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Individual-level cultural consumer engagement styles: Conceptualization, propositions and implications

Linda D. Hollebeek (Montpellier Business School, Montpellier, France) (NHH Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway)

International Marketing Review

ISSN: 0265-1335

Article publication date: 12 February 2018

2696

Abstract

Purpose

While the consumer engagement (CE) concept is gaining traction in the literature, little remains known regarding the ways in which consumers displaying differing cultural traits engage with brands and their differences. The purpose of this paper is to explore CE with brands for consumers exhibiting differing cultural traits, and develop a set of research propositions for these individuals’ cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE in brand interactions. These propositions, collectively, reflect consumers’ individual-level cultural CE styles – consumers’ motivationally driven disposition to think, feel, act, and relate to others in a certain manner characteristic of their specific individual cultural traits in brand interactions.

Design/methodology/approach

In this conceptual paper, literature is reviewed in the areas of CE and its conceptual relationship with Yoo et al.’s (2011) individual cultural values.

Findings

Key differences between individual-level cultural traits and consumers’ ensuing cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social CE with brands are addressed in a set of research propositions based on Yoo et al.’s model of individual cultural values, from which the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles is developed.

Research limitations/implications

This research explores differences across individuals displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing CE with brands, which remains underexplored to date. It also develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which reflect consumers’ characteristic cultural trait-based cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and social dynamics in engaging with particular brands.

Practical implications

The outlined managerial implications reveal that unique marketing approaches are expected to be effective for engaging consumers exhibiting different cultural traits with brands, based on their distinctive CE styles (e.g. focusing on personalized interactions/interactions that stress consumers’ similarity to and fit with salient others for individualist/collectivist consumers, respectively).

Originality/value

This paper makes two important theoretical contributions. First, by offering a conceptual analysis of consumers displaying differing cultural traits and their ensuing engagement with brands, it provides an early attempt to explore individual-level cultural CE-based differences. Second, it develops the concept of individual-level cultural CE styles, which is expected to hold important theoretical and managerial implications.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author acknowledges the Norwegian Research Council for their SFI-grant to the Center of Service Innovation (CSI) at NHH Norwegian School of Economics. The author would also like to acknowledge Marieke De Mooij, PhD, for her useful comments to earlier drafts of this paper, Professor Edward Malthouse, Dr Paul Fombelle, and Dr Mathew Chylinski for an early discussion regarding consumer engagement (styles) across different settings, including cultures, and the University of Auckland.

Citation

Hollebeek, L.D. (2018), "Individual-level cultural consumer engagement styles: Conceptualization, propositions and implications", International Marketing Review, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 42-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMR-07-2016-0140

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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