Chinese (vs. U.S.) consumer behavior: A cross-cultural comparison of the evaluation of retail stores

Richard Ettenson, Janet Wagner

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The conversion of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to a system of market socialism has been referred to as “ the largest field experiment in consumer behavior ever undertaken.” One manifestation of this is the emergence of a growing number of privately owned retail establishments. Kindel's (1983) model of Chinese consumer behavior was used to develop research hypotheses concerning differences in the evaluation and selection of retail stores by Chinese and American consumers. Conjoint analysis was employed to model the decision-making of a convenience sample of subjects from each country. Consistent with Kindel's model, the Chinese were found to place greater emphasis than their American counterparts on convenience of location and salesperson's manner, and less emphasis on the stores return policy. Contrary to expectations, American subjects were more concerned than the Chinese with merchandise quality.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)55-71
Number of pages17
JournalJournal of International Consumer Marketing
Volume3
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 21 1991
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Management Information Systems
  • Marketing

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Chinese (vs. U.S.) consumer behavior: A cross-cultural comparison of the evaluation of retail stores'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this