Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

When marketing strategy meets culture: the role of culture in product evaluations

  • Original Empirical Research
  • Published:
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This research investigates how national culture interacts with marketing strategy to influence consumers’ organic post-consumption satisfaction ratings of entertainment products rich in cultural content. Drawing upon a communication theory framework, we develop hypotheses concerning multiple interaction effects between culture and marketing strategies on consumers’ product evaluations. We test these hypotheses by analyzing consumer reviews of 260 movies in 25 country markets. In support of our hypotheses, we find that the cultural congruence between the product and the market improves consumer reviews, and that the effect is stronger in cultures characterized by collectivism, femininity, and uncertainty avoidance, as well as for products more heavily loaded with cultural content. In addition, we find that the negative effect of delay in product launch timing weakens for cultures characterized by long-term orientation, and that the positive effect of advertising spending on consumer evaluations is stronger in cultures characterized by high power distance belief. These results provide practical insights into how managers should make decisions concerning product design, launch timing, and advertising strategies in international markets.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Learning effect refers to the fact that if the product is successful in the lead country, then the risk associated with the innovation is reduced, thus contributing to an accelerated diffusion of the product in the lag countries.

  2. We do not include price, because the movie industry practices uniform pricing. In addition, theater ticket prices are rarely under the control of firms that produce movies.

  3. For each consumer review, IMDb provides the information about where the writer of the review comes from.

  4. A Wu-Hausman endogeneity test fails to reject the hypothesis that launch timing is exogenous (F = 1.141, p = 0.32).

  5. Significant interaction effects with insignificant main effects frequently happen. According to the hierarchy principle, the researcher should include the main effect to test an interaction effect even if the main effect is not significant. The interpretation of interaction term remains the same regardless of whether the main effect is significant or not (James et al. 2013).

References

  • Aaker, J. (2000). Accessibility or diagnosticity? Disentangling the influence of culture on persuasion processes and attitudes. Journal of Consumer Research, 26(4), 340–357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aaker, J., & Lee, A. (2001). “I” seek pleasures and “we” avoid pains: the role of self-regulatory goals in information processing and persuasion. Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 33–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ackerberg, D. A. (2001). Empirically distinguishing informative and prestige effects of advertising. RAND Journal of Economics, 32, 316–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aggarwal, P., & McGill, A. (2012). When brands seem human, do humans act like brands? Automatic behavioral priming effects of brand anthropomorphism. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(2), 307–323.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alden, D. L., Steenkamp, J.-B., & Batra, R. (1999). Brand positioning through advertising in Asia, North America, and Europe: the role of global consumer culture. Journal of Marketing, 63(1), 75–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K. Y., Templer, K. J., Tay, C., & Chandrasekar, N. A. (2007). Cultural intelligence: Its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and Organization Review, 3, 335–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnett, J. (2002). The psychology of globalization. American Psychologist, 57(10), 774–783.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner, H., & Steenkamp, J.-B. (2001). Response styles in marketing research: a cross-national investigation. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 143–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumgartner, H., & Weijters, B. (2015). Response biases in cross-cultural measurement. In S. Ng and A. Y. Lee (Eds.), Handbook of culture and consumer behavior. Oxford Scholarship Online.

  • Becker, G., & Murphy, K. (1993). A simple theory of advertising as a good or bad. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 108(4), 942–964.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belk, R. W. (1988). Possessions and the extended self. Journal of Consumer Research, 15(2), 139–168.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beyer, S., & Bowden, E. M. (1997). Gender differences in self-perceptions: convergent evidence from three measures of accuracy and bias. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(2), 157–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bikhchandani, S., Hirshleifer, D., & Welch, I. (1992). A theory of fads, fashion, custom, and cultural change as informational cascades. Journal of Political Economy, 100(5), 992–1026.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolton, L. E., Hean, T. K., & Alba, J. (2010). How do price fairness perceptions differ across culture? Journal of Marketing Research, 47(3), 564–576.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briley, D. A., & Aaker, J. L. (2006). When does culture matter? Effects of personal knowledge on the correction of culture-based judgments. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3), 395–408.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brochet, F., Loumioti, M., & Serafeim, G. (2015). Speaking of short-term: disclosure horizon and managerial myopia. Review of Accounting Studies, 20(3), 1122–1163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, A. C., & Trivedi, P. (2005). Microeconometrics: methods and applications. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Caves, R. E. (2002). Creative industries: contracts between art and commerce (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

