The impact of Sino-western cultural differences on IT products consumption

• Published in: Journal of technology management in China Vol. 1; no. 2; pp. 159 - 173
• Main Authors: Mingxia, Zhu, Quan, Rose, Xuan, Kuang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.05.2006
• Subjects: Chinese culture; Collectivism; Consumer behavior; Consumers; Consumption; Cultural differences; Culture; Customers; Foreign investment; Globalization; Individualism; Information technology; Marketing; Marketing management; Research methodology; Shopping; Strategic planning; Studies; China; Technology led strategy; Marketing management; Culture (sociology); Consumer behaviour; China
• ISSN: 1746-8779; 1746-8787
• DOI: 10.1108/17468770610670965

Purpose - Fast-developed IT products have had a great impact on high technology business. With increases of foreign investments flowing into Chinese IT markets, the impact of national culture and ethnicity on consumer behaviour has become a recognized issue. The main purpose of this paper is to examine how Chinese and western national culture differences significantly influence IT customers' purchasing decisions underlying Chinese IT markets.Design methodology approach - A structured survey was used for this study. Owing to the difficulties of covering huge geographic areas in China, the two largest and modern cities, Beijing and Shanghai, were chosen as the target cities where the 200 questionnaires were distributed to both Chinese and western customers.Findings - By sampling US customers as representative of western nations, different choices regarding using text message service, cell phones and personal digital assistant are compared between Chinese and US customers. The results indicate that the Chinese customer tends to be more a follower of his "friends" than to be "myself" compared with western customers.Originality value - The significant impact of national culture differences on IT products has not been fully acknowledged yet, particularly vis-à-vis of the Chinese markets. This research provides insights into the IT industry and market by comparing consumer behaviours between Chinese and US customers. The results can be a guide for IT products manufacturers who in particular are interested in high technology business in mainland China.