Integrating Cross-Cultural Marketing Research Training in International Business Education Programs: It's Time,and Here's Why and How

International business necessitates that its international business educators prepare today's workforce with skills necessary to take on cross-cultural research tasks and challenges. Yet, global business finds these skills in short supply. Perhaps this is the case because empirical evidence shows U.S. academic coverage of cross-cultural research complexities are severely limited as measured by text coverage. Slightly lagging behind international business and marketing programs located outside the United States in recognizing and acting on this this need, many U.S. programs now seek to enhance cross-cultural coverage. However, empirical evidences show that U.S.-based programs and the textbooks they use are lagging behind in their treatment of cross-cultural marketing research. Coverage in these texts is typically limited to a single chapter that repeats basic research concepts usually covered in principles of marketing courses. This article discusses a customized international marketing research course integrated with training that includes cross-cultural research issues and complexities and provides a framework of criteria useful in selecting an appropriate text.     

Assessing cross-cultural marketing theory and research

A content analysis of 99 articles focuses on the comparative cross-cultural marketing research in 14 leading marketing and business journals from 1990 to 2008. The content analysis indicates strong growth in cross-cultural studies, especially in terms of studies on consumer attitudes and behavior and on promotion-related topics. This study classifies articles according to a series of conceptual (e.g., cultural dimensions employed in the study) and methodological (e.g., use of analytical technique) criteria. Although researchers have advanced in both conceptual and methodological respects, the studies still focus strongly on the dimensions from Hofstede (2001); methodologically, the dominance of two-country studies is problematic. Further, survey data from North America and Europe and researchers based and trained in North America and Europe are still dominant in the research field.     

Cross-cultural advertising communication: Visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand recall

The focus of this paper is to address the issue of visual imagery in cross-cultural consumer research. The authors investigate the relationship between visual imagery, brand familiarity, and brand claim recall in two distinct cultural environments — the U.S. and Russia. The paper consists of two studies that explored imagery potency from the point of view of memory-evoking effects. The results suggest that image-intensive tools generate different returns depending on the level of brand familiarity and cultural media. The research findings may be of interest to marketing scholars studying cross-cultural consumer behavior as well as to practitioners operating in international advertising and global brand building.     

Review and future directions of cross-cultural consumer services research

It is widely recognized that an increasing number of service firms are expanding into international markets. Many studies in the services marketing literature have focused on the identification and discussion of similarities and/or differences in consumer service experiences across nations and cultures. In this paper we review the relevant literature, address conceptual and methodological issues associated with extant cross-cultural consumer services research and suggest theories and approaches in regards to future research in the area. In addition, we introduce and discuss the concept of “cultural service personality” as a potential new theoretical perspective.     

Cosmopolitanism, individual-level values and cultural-level values: A cross-cultural study

Cosmopolitanism (COS) is an important consumer characteristic for international market segmentation. To date, no empirical studies investigate how COS relates to consumer values. This research, involving samples of Canadians and Turks, focuses on the associations of individual- and cultural-level values to COS dispositions, and compares these relationships cross-culturally. The findings support the cross-cultural applicability of these constructs. While some of the COS-values relationships are consistent across the two cultures, others differ. Overall, COS is much more strongly associated with Schwartz's individual and cultural level values than with either Hofstede's cultural dimensions or demographics.     

Marketing mix and customer equity of SPA brands:Cross-cultural perspectives

Globalization has substantially transformed the fashion industry. Firms that conduct innovative marketing campaigns for SPA brands, also known as fast fashion, are operating worldwide. Because SPA brands tend to have short trend cycles, corporate profitability is sensitive to consumers' attitudinal changes. The authors of this study establish a theoretical framework by examining research trends related to customer equity at home and abroad by delving into the current state of global SPA brands, defining customer equity, developing customer equity measurements, and conducting empirical analyses. This study uses structural equation models to analyze corporate marketing activity effects on customer lifetime value through brand attitude. Although earlier studies identify customer equity as driving value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity, the authors introduce social network equity as another driver.     