  • Chen, H., Ng, S., & Rao, A. (2005). Cultural differences in consumer impatience. Journal of Marketing Research, 42(3), 291–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chuu, S. L. H., Change, J. C., & Zaichkowsky, J. L. (2009). Exploring art film audiences: marketing analysis. Journal of Promotion Management, 15(1), 212–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig, C. S., Greene, W., & Douglas, S. (2005). Culture matters: consumer acceptance of U.S. films in foreign markets. Journal of International Marketing, 13(4), 80–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Deleersnyder, B., Marnik, D., Steenkamp, J.-B., & Leeflang, P. (2009). The role of national culture in advertising's sensitivity to business cycles: an investigation across continents. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(5), 623–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dholaki, U., & Morwitz, V. (2002). The scope and persistence of mere-measurement effects: evidence from a field study of customer satisfaction measurement. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(September), 159–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elberse, A., & Eliashberg, J. (2003). Demand and supply dynamics for sequentially released products in international markets: the case of motion pictures. Marketing Science, 22(3), 329–354.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fang, X., Singh, S., & Ahluwalia, R. (2007). An examination of different explanations for the mere exposure effect. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 97–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fornell, C., Rust, R., & Dekimpe, M. (2010). The effect of customer satisfaction on consumer spending growth. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(1), 28–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and their brands: developing relationship theory in consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 248, 343–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ganesh, J., Kumar, V., & Subramaniam, V. (1997). Learning effect in multinational diffusion of consumer durables: an exploratory investigation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 25(3), 214–228.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gertler, S. (2003). Tacit knowledge and the economic geography of context, or the undefinable essence of being (there). Journal of Economic Geography, 3(1), 75–99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gneezy, U., Niederle, M., & Aldo, R. (2003). Performance in competitive environments: gender differences. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(3), 1049–1074.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith, D. A., Yalcinkaya, G., & Rubera, G. (2014). Country-level performance of new experience products in a global rollout: the moderating effects of economic wealth and national culture. Journal of International Marketing, 22(4), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heckman, J. J. (1979). Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica, 47(1), 153–161.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hennig-Thurau, T., & Houston, M. (2017). Entertainment science: how to create successful films, games, books, and music with data analytics and practical theory. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ho, J. Y. C., Dhar, T., & Weinberg, C. (2009). Playoff payoff: super bowl advertising for movies. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 26, 168–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1983). The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories. Journal of International Business Studies, 14(2), 75–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (2001). Culture’s consequences: comparing values, behaviors, institutions and organizations across cultures. California: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoppner, J., & Griffith, D. (2015). Looking back to move forward: a review of the evolution of research in international marketing channels. Journal of Retailing, 91(4), 610–626.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoppner, J., Griffith, D., & White, R. (2015). Reciprocity in relationship marketing: a cross-cultural examination of the effects of equivalence and immediacy on relationship quality and satisfaction with performance. Journal of International Marketing, 23(4), 64–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, G., Witten, D., Hastie, T., & Tibshirani, R. (2013). An introduction to statistical learning. Springer.

