Consumer Behavior and Culture

`It is no exaggeration to say that de Mooij's theory and findings as presented in this book might serve as a basis and a source of inspiration for an emerging sociology of translation, not only in terms of modelling and empirical research, but also for didactic purposes. Her model and findings have the potential to offer invaluable input into the practice of translation at large, rather than just the translation of advertising, as they may facilitate the discovery of deep-level cultural factors underlying discoursal practices' - The Translator It is increasingly understood that consumers worldwide are not the same. This book is the first that provides empirical evidence that differences in consumer behaviour across countries are not decreasing but increasing. It points at the increased need to understand culture to explain the differences because all aspects of consumer behaviour are culture-bound. Culture is not just an environmental factor, it is integrated in all of human behaviour, and thus in consumer behaviour.

The book presents a model of consumer behaviour in which culture is integrated. The structure of the book follows this model. After reviewing the myths of global marketing the concept of culture and models of culture are explored, and empirical evidence is provided of convergence and divergence in consumer behaviour. After that the various psychological and sociological aspects of human behaviour are covered that are used for explaining consumer behaviour. Examples are the concept of self and personality and the various social and mental processes such as group-influence, motivation, emotion, perception, information processing.