Anecdotal evidence and extant research show that consumers can prefer both user-designed and designer-designed products. However, the factors that moderate such preferences are not well understood. The authors posit power distance belief (PDB) as a moderator such that low-PDB consumers prefer user-designed to designer-designed products because they identify more with user-driven companies. In contrast, high-PDB consumers prefer designer-designed to user-designed products due to their stronger trust in designer-driven companies. Six studies examining power distance belief at both the country and individual levels provide convergent support for the proposed moderating effect of PDB and underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, the authors demonstrate that the interaction between design philosophy and PDB is more likely for low-complexity than high-complexity products.

The authors examine how gender identity and local–global identity—two important consumer identities and segmentation bases—affect consumer price sensitivity. These identities may be associated with similar behavioral norms such that a female identity and a local identity are associated with the norms of small groups and intimate relationships, whereas a male identity and a global identity are associated with the norms of large groups and broad relationships. Thus, a female identity and a global (vs. local) identity, as is the case with a male identity and a local (vs. global) identity, results in identity incongruence (vs. congruence). The authors argue that identity incongruence depletes cognitive resources and induces affective processing, which in turn activates a sacrifice mindset and results in lower price sensitivity. Five studies with different research designs, divergent measures of key constructs, and diverse samples support the theories and identify boundary conditions of the focal relationship. The findings expand the literature on multiple consumer identities and price sensitivity and provide useful guidelines for global companies’ pricing strategies.

The authors propose that power distance belief (PDB) (i.e., accepting and expecting power disparity) influences impulsive buying beyond other related cultural dimensions, such as individualism–collectivism. This research supports an associative account that links PDB and impulsive buying as a manifestation of self-control, such that those with high PDB display less impulsive buying. Furthermore, this effect manifests for vice products but not for virtue products. The authors also find that restraint from temptations can occur automatically for people who have repeated practice (i.e., chronically high PDBs). Taken together, these results imply that products should be differentially positioned as vice or virtue products in accordance with consumers’ PDBs.

Given the increasing importance of the global sharing economy, consumers face the decision of whether to choose an access-based option versus an owned option. However, understanding of how consumers’ global–local identity may influence their preference for access-based consumption is rather limited. The authors fill this knowledge gap by proposing that consumers high in global identity (“globals”) have a greater preference for access-based consumption than those high in local identity (“locals”). Such effects are mediated by consumers’ consumption openness. Consistent with the “consumption openness” account, the authors find that when the desire for openness is enhanced by a contextual cue, locals’ preference for access-based consumption is elevated, whereas globals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. However, when the desire for openness is suppressed by a contextual cue, globals’ preference for access-based consumption is reduced, whereas locals’ preference for access-based consumption is unaffected. Similarly, consumers’ traveler–settler orientation sets a boundary for the relationship between global–local identity and preference for access-based consumption, given its close association with consumption openness. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.