  • Kipnis, E., Broderick, A., Demangeot, C., Adkins, N., Ferguson, F., Henderson, G., Guillaume, J., Mueller, R., Pullig, R., Roy, A., & Zuniga, M. (2013). Branding beyond prejudice: navigating multicultural marketplaces for consumer well-being. Journal of Business Research, 66, 1186–1194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kjeldgaard, D., & Askegaard, S. (2006). The glocalization of youth culture: the global youth segment as structures of common difference. Journal of Consumer Research, 33(2), 231–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klein, J., Ettenson, J., & Morris, M. (1998). The animosity model of foreign product purchase: an empirical test in the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Marketing, 62(1), 89–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwak, H., Jaju, A., & Larsen, T. (2006). Consumer ethnocentrism offline and online: the mediating role of marketing efforts and personality traits in the United States, South Korea, and India. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 34(3), 367–385.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laroche, M., Ueltschy, L., Abe, S., Cleveland, M., & Yannopoulos, P. (2004). Service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction: evaluating the role of culture. Journal of International Marketing, 12(3), 58–85.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laroche, M., Yang, Z., Kim, C., & Richard, M. (2007). How culture matters in children’s purchase influence: a multi-level investigation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 35(1), 113–126.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, F. (2006). Cultural discount and cross-culture predictability: examining the box office performance of American movies in Hong Kong. Journal of Media Economics, 19(4), 259–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, T. Y., & Bradlow, E. T. (2011). Automated marketing research using online customer reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(5), 881–894.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Littlejohn, S., & Foss, K. (2010). Theories of human communication (10th ed.). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, Y. (2006). Word of mouth for movies: Its dynamics and impact on box office revenue. Journal of Marketing, 70(July), 74–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynn, F., Walker, M., & Peterson, C. (2016). Is popular music more likeable? Choice status by intrinsic appeal in an experimental music market. Social Psychology Quarterly, 79(2), 168–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markus, R. H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.

  • McCracken, G. (1986). Culture and consumption: a theoretical account of the structure and movement of the cultural meaning of consumer goods. Journal of Consumer Research, 13(June), 71–84.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Michel, S., Brown, S., & Gallan, A. (2008). An expanded and strategic view of discontinuous innovations: deploying a service-dominant logic. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 54–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitra, D., & Golder, P. (2002). Whose culture matters? Near-market knowledge and its impact on foreign market entry timing. Journal of Marketing Research, 39(3), 350–365.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moe, W., & Trusov, M. (2011). The value of social dynamics in online product ratings forums. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(3), 444–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Money, B. R., Gilly, M., & Graham, J. (1998). Explorations of national culture and word-of-mouth referral behavior in the purchase of industrial services in the United States and Japan. Journal of Marketing, 62(4), 76–87.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon, S., & Song, R. (2015). The roles of cultural elements in international retailing of cultural products: an application to the motion picture industry. Journal of Retailing, 91(1), 154–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon, S., Bergey, P., & Iacobucci, B. (2010). Dynamic effects among movie ratings, movie revenues, and viewer satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 74(1), 108–121.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moon, S., Mishra, A., Mishra, H., & Kang, M. (2016). Cultural and economic factors on global cultural products. Journal of International Marketing, 24(3), 78–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nakata, C., & Sivakumar, S. (1996). National culture and new product development: an integrative review. Journal of Marketing, 60(1), 61–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Netzer, O., Feldman, R., Goldenberg, J., & Fresko, M. (2012). Mine your own business: market structure surveillance through text mining. Marketing Science, 31(3), 521–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman, M. Z. (2009). Indie culture: in pursuit of the authentic autonomous alternative. Cinema Journal, 48(3), 16–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Connor, J. (2010). The cultural and creative industries: a literature review (2nd ed.). London: Creativity, Culture and Education Series.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, I. (1971). Self-concept and brand preference. Journal of Business, 44(1), 38–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roth, M. S. (1995). The effects of culture and socioeconomics on the performance of global brand image strategies. Journal of Marketing Research, 32(2), 163–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samaha, S. A., Beck, J., & Palmatier, W. (2014). The role of culture in international relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 78(5), 78–98.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samiee, S., Chabowski, B., & Hult, B. (2015). International relationship marketing: intellectual foundations and avenues for further research. Journal of International Marketing, 23(4), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shimp, T. A., & Sharma, S. (1987). Consumer ethnocentrism: construction and validation of the CETSCALE. Journal of Marketing Research, 24(3), 280–289.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simonson, I., & Rosen, E. (2014). What marketers misunderstand about online reviews. Harvard Business Review, January–February.

