Knowledge that Transforms

This article develops and tests a framework for the investigation of cultural influences on consumer purchasing behavior by examining the psychological processes that intervene. The model is empirically tested with a camera purchase decision survey in Singapore, Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, and the United States. The data analyzed at the pooled, cultural, and individual difference (i.e., idiocentrism and allocentrism) levels supports the etic nature of the model. In addition, the theory of individualism (idiocentrism) and collectivism (allocentrism) was applied to the model to derive and test specific cross‐cultural hypotheses, including the impact of referent past experience and referent expectations and affordability on purchase intentions. At the individual level, it was found that both referent influences and affordability had a stronger influence for the allocentric subsample than for the idiocentric subsample.

Research has shown that an increase in perceived crowding in a retail store (created from either human or spatial density) can decrease the level of satisfaction that shoppers have with the store. The three studies reported here examine the retail crowding‐satisfaction relationship to determine the extent to which it is a simple, direct relationship. Specifically, we consider the possibility that the crowding–satisfaction relationship is mediated by emotional reactions that are experienced while shopping. In addition, moderating variables such as prior expectations of crowding, tolerance for crowding, and store type are examined for their influence on the crowding–satisfaction relationship. The results of two field studies indicate that whereas emotions only partially mediate the relationship, the decrease in shopping satisfaction due to crowding is moderated by expectations of crowding and personal tolerance for crowding. A laboratory experiment replicated the field studies and shows, in addition, that although ceiling and floor effects may be present, the relationship between perceived crowding and shopping satisfaction appears to vary by store type.