The role of individualism vs. collectivism in the formation of repurchase intent: A cross-industry comparison of the effects of cultural and personal values

Abstract

As repurchase intent drives profitability and firms are facing culturally diverse customers, managers should know how individualism (vs. collectivism) influences the formation of repurchase intent. This research models individualism as a dimension of both national culture and personal values.Based on HLM of data from six countries and ten industries, study 1 shows that cultural individualism is more influential than personal individualism. Individualism positively moderates the effect of customer satisfaction and negatively moderates the effects of public brand image and relational switching costs on repurchase intent. While the effects of customer satisfaction and relational switching costs are moderated more strongly for services, the effect of public brand image is moderated more strongly for products. Study 2 illuminates psychological processes operating behind these moderating effects: importance of relational switching costs -reliance on salespeople; importance of public brand image -meeting social preferences (impressing others, expressing group identify), but not 3 trustworthiness; importance of customer satisfaction -customization, distinctiveness, but not functional benefits. This research also tests extant theories about the main effect of individualism on repurchase intent. The results provide valuable, novel suggestions for cross-cultural adaptation of marketing strategy.

How individualism–collectivism influences consumer responses to the sharing economy: Consociality and promotional type

“…Scholars have studied the influence of individualism–collectivism in the marketing context, revealing important insights about how cross‐cultural ideology can affect consumer responses to marketing efforts and stimuli (i.e., Frank, Enkawa, & Schvaneveldt, ; Hsieh, Chiu, Tang, & Lin, ; Mo, Liu, & Liu, ; Wang, ; Wien & Olsen, ; Xiao & Kim, ). As an ideological factor, individualism–collectivism is relevant in the consociality dimension of the sharing economy because it clarifies the variability in consumers’ approaches toward personal interaction (i.e., Marcus & Le, ; Mourali, Laroche, & Pons, ; Oyserman, ; Watkins & Liu, ).…”

The impact of culture, evaluation of store image and satisfaction on purchase intention at supermarkets

“…On the other hand, individuals of individualist cultures are independent, and the group goals are less important than personal goals. Frank, Enkawa, and Schvaneveldt (2015) observe the importance of investigating the role of I-C in developing purchase intention, considering the cultural diversity of consumers. Therefore, this construct composed the cultural dimension adopted in this research, whose objective was to analyze the influence of I-C on the evaluation of store image, and on the satisfaction of supermarket consumers regarding purchase intention.…”

Religiosity and consumer behavior in developing countries: An exploratory study on Muslims in the context of Burkina Faso

“…Luna and Gupta 2001, Shavitt et al (2008), De Mooij and Hofstede (2011), Nayeem 2012, Frank, Enkawa, and Schvaneveldt (2015) emphasize the individualistic approach of consumer behavior by showing that consumer behavior may be affected by his or her personality and his or her character as well as his or her attitude. They show that consumer behavior is driven by a behavior that is usually a link to the particular consumer's individual experience.…”