Positioning strategies of high-tech products: cross-cultural moderating effects of ethnocentrism and cultural openness
| Pages | 369-385 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-10-2018-2048 |
| Published date | 03 October 2019 |
| Date | 03 October 2019 |
| Author | Bashar S. Gammoh,Anthony C. Koh,Sam C. Okoroafo |
Positioning strategies of high-tech products:
cross-cultural moderating effects of
ethnocentrism and cultural openness
Bashar S. Gammoh, Anthony C. Koh and Sam C. Okoroafo
Department of Marketing and International Business, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA
Abstract
Purpose –This study aims to extend current research efforts by utilizing the institutional theory to propose cross-cultural-based asymmetrical
moderating effects of ethnocentrism and cultural openness on the effectiveness of global, foreign and local consumer culture brand positioning
strategies of high-tech products.
Design/methodology/approach –This study used an experimental design in the USA (developed country) and India (developing country). Print
advertisements across the two countries were used to explore the proposed moderating effects of ethnocentrism and cultural openness on consumer
brand evaluations of a high-tech product under the three different consumer culture brand positioning strategies.
Findings –Overall, this study provided empirical evidence in support of the proposed cross-cultural asymmetrical effects. The study findings indicate
that consumer ethnocentrism seems to be more important in influencing a subject’s brand evaluations across the positioning strategies in a
developed country like the USA, while consumer cultural openness will be more important in influencing a subject’s brand evaluations across the
positioning strategies in a developing country like India.
Originality/value –Despite existing research efforts on the potential benefits of positioning brands using global, foreign or local consumer cultures,
there is a lack of empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of these positioning strategies across different cult ures. Theoretically, this research
draws on the institutional theory to investigate the asymmetrical cross-cultural moderating effects of ethnocentrism and cultural openness on the
effectiveness of the three-consumer culture brand positioning strategies. Managerially, this study provides empirically based suggestions for brand
managers attempting to position their brands with different segments of consumers while highlighting the importance of cultural differences
between developed and developing markets.
Keywords Positioning, Advertising, Brand evaluation, Global branding, International marketing, Cross-cultural research
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The framework that consists of three consumer culture
brand positioning strategies: global consumer culture
positioning (GCCP), foreign consumer culture positioning
(FCCP) and local consumer culture positioning (LCCP)
proposed by Alden et al. (1999) has been around for almost
two decades and has become an important part of the
discussion in international marketing. Existing literature in
this area empirically demonstrates the potential benefits of
positioning brands using global, foreign or local consumer
cultures and explores the influence of some consumer
individual difference variables on the effectiveness of such
positioning strategies (Gammoh et al., 2011;Nijssen and
Douglas, 2011;Westjohn et al., 2016;Bartikowski and
Cleveland, 2017;Jun et al., 2017;Liu et al., 2017;Halkias
et al., 2017). The empirical findings from these studies
suggest that global consumer tendencies (e.g. belief in global
citizenship, consumer world-mindedness and cosmopolitan
orientation) are positively related to attitudes toward brands
using GCCP or FCCP strategies, whereas local consumer
tendencies (e.g. ethnocentrism, ethnic or national identity)
are positively related to attitudes toward brands using the
LCCP strategy.
Although these research work shed considerable light on
the usefulness and some of the boundary conditions of the
three-consumer culture brand positioning strategies, there is
lack of empirical evidence regarding the effectiveness of
these positioning strategies across different cultures.
Furthermore, existing literature provides limited insight
into the potential different effects of consumer individual
difference variables on the effectiveness of the three-
consumer culture brand positioning strategies across
different cultures (Özsomer, 2012;Strizhakova and Coulter,
2015;Westjohn et al., 2016;Gürhan-Canli et al., 2018).
Existing research provides strong empirical evidence that
the influence of some individual difference variables (e.g.
consumer ethnocentrism and consumer cultural openness)
on consumer evaluations of global and local brands is
different across developed and developing countries (Batra
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
29/3 (2020) 369–385
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/JPBM-10-2018-2048]
Received 8 October2018
Revised 4 March 2019
13 June 2019
27 August 2019
Accepted 28 August 2019
369
et al., 2000;Steenkamp et al., 2003;Strizhakova and
Coulter, 2019).
Under what conditions are consumer’sevaluationshigher
for GCCP and FCCP than LCCP? Are there differences
across developed and developing countries in the influence
of individual consumer differences in the usefulness of
GCCP and FCCP versus LCCP? These questions guide the
researchers’investigation. Overall, whether GCCP, FCCP
or LCCP is more effective depends on several factors such as
the level of development of the market, product category
and individual consumer beliefs and attitudes toward local
versus foreign and global products and brands (Özsomer,
2012;Strizhakova and Coulter, 2015;Bartikowski and
Cleveland, 2017;Balabanis et al., 2019;Diamantopoulos
et al., 2019). As stated by Alden et al. (1999, p. 84), “akey
strategic issue for managers involves identification of
country, consumer segments, and product category factors
that favor the use of GCCP, FCCP, or LCCP.”This paper
sheds light on some of these factors by examining the effects
of the three-consumer culture positioning strategies on
brand evaluations of a high-tech product while accounting
for the development level of the market (i.e. developed vs
developing markets) and some important consumer
individual difference variables (i.e. ethnocentrism and
cultural openness).