Examining cross-cultural compatibility of high performance work practices

This paper examines the relationship between high performance work practices (HPWPs) and cross-cultural dimensions to debate the effectiveness of HPWPs in cross-cultural settings. Using systematic review, 140 articles were identified on HPWPs and cross-cultural human resource management. Synthesizing the two literature areas results in four key findings. Many HR practices labelled as HPWPs are affected by national cultural dimensions. Also, several practices labelled as HPWPs have not been a part of the cross-cultural HR literature, and that limited studies in both area focus on the impact of cultural compatibility on outcomes. Finally, a few selected cultural dimensions have dominated the cross-cultural HR literature. Thus, more work is needed to: understand the role of national culture on effectiveness of HPWPs; increase coverage of HPWPs in the cross-cultural HR literature; understand the impact of cultural compatibility of HR practices and HPWPs on outcomes; and, incorporate additional cultural dimensions in future work.     

Materialism through the eyes of Polish and American consumers

The research applies the Material Values Scale (MVS; Richins and Dawson, 1992) cross-culturally by comparing materialism among Polish and American business students. Cultural differences (e.g., greater humanistic/collectivistic/Christian values in Poland) suggest lower MVS scores for Poles than for Americans. This prediction is consistent with the Local Culture hypothesis (i.e., that a strong local culture results in maintenance of traditional values in defense against global forces). Contrary to predictions, data suggest no Polish-American materialism differences, a finding consistent with the globalization hypothesis (i.e., increasing globalization leads to relatively uniform worldwide materialism). As a precursor to hypotheses testing, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) tests the construct validity and cross-cultural validity of the MVS. The findings suggest substantial difficulties with the scale that limit the confidence in conclusions based on the scale. Based on these findings, future research discussion aims at developing a measure of materialism with potentially greater construct validity for cross-cultural applications.     

Increasing the Validity of Post Command Economy Research and Application

The demise of communism in the post command economies (PCEs) has created considerable interest from both academics and practitioners. As a result, a myriad of Western marketing academics and practitioners have been exploring the region. Despite the abundance of literature on cross-cultural research and practice, many PCE researchers have failed to consider fundamental issues related to cross-cultural/cross-national research design. This paper highlights a number of problems researchers face when investigating PCE regional phenomena. In particular, the authors discuss the issue of commonality and demonstrate how the use of multivariate analyses can be effectively used to: (1) identify more homogenous groupings of PCEs; and, (2) validate marketing constructs developed outside the PCEs. Though based on analyses of the interdependence of political and economic variables, the authors identify sub-groupings of countries that largely reflect traditional geo-cultural groupings: the Baltics, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia and Peripheral, and Ccntral Asia. The authors also discuss traditional cross-cultural research approaches and demonstrate how the operationalisation of appropriate approaches can improve the application of regional marketing stratey and validity of PCE findings.     

Challenges confronting the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative: Social networks and cross-cultural adjustment in CPEC projects

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship program of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, created to boost economic cooperation between China and Pakistan. The aims of economic efficiency and enhancement of national interests are widely acknowledged in the literature. Yet, critical issues of developing the capabilities of cross-cultural management in general, and cross-cultural adjustment through cross-cultural understanding and network building in particular, have been largely overlooked. The current research investigates the challenges confronting cross-cultural adjustment among the Chinese and Pakistani employees participating in the CPEC projects. Through a rigorous analysis, we highlight the importance of acculturation experience, cross-cultural networking (i.e. heterophilic), networking behaviour (i.e. guanxi vs. hawala), and factors influencing cross-cultural adjustment, which would enhance the overall performance of the CPEC projects. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of contextual and condition-driven networking behaviour for cross-cultural adjustment, particularly the need for cross-cultural networking. We contend that organisations in cross-cultural/cross-border projects should encourage cross-cultural mentoring and facilitate cross-national networks to increase the efficacy of such collaborative projects.     

