different countries. This study provides a better understanding of country‐of‐origin effects on consumer behaviour, and will help relevant domestic and foreign firms improve their business strategies in China.