This study extends currentresearch work and provides some
interesting insights by looking at the role of consumer
ethnocentrism (CET) and consumer culturalopenness (COP)
as moderators that influence the effect of the three-consumer
culture brand positioning strategies on consumer brand
evaluations. Importantly, the institutional theory is utilized
(Burgess and Steenkamp, 2006) to propose that some of the
systematic differences between developed and developing
countries moderate the influence of these consumerindividual
difference variables(CET and COP) on the effectiveness of the
three-consumer culture brand positioning strategies. Based on
these underlying cultural differences, thisstudy predicts
asymmetrical effects for CET and COP on consumer brand
evaluations under the three-consumer culturebrand
positioningstrategies.
Using an experimental design in the USA (developed
country) and India (developing country), this study
examined the proposed cross-cultural asymmetrical
moderating effects of CET and COP on consumer brand
evaluations of a high-tech product (digital camera) under
the three-consumer culture positioning strategies in print
advertisements across the two countries. This study
provided empirical evidence in support of the proposed
cross-cultural asymmetrical effects in the influence of a
subject’s level of CET and COP on the effectiveness of these
positioning strategies across the two countries. More
specifically, the findingsindicatethatCETseemstobemore
important in influencing a subject’s brand evaluations across
the positioning strategies in a developed country like the
USA, while COP will be more important in influencing a
subject’s brand evaluations across the positioning strategies
in a developing country like India. The contributions from
this study are twofold. Theoretically, the institutional theory
is used to investigate the asymmetrical cross-cultural
moderating effects of CET and COP on the effectiveness of
the three-consumer culture brand positioning strategies.
Managerially, the research findings from this study
contribute to the field and practice of international
marketing and brand management, in that they provide
specific strategic guidelines for international brand
managers regarding the differential influence of some key
consumer individual difference variables (i.e. CET and
COP) on the effectiveness of GCCP and FCCP vs LCCP
strategies across countries with different levels of economic
development. Such findings help international brand
managers make informed choices of appropriate constructs
for segmentation and targeting purposes across different
types of markets.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: first, the
paper provides a brief overview of the three-consumer
culture brand positioning strategies of GCCP, FCCP and
LCCP, as proposed by Alden et al. (1999) and related
extant research, then brieflydefines CET and COP and
provides the reasoning for choosing these two moderators.
In Section 2, the institutional theory is used to develop
specific research hypotheses regarding the asymmetrical
cross-cultural moderating effects of CET and COP on
consumer brand evaluations under the three-consumer
culture brand positioning strategies across a major
developed market (USA) and a major developing market
(India). Next, the research methodology is described and
the data analysis, experimental manipulations and results
are explained. The final section discusses the conclusions,
managerial implications and limitations of this study and
offers suggestions for further research directions.
Theoretical background
Consumer culture brand positioning
Alden et al. (1999) proposes three brand positioning
strategies based on consumer culture: GCCP, FCCP and
LCCP. According to the authors, such positioning
strategies are possible through a process of “meaning
transfer”(McCracken, 1993) by associating a brand in
marketing communications with either a global, local or a
specific foreign consumer cultural sign (e.g. story themes,
language, images, etc.). In general, this area of research
draws on the consumer culture theory (Arnould and
Thompson, 2005,2018), which proposes that individuals’
core identities are defined and positioned in relation to
consumption. Arnould and Thompson (2005, p. 869)
define consumer culture as:
[...] a socialarrangement in which the relations between lived culture and
social resources, and between meaningful ways of life and the symbolic and
material resources on which they depend, are mediated through markets.
Rapid globalization has paved the way for the emergence of a
global consumer culture with converging consumer tastes and
preferences (Akaka and Alden, 2010). GCCP is a strategy of
understanding such global consumer cultural segments and
positioning a brand by associating it with given global cultural
meanings, values, norms and symbols. The paper adopts the
definition of GCCP by Alden et al. (1999, p. 77) as “one that
identifies the brand as a symbol of a given global culture”(with
the additional clarifying statement)and whose interpretation is
not associated with a specific country culture. That is, global
Positioning strategies
Bashar S. Gammoh, Anthony C. Koh and Sam C. Okoroafo
Journal of Product & Brand Management
Volume 29 · Number 3 · 2020 · 369–385
370
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