A Comparison of the Influence of Personal and Cultural Values on the Consumption of Luxury Goods across Arab Regions: Levant versus Gulf

Consumption patterns across different cultures are influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural ones. Collectivist cultures play a major role in the consumption decision-making process that an individual goes through, as culture typically affects consumers’ taste orientation, speci...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inContemporary Management Research Vol. 12; no. 2; pp. 139 - 168
Main Authors Farah, Maya F., Fawaz, Rayan S.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 台灣 Academy of Taiwan Information Systems Research 30.06.2016
Subjects
Arab Consumers
Conspicuous Consumption
Consumer behavior
Consumers
Consumption
Cultural differences
Cultural Values
Culture
Decision making
Influence
Luxuries
Luxury Consumption
Market penetration
Marketing
Perceptions
Personal Values
Purchase intention
Society
Studies
Middle East
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Summary:Consumption patterns across different cultures are influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural ones. Collectivist cultures play a major role in the consumption decision-making process that an individual goes through, as culture typically affects consumers’ taste orientation, specifically toward luxury goods. The main motivation behind this study is to investigate the influence of two major collectivist cultural values—namely, face saving and group orientation—on the perception and consumption of luxury goods across two Arab market regions (i.e., the Levant versus the Gulf). A survey was completed by 400 consumers sampled from different universities in the capitals of Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, and Oman. The results indicate that not all luxury-related factors influence face saving in the Levant and Gulf regions. In addition, no such factors influence group orientation in either region. Beliefs such as the assumption that group orientation plays a significant role in consumers’ decision making and that hedonism is not appreciated in Arab cultures are challenged, which indicate slow changes in the Arab cultures. These findings are useful to marketers who aim to promote luxury products in the Arab world as they provide a greater understanding of consumers’ perceptions of such products.
ISSN:1813-5498
1813-5498
DOI:10.7903/cmr.15067