What makes me think that this product fits me? The impact of perceptual processing style on product preference among female consumers in emerging Asian countries
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JABS-12-2017-0237 |
| Pages | 57-78 |
| Date | 07 January 2019 |
| Published date | 07 January 2019 |
| Author | Alisara Rungnontarat Charinsarn |
| Subject Matter | Strategy,International business |
What makes me think that this product fits
me? The impact of perceptual processing
style on product preference among female
consumers in emerging Asian countries
Alisara Rungnontarat Charinsarn
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to study whether the consumer’s perceptual processi ng style impacts
consumer preference. Specifically, whether consumers with local per ceptual processing style in emerging
Asian countries are more likely to perceive that Asian skincare brands ar e suitable for them, compared with
emerging Asian consumers with global perceptual processing.
Design/methodology/approach –An experimentwas conducted with 249 Asian female respondents in
an emerging Asian market.The Navon letter –a hierarchical letter –is used to classify the respondents’
perceptual processingstyle. The Navon stimulus used is a big letter H made up of small letter Ls. Those
who saw letterH (L) at first glance were classified as consumers withglobal (local) perceptual processing
style. ANCOVA was used to analyze the main effect of global/local perceptual processing style on
productpreference, as well as to test the moderatingeffect of age.
Findings –The results suggest that consumerswith local perceptual processing style are significantly
more likely to perceive that Asianbrands are suitable for them, compared with respondents withglobal
perceptual processing style. Additionally, the covariate ‘‘age’’ is not the covariate between global/local
perceptualprocessing and skincare preference.
Practical implications –Managers can apply the findings to their targeting and communication
strategies. First, it will be advantageous for managers marketing Asian skincare products to target Asian
consumers with local perceptual processing style. For managers marketing Western skincare products in
Asia, it will be better to target Asian consumers with global perceptual processing style. In terms of
communication strategy development, managers marketing Asian skincare products to Asian consumers
are recommended to encourage local perceptual processing, while managers marketing Western skincare
brands to emerging Asian consumers should encourage global perceptual processing.
Originality value –The value of this paper is that it applies the perceptual processing style to explain
consumer decision-makingin the context of consumers in emerging Asian countries. It also highlightsa
new perspective thathelps managers craft targeting and communicationstrategies that help make their
productsto be perceived as a better fit or to facilitate consumer processingstyle so the product becomes
a preferredchoice.
Keywords Consumer preference, Emerging consumers, Global/local perceptual processing style
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The author of this paper argues that consumers in emerging Asian countries with local
perceptual processing style are more likely to perceive that Asian skincare products are
suitable for them, compared with consumers with global perceptual processing style. Local
perceptual processing style refers to analytical thinking; consumers with local processing
Alisara Rungnontarat
Charinsarn is based at
Thammasat Business
School, Bangkok, Thailand.
Received 9 January 2018
Revised 4 May 2018
Accepted 18 May 2018
The author sincerely thanks
Professor Dr.Hemant Merchant,
the Editor in Chief, Dr. Olimpia
Racela, the Associate Editor,
and the two anonymous
reviewers for their valuable time
and comment. Additionally, the
author thanks Thammasat
Business School for providing
funding for this research.
DOI 10.1108/JABS-12-2017-0237 VOL. 13 NO. 1 2019, pp. 53-74, ©Emerald Publishing Limited, ISSN 1558-7894 jJOURNAL OF ASIA BUSINESS STUDIES jPAGE 53
style tend to see the parts rather than the whole. In contrast, global perceptual processing
style refers to wholistic thinking; consumers with global processing style tend to see the
whole rather than the parts.
To elaborate the argument above, Asianconsumers with local processing style tend to think
that Asian skincare products are well-suited to them –compared with Asians with global
processing style –because they perceive that the two Asian parts (themselves and the
Asian product) match well. However, they perceive Asian consumers and Western products
as different parts that do not match well.That is, they assimilate and include Asian products
in their beauty regime, whereas they contrast and exclude Western products from their
beauty regime.
To the contrary, Asian consumers with global processing style are less likely than Asians
with local processing style to think that Asian skincare products are well-suited to them.
Their wholistic view facilitates them to perceive Asian products, Western products and
themselves as a whole. Therefore, to Asian consumers with global processing style, Asian
products will not have any advantage over Westernproducts.
This topic is important because managers have become more interested in emerging-
market consumers, such as Asians. Therefore, understandingthe impact of the thinking and
choosing of Asian emerging consumers is essential. As both Asian and Western skincare
products are available, what makes emerging Asian consumers prefer one product over
another is an important question for managers. Answering this question will help managers
to effectively target the rightconsumer segment. For example, if the argument above is true,
then managers of Asian skincare products should target Asian consumers with local
processing style, while managers of Western skincare products should target Asian
consumers with global processing style. Additionally, managers marketing Asian skincare
products to emerging Asian consumers should encourage local perceptual processing,
while managers marketing Western skincare products should encourage global perceptual
processing, in their communication strategy. To my knowledge, there is still a knowledge
gap in answering this question.
The current research contributes to this knowledge gap by using global/local perceptual
processing style to explain the difference in product preference among consumers in
emerging Asian countries. The objective of this research is to study whether and how
consumers’ global/localperceptual processing style influences their preference, particularly
when choosing between Asian versus Western products. The author argues that emerging
Asian consumers with local perceptual processing style are more likely to perceive that
Asian skincare products are more suitable to them, compared with those with global
perceptual processing style.
Additionally, many prior studies found that age plays a role in the relationship between the
consumer’s processing style and product preference. That is, prior research found that
older consumers tend to have local processing style compared with younger consumers.
Therefore, it is hypothesizedthat age should be the covariate between the two variables.
Consumers from an emerging Asian marketwere selected as respondents for this research
because the economy is attractive –substantial and growing. Accordingly many managers
both within the region andfrom other regions choose this market as a business target.
Thailand was chosen as the emerging market to study because Thai respondents are
suitable for two reasons. First, Thai consumers live in an emerging market where various
products from Asia and the West are introduced and marketed. Second, Thai people live in
a country that was never colonized.
Consumers from a country that was colonized by a Western country tend to have certain
attitudes toward the colonizer and possibly the colonizer’s neighboring countries. On one
hand, the consumers could feel that the colonizer brought development and introduced
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