Exploring Chinese And British Cultural Consumer Behavior In Reference To Hofstede’s Model

Factors influencing consumer behavior

In every aspect of the business, there are is always an interaction between business and the customers. The business interaction always determines the nature of how consumers make purchases and how the consumers react to such first initial purchases to determine the future trend. The behaviors are always influenced by a number of factors, differ in different countries and regions, and can also be understood using different models and theories such as Hofstede’s Models. Therefore, this paper identifies and explores the significant difference of Chinese and British cultural consumer behavior in reference to Hofstede’s Model.

Consumer behavior refers to the process of choice, purchase, and ingestion of products and services for the satisfaction of  wants(Seungsin et al 2018, p.456).  The process involves different stages such as identification of the likable product and services that have greater utility and market the product with the amount of disposable money available, after which makes the best selection of the product and service most preferable. However, the other factors that also influence consumer’s behavior include cultural, personal, psychological, and social are not identical across the globe, therefore each and every country has different behaviors.

Social factors refer to the group of values, lifestyles, interest, and behavior that belong to the specific class of people and determine the nature of products and services consumed as compared to another group of different personality values, lifestyle, and behavior (Hou, Hsiao & Tsai 2018, p.19). For example, a consumer from a lower social class focuses more on price than quality unlike a consumer from a higher class that focuses on quality rather than class. Psychological factors such as emotions for luxury, motivation, and perception of a brand determines the purchasing nature of a product by a customer. a positive perception assures continuous purchasing and consumption trend while negative perception breaks the purchasing trend of a customer (Zhang et al 2017, p.40) . Personality tends also to signify the inner psychological nature of consumers to react to products and services. The individual likes and dislikes resulting from occupation, age, lifestyle, economic conditions among others are the major determinant co consumer behavior finally the cultural aspect such as taboo gained during the childhood influence the liking or disliking of a product.

Cultural factors such as taboos, customer, beliefs, and rituals that an individual learn and adopt during childhood influence or inhibit the consumption of products and services.  The culture is further divided into subcultures such as religion, status, and gender (Morrow 2013).The cultural consumer behavior can be explained using different models such as Hofstede’s model of the cultural dimension, developed by a Dutch social psychologist known as Geert Hofstede. The cultural theory based upon the ideology that value is placed upon six different cultural dimensions: power, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, temporal orientation, and indulgences, all determine the nature of consumption of a product and services. 

Social, psychological, personality, and cultural factors

Power distance refers to the percentage level of inequalities that exist in decision making and accepted by individuals with and without power. The power of community determines the consumer behavior of the community (Tan 2017, p.441). In China, the family tends to live together as extended with a structured power from the head of the group. The head always determine the feeding program; thereby the individuals with low rank have no say in the choice of the product consumed. However in British people tend to be modest where the consumption of a product is determined by individual preferences, rather than power.

These refer to the degree of the strength that people have within a community and family, and how the strength tends to affects one another choices. Community with strong bond tends to make decisions as one while those that have weak bond tend to make decisions on an individual level (Rinne, Steel &Fairweather 2013, and p.130).  The china culture is shaped up with about 56 ethnic groups with each having different cultural values, hence the consumers construct heterogeneous consumption trend other hand Britain is made up of different people from different nations such as England Scotland and few from other parts of the worlds.

Product decision making in China is based on the reference from the family and friends as they live in collectiveness. About 66.5% of Chinese consumers know about a product and services tend to rely on the word of mouth communication that is considered seven-timer credible than other sources such as television adverts(Vandrei 2014,p.681). On the other hand, the British family tends to be of nuclear, making the purchase on decision making to be on the individual level.

Refers to the degree of which individuals accept and cope up with anxiety. The UAI differs in countries, those societies with high UAI tend to make life more predictable and able to control the results, however, tend to stop trying to control if they fail and put their fate in the” hands of God”. China tends to have high UAI as Yuan refers to a destiny that makes predetermined things to be beyond human control, thus making Chinese to relate to a product failure to fate rather than the manufacturer (Xu et al 2018, p.8).  Societies that have low UAI score tend to be more relaxed and inclusive and always know that trying to avoid uncertainty is not important as trying to avoid risk, thus these people are always ready to face the risk and bear the failures. British have low UAI making people to always be ready for a change of product and are inclined to open-ended learning resulting in a high degree of trying new product and services.

Hofstede’s Model of cultural dimensions

Refers to the distribution of duties among men and women in society and how consumer decision making about a particular  product(Zhang et al 2017,p.41) . In masculine societies, men are more assertive, thereby success and power are determined by how well one is strong, and fast, while in feminine societies, modesty is perceived as a virtue as much the roles might overlap.

Long-term orientation refers to the level to which a person needs to explain the inexplicable and strongly related to religiosity and nationalism. China is seen as pragmatic since time has never been the main concern among Chinese since time is perceived as an unlimited resource like air, making most of the Chinese and companies create a long-term relationship with life and time(Hsiu-Ju& Burns 2012,p.122). The long-term orientation shapes the Chinese behavior of spending less on less important things, for example, the entry of the green tea flavored toothpaste into the Chinese market in 1997 made considerable revenue after strengthening the Chinese cultural believe that green tea is good for teeth. On the other hand, the British are normative who tend to prefer short-term gains and very quick results, thereby the quality of a product as to be seen at an instant and convince an individual of the values (Xypolia 2016,p.92).

Indulgence versus restraints refers to the degree level by which personal gratification is restricted that eventually determine the nature and trend of consumption of an individual. Countries that have high IVR tend to allow open satisfaction of individuals drives and sensations, for example, life excitement moments (Hsu,Hsno& Tsai 2018,p.21). British have low IVR, and therefore, the decisions and choices of places, food and drinks are determined by individual preferences and also tend to be impulse.  On the other hand, societies that have low IVR tend to put more emphasis on suppressing gratification as rules and regulations control people’s behaviors. China tends to have lower IVR than British, where purchase decisions are determined by the leader of the household, less freedom, and fun that restrict the purchasing and consumption trend of a product. 

Language is not among the six Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, however, it is an important aspect of culture and differs regionally. Language aids communication among same ore different ethical groups, and words from one region might be similar to words from another region yet poses different meaning (Tan Mac 2017,p.147). China is composed of numerous cultural backgrounds with Chinese as the national language, therefore to launch a business; it is more appropriate one chooses a name or a symbol that conforms to Chinese culture however it is difficult to translate word to word.  Unlike Britain, where English is the common language and is widespread across the world, thereby coming up with a business name is easier. Symbols also differ in the two countries, for example, white among Britain is considered to be a sign of peace while in China is a sign of death.

Power distance, collectivism versus individualism, uncertainty avoidance index, masculinity versus femininity, long-term orientation, indulgence versus restraint

Conclusion

It is evidential that culture plays a key role in the product consumption of a product by customers. Culture is part and parcel of an individual, as the characters and behaviors at old age are shaped by the traditions. According to Hofstede’s Cultural theory, six dimensions that determine consumer behavior: power distance index, collectivism versus individualism, masculinity, and feminism, long-term orientation, indulgence versus restraint and uncertainty avoidance index. However, language is not part of the Hofstede’s dimensions but plays a major role in business-to-customer communication.

From the above exploration, it is evidential that culture plays a major role in consumer decision making and purchasing trend of products. Therefore, Eden Project management should restructure the marketing mix of the Eden project management to conform to the Chinese cultural business structure.  The 7 p’s are composed of the 4p’s traditional marketing and the 3p’s of service marketing.  These are product, price, process, promotion, people, physical evidence, and placement.

Product

Products are the items that a company presents to the buyer in exchange for money so as to meet the buyer’s needs and the sellers need to make a profit. Product and services quality is critical to the success of every business, however, in a cultural setting such as Chinese, the management should come up with a product that appeases the entire community. The management should be able to identify the lying needs of the community and develop a product that will not only satisfy their needs but will conform to their cultural requirements.

As discussed earlier, Chinese community does not like to spend most so on the luxury products, rather the community will be more pleased with products that add value such as health benefits to their lives. The Chinese communities have low indulgence versus gratification; hence the provision of products that aims at gratifying emotions will not do well as compared to those that have long-term benefits. The product developed and promoted by the Eden project management should also capture the attention of the whole community, as the purchasing decision and trend are based on collectiveness.

Consequently, the Eden project management can apply the co-branding strategy to appease the entire Chinese community. The collaboration with local companies such as Jinmao Holdings and Qingdao High Tech Zone makes then Chinese to have some extent of liking to the product. 

Promotion

Promotion is the process of creating awareness among the targeted potential customers to increase the rate of the purchasing power. Purchasing is always done through different channels such as social media advertising, an organization of shows, provisions of prizes, offering among others. Promotion is very important in positioning the Eden project management among the Chinese culture so as to conform to the needs, tastes, and trends.

Language and its role in business-to-customer communication

The Eden project management should use local advertising agencies so as to help in building the brand name. The Eden project management’s advertising design should first conform to the government regulations and practices that are set to oversee the promotion of companies (Liu & Kwon 2013,p.40). These regulations ensure that all the styles and techniques placed does not erode the Chinese culture, therefore, it is upon the Eden project management to come up with such methods that will automatically embrace and promote the culture: this will attract the attention of a large number of Chinese.