  • Steenkamp, J.-B., & Jong, M. (2010). A global investigation into the constellation of consumer attitudes toward global and local products. Journal of Marketing, 74(November), 18–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Steenkamp, J.-B., Hofstede, F., & Wedel, W. (1999). A cross-national investigation into the individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness. Journal of Marketing, 63(2), 55–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stern, B. L., Bush, R., & Hair Jr., J. (1977). The self-image/store image matching process: an empirical test. Journal of Business, 50(January), 63–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Szymanski, D. M., & Henard, D. (2001). Customer satisfaction: a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 29(1), 16–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Talukdar, D., Sudhir, K., & Ainslie, A. (2002). Investigating new product diffusion across products and countries. Marketing Science, 21(1), 97–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tellis, G. J., Stremersch, G., & Yin, E. (2003). The international takeoff of new products: the role of economics, culture, and country innovativeness. Marketing Science, 22(2), 188–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, M. F., & Chmura, T. (2015). Loyalty programs in emerging and developed markets: the impact of cultural values on loyalty program choice. Journal of International Marketing, 23(3), 87–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tirunillai, S., & Tellis, G. T. (2014). Mining marketing meaning from online chatter: strategic brand analysis of big data using latent Dirichlet allocation. Journal of Marketing Research, 51(August), 463–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson, J. (1999). Globalization and culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vahemetsa, A. (1970). A typology of the recipients of artistic films. Society and Leisure, 2, 87–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Everdingen, Y., Dennis, F., & Stremersch, S. (2009). Modeling global spillover of new product takeoff. Journal of Marketing Research, 46(5), 637–652.

  • Variety. (2013). China gets own version of ‘Iron Man 3’. Accessed at [variety.com/2013/film/news/china-gets-own-version-of-iron-man-3-1200330914].

  • Winterich, K. P., Mittal, V., & Ross, W. (2009). Donation behavior toward in-groups and out-groups: the role of gender and moral identity. Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 199–214.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodridge, J. (2010). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data (2nd ed.). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiong, G., & Bharadwaj, S. (2011). Social capital of young technology firms and their IPO values: the complementary role of relevant absorptive capacity. Journal of Marketing, 75(November), 87–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zachary, M. A., Gianiodis, P., Payne, G., & Markman, G. (2015). Entry timing: enduring lessons and future directions. Journal of Management, 41(5), 1388–1415.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou, L., Zhiyong, Y., & Hui, M. (2010). Non-local or local brands? A multi-level investigation into confidence in brand origin identification and its strategic implications. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(2), 202–218.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu, F., & Zhang, X. (2010). Impact of online consumer reviews on sales: the moderating role of product and consumer characteristics. Journal of Marketing, 74(March), 133–148.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marketing, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 90840, USA

    Reo Song

  2. Department of Marketing, Belk College of Business, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, 28223, USA

    Sangkil Moon

  3. Marketing Department, Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA

    Haipeng (Allan) Chen & Mark B. Houston

Authors
  1. Reo Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sangkil Moon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Haipeng (Allan) Chen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mark B. Houston
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reo Song.

Additional information

Constantine S. Katsikeas served as Area Editor for this article.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5

Table 5 List of countries, data sources for consumer evaluations*, and summary of consumer evaluation data
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Song, R., Moon, S., Chen, H.(. et al. When marketing strategy meets culture: the role of culture in product evaluations. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 46, 384–402 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0525-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0525-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation