Cross-cultural comparison of consumer pre-purchase decision-making

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cultural differences in female consumers’ motivation to purchase appearance-enhancing products, particularly anti-aging creams. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a qualitative research design to collect the data. Focus group discussions were used. The participants were selected from Thai and Australian females, 25-45 years old in Melbourne representing the most frequent users of anti-aging products. Findings The results indicated variations among participants in their motivation to seek a better appearance. The motivation ranged from a combination of striving to achieve an ideal self and a high level of social acceptability through maintaining youthful appearance and improving on the perceived declining youthful appearance. Using anti-aging products turned out to be a means for taking care of oneself, achieving better social acceptability and improving self-image. These key motivations are inspired by the individual’s social condition and from the reactions they receive from others. These motivations are shared by all participants, but within different cultural perspectives. Research limitations/implications The main limitation is in relation to the true expression of attitudes by respondents, particularly in regard to the discussion of privately held beliefs about self-image, social acceptability and personal appearance. Additionally, the variations between cultural perceptions are only indicative of real differences between collectivist and individualistic cultures. Practical implications Managers can adopt a cultural framework for understanding their consumers’ motivations to enhance their appearance, formulate more accurately their marketing strategy and activate and satisfy their consumers’ demand and better inform their new product developments. Originality/value The analysis explains and compares the differences and similarities in female consumers’ motivations for anti-aging product consumption of two fundamentally different cultural value systems.