Looking through the Glass of Indian Culture: Consumer Behaviour in Modern and Postmodern Era

Abstract

This article seeks to demonstrate the importance of the integration of specific cultural traits of Indian consumers on their buying behaviour. It offers better and more comprehensive insights into the factors that affect the buying behaviour of Generation X, Y and Z consumers. Through a conceptual framework, this article tries to bridge the gap between the Indian consumers’ perceptions and their actual buying behaviour. The study reported in this article also identifies the ‘influencers’ and ‘intermediaries’ of consumer behaviour for Generation X, Y and Z consumers. Participation and observation techniques were used to collect data from 14 Indian consumers. The analysis of data offered new empirical insights into Indian consumers. This article puts forward a conceptual framework of the impact of Indian culture on consumer behaviour for two settings—modern and postmodern era—that can be used by management practitioners for formulating their strategies regarding their product and promotion.

Millennials and Generation Z: a generational cohort analysis of Indian consumers

“…This implies that generations are not homogenous and warrant for studies that aims to establish typologies of consumers in each generational cohort (Thangavel et al, 2019). Additional limitations emerge from the fact that India is a complex and diverse country in terms of its language, custom, religion and practices (Rehman, 2017) (the popular saying is that the dialect of Indian people changes every 100 kilometers), and the data for this work were primarily collected only in three Indian states (Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu). Thus, the generalizability of the current work's result is restricted.…”

Consumer Decision-making Style of Gen Z: A Generational Cohort Analysis

“…Almost a third of this generation was born with Internet-technology and ‘being virtually connected’ was the way it had always been for them (Kebritchi & Sharifi, 2016; Turner, 2015). The revolution of web and the unprecedented access to information have equipped them to understand the global imperatives (Rehman, 2017). This generation is uniquely diverse than any other preceding generations in the USA (Shatto & Erwin, 2016).…”

“…Moreover, the recent researches by Puiu (2016) and Desai and Lele (2017) established that Gen Z exhibits different consumer values, preferences and ideas from those of earlier generations; therefore identifying the consumption characteristics of Gen Z is essential. Further, understanding who shops online and what drives them to do so have been important and challenging questions for both marketing practitioners and academics (Rehman, 2017). Shopping orientations or shopping style inventory have been found to be reliable predictors of consumers' buying behaviour in physical retail formats such as mall shopping and catalogue shopping (Gehrt & Shim, 1998).…”

Consumer Culture Studies, a Glance at the Literature’s Contributions to the Concept

“…Articles regarding product use or utilization are also identified. We find developments related to market research in articles by (Akturan, Tezcan, & Vignolles, 2011;Allen, Byon, & Drane, 2011;Atkinson, Nelson, & Rademacher, 2015;Chekima, Khalid Wafa, Igau, & Chekima, 2015;Cohen et al, 2014;Feinberg, 2012;Ferguson & Phau, 2012;Hernando & Campo, 2017;Morhart, Malär, Guèvremont, Girardin, & Grohmann, 2013;Opoku, 2012;Pennington, 2015;Pocol & Bolboacǎ, 2013;Rehman, 2017;Robson, Pitt, & Wallstrom, 2013;Sadikoglu, 2017;Shavitt, Jiang, & Cho, 2016;Shin, 2012;Shoham et al, 2017;Tifferet & Herstein, 2012;Wróblewski, Dacko-Pikiewicz, & Cuyler, 2017).…”