How to talk to an expatriate

ABSTRACT

Fueled by increasing global mobility, there is an ever-growing need for expatriates. This increasing demand poses many challenges for organizations to motivate their employees to successfully complete international assignments. This study addresses this issue by offering a new perspective on how effective leader communication may serve as a tool to increase expatriates’ cross-cultural motivation and boost their chances of success. All three dimensions of motivating language are proposed to have the ability to enhance an expatriate’s cross-cultural intrinsic motivation, as well as his or her cross-cultural self-efficacy. The implications of the framework, as well as future research, are discussed.     

The effect of culture on perception and cognition: A conceptual framework

Researchers are increasingly recognizing the role of culture as a source of variation in many phenomena of central importance to consumer research. This review addresses a gap in cross-cultural consumer behavior literature by providing a review and conceptual analysis of the effects of culture on pre-behavioral processes (perception and cognition). The article highlights a series of important perceptual and cognitive differences across cultures and offers a new perspective of framing these differences among cultures—that of “culturally conditioned” perceptual and cognitive orientations. The article addresses several theoretical issues and suggests directions for future research as well as managerial implications.     

Effects of Nationality,Gender, and Religiosity on Business-Related Ethicality

Cross-national studies of business-related ethicality frequently have concluded that Americans possess higher ethical standards than non-Americans. These conclusions have generally been based on survey responses of relatively small convenience samples of individuals in a very limited number of countries. This article reports a study of the relationship between nationality and business-related ethicality based on survey responses from more than 6300 business students attending 120 colleges and universities in 36 countries. Two well-documented determinants of business ethics (gender and religiosity) were investigated as moderators of the nationality–business ethicality relationship. The major research finding is that, while statistically significant differences were found between the business-related ethicality of American survey participants and the business-related ethicality of the non-American survey participants, the magnitudes of the differences were not substantial. The results of the study suggest that (i) more empirical cross-cultural/national research is required on business-related ethicality and (ii) previous explanations for cross-cultural/national differences in ethics need to be reconsidered before further generalizations are warranted.     

Non-targeted customers in individualistic versus collectivistic cultures

This research explores non-targeted customers in two countries displaying dominant collectivistic and individualistic characteristics. Using China and the UK as research contexts, the study investigates non-targeted customers' perceptions and responses to multiple marketing tactics (MT)' effectiveness. Non-targeted customers are interesting, as they exhibit feelings of inequity and unfairness, influencing their perceptions, responses, and behaviors. Given continuing globalization of retail services and diverse markets, more research that provides insights into cross-cultural shopping behavior is needed. The study fills an important gap in examining non-targeted customers in a cross-cultural framework. Findings reveal that non-targeted collectivists perceive marketing tactics differently than individualists. While the first group responds to price and reputation, the latter group responds to service, communication, and customization. The study posits that collectivists' concerns with loss of face, equality, and status evoke self-expression such as extensive price and reputation comparisons. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed and future research directions offered.     

Introduction to the special issue of the 3rd International Colloquium on design,branding and marketing

Following the inaugural 1st International Colloquium on Global Design and Marketing that took place in 2011, the organisers wrote that ‘Notwithstanding the centrality of design to the practical world of marketing, …empirical studies of design issues are rare in marketing journals’ (Melewar, Dennis and Kent, 2014, p2241 citing (e.g.) Bloch, 2011; and Luchs & Swan, 2011). Since then, iterations of the Colloquium with associated journal special issues and books have been addressing this issue and developing the new sub-discipline of design | branding | marketing. This special issue of the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services contains a set of four articles that were selected after several rounds of evaluations and were presented during the 3rd International Colloquium on Design, Branding and Marketing. The symposium was hosted by Bournemouth University from 5 to 6 April 2017. The articles cover topics that deal with retail design, retail strategy, and adoption of innovation and retail education, while contributing to the theoretical perspectives of design, branding and marketing.     

Educating the Global Manager

Abstract

The culturally diverse classroom would seem to be the ideal resource that educators can tap to develop their students' cross-cultural competence and bridge different cultures. However, evidence from the education literature suggests that students typically do not benefit from classroom diversity and that, in general, there is a lack of cross-cultural interactions between different cultural groups on campus. In this paper, we provide an integrated framework for developing students' cross-cultural competence by drawing on the cultural diversity in the classroom. The framework incorporates established and frequently used strategies for developing cross-cultural competence, as well as additional strategies that we have devised (such as diversity audits, self-awareness and ‘other’-awareness tools, student-generated cases and virtual linkages). We explain how this approach uses cultural diversity inherent in the classroom as a basis for students' awareness and understanding of cultural differences, knowledge of other cultures and the application of skills.     

Empirical generalizations of demand and supply dynamics for movies

High financial risks in production and marketing, the hedonic nature of products, and the global cultural relevance of movies have encouraged a substantial number of researchers to analyze the success drivers of movies. This research provides empirical generalizations in managing the supply and demand of motion pictures. Prior empirical research either ignored the endogeneity of box office and screen allocation or was based on selective samples, ignoring the large amount of smaller movies released to the market. Using two large and unique samples of all movies released in two major movie markets, the US (2000–2010; n = 2098) and Germany (2002–2010; n = 1360), we extend prior research and present empirical generalizations and new fields of research.     

“Relationship marketing” and the “markets‐as‐networks approach”—a comparative analysis of two evolving streams of research

Predating the increased attention by marketing academics on relationship marketing, European marketing scholars developed a network approach to the study of industrial markets that is also based on relationships between seller and buyer as a fundamental concept. This article aims to analyse the similarities and the differences between relationship marketing studies and network studies. After comparative analyses of definitions, empirical and research foundations, attributes related to governance structures and to the marketing mix approach and of major issues addressed in the research agendas, the conclusion is: relationship marketing in its limited interpretation is just a development within the marketing mix approach. Relationship marketing in its extended interpretation is, or rather could become, close to the markets‐as‐networks approach. However the basic attribute in network studies of “embeddedness” is largely missing in relationship marketing. To develop relationship marketing as a generic concept, researchers need to address also the issue of the generic nature of the market. Because when relationships are regarded as the generic governance form for transactions, then the market itself becomes network‐like!     

Global managers’ perceptions of cultural competence

To work effectively in the global business arena, managers need a strong set of intercultural management skills. When dealing with clients, co-workers, and other stakeholders at home or abroad, managers with cross-cultural competence have a distinct competitive advantage in the multicultural marketplace. Although generally accepted as a valuable asset for doing business, cross-cultural competence defies easy definition. This study attempts to conceptualize the complex term from the practitioner's point of view. What does cross-cultural competence mean to global managers? From their perspective, which aspects of culture do business people need to understand? From the universe of cultural beliefs, values, attitudes, and country-specific information, what should an executive, with limited time, focus on to develop a basic level of cultural competence? This study asked Mexican managers what they needed to know about culture to do business with the U.S. In the process, they consistently identified certain basic components of cultural competence. Responses were surprisingly similar among the managers, indicating they had a clear picture of which cultural essentials were most important for global executives to learn. The results of the study reveal a working definition of cultural competence for global managers. This research also provides trainers and business educators a content framework for a short-term training program, based on the global managers’ perceptions of cross-cultural competence.     

How different are the entrepreneurs in the European Union internal market?—An exploratory cross-cultural analysis of German, Italian and Spanish entrepreneurs

Little research has analyzed the similarities or differences between entrepreneurs from different European Union countries. The European Union is a single market, but also an international business arena where the entrepreneurs from any member state can make their first move in the direction of internationalizing their business. This work presents an exploratory study of the personal values and attitudes of European entrepreneurs based on a cross-cultural analysis of entrepreneurs from Germany, Italy, and Spain. The analysis uses Hofstede’s model to study the cultural and social values of these entrepreneurs, and their personal values have emerged from case studies. The results show that the entrepreneurs of the three different nationalities share a similar pattern of personal values. These findings are discussed and proposals for further empirical research suggested.