Comparing across nations and cultures: Some provocative questions

1
Comparing across nations and cultures Some
(provocative?) questions

• Jean-Claude Usunier, University of Lausanne,
  Switzerland
• Keynote speech
• 5th International Conference for Consumer
  Behaviour and Retailing Research, School of
  Business (CIRCLE), University of Nicosia, Cyprus,
  26th - 29th March 2008

2
Compare put side by side two objects to study
their similarities and differences

• We generally compare cross-nationally or
  cross-culturally
• consumer behavior,
• Retail/distribution systems
• Advertising, etc.
• Question 1 is the same research design
  appropriate for the discovery of both
  similarities and differences across groups?

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Is it similar or different?

• Actual versus perceived similarities/differences
• Qualitative or multi-emic research designs favor
  the discovery of differences because they
  emphasize local meaning and interpretation
• Quantitative or etic research design favor
  similarities because they assume shared concepts
• Differences in nature (incommensurability) versus
  differences in degree (commensurability)
• Qualitative research works as a magnifiying glass
  and may overestimate differences in nature

4
Can it be similar and different at the same time?

• What looks similar in the eyes of marketers
  (researchers) may be actually perceived as
  different by consumers (respondents)
• This often results in marketing blunders,
  generally treated as mere anecdotes that cannot
  be generalized
• Lexical equivalence typically hides meaning
  differences (it is particularly true for
  replications of psychometric scales performed
  with blind back-translation)
• However, overlap of semantic fields implies that
  concepts may be partly similar and partly
  different between different linguistic / cultural
  contexts

5
Back translation is most often presented as a
mechanical task. Example Following
established back-translation processes (Brislin,
1976), the survey instrument was first drafted in
English by a bilingual researcher fluent in both
English and Chinese, then translated into Chinese
by another bilingual researcher fluent in both
languages. In fact, back translation is the
main instrument for investigating cross-cultural
equivalence. Researchers are legitimately
obsessed with the need to reach full
cross-cultural invariance. However, they should
feel more relaxed discovering non invariant
aspects of research instruments across cultures
is not a sin.
6
Similarities often are self-fulfilling prophecies

• Form a pragmatic perspective, the issue is
  whether overlooked difference will result or not
  in failures of marketing policies
• Quite often, however, the global solution is
  imposed on the local context without too much
  problems
• Therefore, the similiarity view often is a
  self-fulfilling prophecy

7
Globalization is proceeding at a fast pace

• Question 2 How long do research findings
  emphasizing differences hold over time? When
  obtained at a certain point of time, how long do
  findings remain true before becoming outdated?
• Convergence is taking place at three levels
• Factual convergence (we are more the same)
• Creolization (we reconstruct differences into
  similarities)
• Perceptual convergence
• We need to regularly replicate studies (even
  though replications are not favored by journals)
  in order to assess the stability of findings over
  time

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Question 3

• Are sources of cross-national differences mere
  vestiges of the past or long-lasting phenomena?
• Which of these cross-national differences are
  bound to last?

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Key sources of sustained differences

• Religion (on the rise, but for how long?)
• Moral imagination (guanxi versus networking)
• Language and the associated mindset
• Local knowledge in the sense of Clifford Geertz
• A search for (lost?) identity in a world that is
  increasingly utility-driven
• However, the search for utility remains a strong
  driver of consumption motives

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Question 4 Do researchers favor the search for
differences or similarities?

• Personal interests and beliefs are a source of
  bias
• Colonial designs favor the emergence of
  similarities
• Common mindset, shared knowledge, recognized
  scientific approaches, reviewing, academic
  journals tend to also to favor the similarity
  view, or at least to favor the discovery of
  differences in degree rather than in nature

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Question 5 Should researchers start with the
search for differences or with the search for
similarities?

• Searching first for similarities is likely to
  crash down differences, most of which will remain
  unnoticed
• Searching first for differences is likely to
  unveil key differences, however with a
  magnifiying effect
• The next step is to take the true measure of such
  differences and to progressively discover that
  much is in fact shared
• researchers should start with the search for
  differences if they want to later assess
  meaningful similarities

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An example based on meaningful categories for
persuasive discourse (advertising, sales
promotion)

• Western, Aristotelian pathos and logos
• Chinese Confucian qing (emotion) and li (reason)
• There are certainly key differences
• However, it is mainly in the combination and the
  contextualisation of such concepts in marketing
  communications practice that meaningful
  differences are to be discovered

13
Some directions for reasonably combining
differences and similarities in our worldview

• More self-questioning about the researchers own
  bias and preferences
• More replications, more diachronic/longitudinal
  research designs
• Discovery-oriented use of translation
• Complementary rather than rival research methods
• Cross-national/cross-cultural teams working on
  the basis of existential equality rather than
  on the basis of a hierarchical model

14
Marketing Education should we emphasize
differences or similarities?

• We have a common knowledge base
• However, many of us are obliged to do the splits
  between the global standards of our profession
  and local demands
• To what extent should marketing educators
  emphasize local cues or prepare students for the
  global scene?
• To what extent should marketing education respond
  to the demands of local business and public
  authorities or search for global recognition?