The Eden project management should embrace the use of local media as these media has strong message appeal to the community, that is capable of attracting their attention and igniting their interest. Chinese culture needs a localized message rather than internationalized messages like it happens in other areas such as Britain(Alvarez,Rey&Sanchis 2016,p.8). The Eden project management can consider providing small prizes at specific places for the individuals that participate in the products promotion, as sweepstakes are currently demanding a space in the Chinese culture. These small prizes tend to attract community leaders who have the capacity of influencing the interest of the whole community to embrace the product hence increasing the acceptance percentage (Xiaodong, Chunling&saiquan 2016, p.329).  

Consequently, the Eden project management should consider the use of celebrities and leaders as advertising agents, though the approach is more productive in the western culture. The Eden project management can capitalize this strategy to capture the Chinese sentiments that their leaders are the bu do weng, with references to the known political leaders are capable of attracting and diverting Chinese interest towards the product.

Pricing

Price is the monetary value of a product that presented to a customer. Factors such as competitive conditions, location of the business, market segmentation and the consumer demand influences product pricing of a product (Mu et al 2017, p.380). During pricing, the Eden project management should ensure the importance of hierarchy as purchasing trends of Chinese will not be actually influenced by the favorable price to a large number of customers, but rather a favorable to the leaders.

Consequently, the commodity pricing should be inclined to the ability and interest of the commanding people, meaning that the Eden project management should survey and determine what level of the product price is acceptable by the leaders rather than the common large group (Dung,Jiang & Jiao 2017, p.18). This because, the purchasing decisions and product consumption are more collectives whereby the final decision relies on the power bestowed upon the leader, hence products that do not appease the leaders by price will experience low purchasing rate from the community, and unlike products that have prices that appeases the leaders.

Marketing mix and its importance

Placement

Placement refers to the place that a product is easily accessible to the larger number of the customers.  A centralized placement of a product makes it easy for all walks of people to have easy access to the product, therefore it is upon the Eden project management (Flores et al 2016,p.68). To be successful in launching the product into the Chinese market, the Eden project management should use Jinmao Holdings and Qingdao High Tech Zone and any other Chinese related warehouse.  

Physical evidence

Physical evidence marketing always entails the tangible or the physical cues that an organization uses to differentiate the services with those provided by the competitor. Therefore for Eden company to survive in China, then it has to have an extraordinary image, and various physical cues such as logos, packaging and business cards (Dung, Jiang& Jiao 2017, p.18).The purchasing decisions and product consumption are more collectives and influenced by the physical image of the company.   

People

People forms essential element in the marketing strategy of an organization. Some are directly involved while others are indirectly included in the product and service production (Haideo et al 2016,p.110). Thus Eden project manager must ensure that the employees are well trained to provide services to customers in accordance to the changes behavior.

Process

The process is a marketing mix element that influences the outcome of the marketing objectives (Nistor et al. 2016,p.68). The marketing process entails the inputs and the outputs throughout, for example, Eden project management can apply technological process in the production of their products to meet the market demand in China. 

Application of Glocalization

Glocalization is the production of global products and services with the perspective of the local market. Eden project management can apply glocalization in China by diffusing the cultural aspects such as using English words in naming the products. Diffusion affects the cultural homogenization hence making different cultures to embrace the product. There are two approaches to the products glocalization that is standardization versus adaptation and ethnocentric versus polycentric.

Standardization of product aim at uniting the culture, environment and the local customers as a result of the reduced trade barriers, hence allowing Eden company to venture in China. On the other hand, adaptation focuses on the importance of customization to take care of the cultural differences such as language, race, taste, and education. Adoption of those items by different cultures leads to diffusion of China’s culture that later tend to have a healthy relationship with the product, eventually the achievement of glocalization.

Product, price, process, promotion, people, physical evidence, placement

Glocalization requires staffing, that is always international. The process is still divided into ethnocentric, polycentric, and geocentric. The ethnocentric needs the staffs from the home country to be at the top of management, while polycentric staffing is assignment home country workers in crucial offices and post local workers to extra positions. Eden Company should apply ethnocentric since it ensures that employees are well versed with the required experience about the industry operations and should train the local Chinese to adopt the industrial culture.

Conclusion

China communities have a deep cultural bearing that makes it difficult for a foreign country to break a product promotion among them. Unlike the western system, most of the purchasing decisions are done in a collective manner, and the liking of a product depends on the word-of-mouth from a leader, friend, or a relative. Therefore the marketing mix of a global company should aim at capturing the attention of the leaders and the entire community, as this is the only way for the Eden project management to break the cultural wall of consumer consumption of Chinese community.

The global marketing mix entails the 7Ps which are: product, pricing, placement, and promotion. Among the 7P’s, promotion is very critical as it the process that creates awareness and convinces the community of the collective benefits of the product. The product promotion can be done through the use of local channels, use of the leader’s language, signs, and symbols that not only attract the attention of the entire community but also conform to the cultural requirements of the community. 

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