Consumer Behavior From a Cultural,

¶ … consumer behavior from a cultural, social, personal and psychological standpoint are analyzed in the context of globalized brands, social media and the counterbalancing effects of ethnocentrism globally. The implications of social media including Facebook's effects on how brands are presented by actual vs. ideal selves is also included in this analysis (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012). The accumulated effects of social media, the Internet and its acceleration of communication and collaboration, and the continual expansion of brands and their effects on consumer behavior are also discussed throughout the six peer-reviewed articles analyzed. All of these factors together show that the cultural, social, personal and psychological factors influencing consumer behavior are more volatile and quickly changing than ever before, making marketing and selling strategies increasingly difficult to plan, execute, control and measure as well.

Social networking has created a level of real-time collaboration and communication that is also completely redefining how nationalities relate to their nations' own brands relative tot the brands of other, potentially competing nations as well. Economic growth and improved standing globally can make a nation less ethnocentric in their purchasing decisions relative to others for example (Tsai, Lee, Song, 2013). These dynamics are accelerating as a result of social media as well.

Critical Analysis of Consumers' Use of Brands to Reflect their Actual and Ideal Selves on Facebook

In the study, Consumers' use of brands to reflect their actual and ideal selves on Facebook (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012) the authors show how consumers most often use brands to communicate their ideal selves online. The prevalent of this activity is so pervasive that it can and does often conflict with their actual or real selves. When this occurs, the consumers often experience cognitive dissonance and create multiple Facebook accounts for each of their specific personas or idealized selves or retract posts and information sharing that causes the greatest cognitive dissonance (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012). Respondents in the study looked to mitigate congruence between their idealized and actual selves by choosing brands that further accentuated the positive aspects of their lives while reducing or deleting previous "likes" or entries that led to incongruities in perception projected on social media sites including Facebook. The samples of those who "liked" a specific brand of luxury item yet also talked about shopping at K-Mart or Walmart were considered aspirational shoppers with this behavior online being seen as congruent. The examples of "liking" liquor while also reporting attendance at a Baptist church event were considered incongruent and ones that led to quick deletion of posts (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012).

The study methodology was based on a focus group structure where each respondent had to have a Facebook page that had brands "liked" or designated on it. The researcher completed 23 in-depth interviews with undergraduate and graduate students who had been using Facebook a minimum of one year. The data collection instrument was an open-ended questionnaire that captured the brand "cues" from the respondents and also tracked respondents' friends' activities as well, showing profile activities, likes and routines on Facebook. The respondent demographics include male and female undergraduate college students ranging in age from 20 to 28 with 80% being Caucasian and 10% African-American. 5% were Hispanic and the remaining 5% were Asian.

This study found that a model of behavior modification emerged, showing how respondents evaluated a situation, created an identity decision and then chose corresponding brand linkages as a result (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012). This model was further clarified through the definition of three different personas of the respondent in the situation phase. These three personas were Actual Self, Ideal Self Representation and Ideal Self-Presentation. All three of these elements fed into Congruous Identities and Incongruous Identities (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012). These three phases as part of the Identity Decision phase of the model were directional in terms of which persona a respondent chose to project on Facebook. The Brand Linkages phase captured how the Congruous Identities and Incongruous Identities define which brands are most often used to designate a specific personality trait or core persona value (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012).

Study limitations include the small sample size, control for sampling frame error and the lack of definition for type of brand and their relative strength or valence in each respondents; decision set (Hollenbeck, Kaikati, 2012). These factors make the study interested yet lacking in statistical validity.

Critical Analysis of Price Assessments by Consumers: Influence of Purchase Context and Price Structure

How price is used as a differentiating variable in the marketing mix, including its ordering and use throughout discounting strategies across demographic segments is the intent of the evaluated study. Price presentation order has a very significant effect on the overall perception of quality, and the channels that price is communicated through also have a very significant effect on perception of quality (Diaz, 2013). Supporting the main themes of this analysis are the cultural aspects of how price is a determinant of quality (Diaz, 2013) followed by the communal aspects o sharing pricing and deals found through social media, which has the psychological effect of creating greater bonds across associates and friends (Diaz, 2013).

In defining the study methodology the research concentrated on the hypotheses of price presentation having such a significant impact on price assessment that more profitable prices, when presented first, led to more sales. The determination of the level of value delivered with a given price point is driven more by the motivation to share a valuable deal than to capture it for ones' own use (Diaz, 2013). Respondents showed greater interest in the specific price levels when they could help their friends get a better deal than if they were looking at aspirational brands as well.

Personal interviews were completed during November and December, 2009. A total of 800 respondents were recruited for the study from mall traffic in shopping centers located throughout Seville, Spain. Each of the respondents was entered into a drawing for a 200-euro (about $350) shopping certificate. Respondents were told to report to the Business Administration Building at the University of Seville to participate. Eight total groups were recruited and completed the analysis. Majority of respondents (75%) were in the 18 to 25-year-old age segment, 68% women, 32% men, with the remaining 25% being predominantly women (84%). 78% were students and 22% were working full-time, with the majority 67% having attained a university degree or in the process of earning one.

The study results showed that the related factors to pricing comparison and valuation correlated to price and product preferences, in addition to gender differences between respondents (Rosa, 2006). Women respondents were more motivated to support their friends by finding unique deals and valuable pricing discounts by considering each level of the pricing models shown, while men were more interested in time savings and being as efficient as possible in determining optimal price points (Diaz, 2013). The men in the study also looked at the more granular aspects of the pricing and sought out deals through the use of advanced analysis while women looked at how they could collectively create a preferred purchasing scenario for everyone involved (Diaz, 2013). While this study delivered useful insights, it does have significant limitations including a lack of thorough quantification of how income or purchasing power, age, martial status and social-cultural factors include purchasing over time as well. The study also failed to create a suitable model of inclusion verses exclusion of pricing behavior and pricing preference data based on social networks, which would have been possible by knowing the respondents' social graph.

Critical Analysis of Effects of Various Characteristics of Social Commerce (s-commerce) on Consumers' Trust and Trust Performance

In the peer-reviewed article and research results Effects of Various Characteristics of Social Commerce (s-commerce) on Consumers' Trust and Trust Performance (Kim, Park, 2013) the researchers have created a methodology to isolate which social e-commerce (s-Commerce) factors and characteristics most and least contribute to trust online customer have when buying online.

The methodology is designed to provide an empirical analysis of seven key performance drivers or enables of s-Commerce adoption and growth. The methodology uses the factors of company and brand reputation, company size, information quality, transaction safety, communication, economic feasibility and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals (Kim, Park, 2013). The researchers are using these seven factors as predictors of overall trust levels with s-commerce. They further define trust performance from a Purchase Intentions and Word of Mouth (WOM) intentions framework. All nine connection points of this analysis have corresponding hypotheses associated with them as well, which fully measures the effects of these factors (Kim, Park, 2013). For respondent recruitment the researchers sent out 2,000 random questionnaires across South Korea, specifically concentrating on those areas with the highest per capita incomes and greatest levels of Internet saturation. As an incentive the respondents were also offered a $20 bookstore gift certificate. A total of 388 respondents were included after filtering out incomplete responses, yielding a 19.4% response rate. Respondent demographics ranged from 19 to 52 years of age with the average age being 31.5 majority were female (52.8%) and all were s-commerce users. 58.2% were Korean natives, 14.6% were Chinese and 10.8% were American. 9.7% were European and 6.7% were Japanese. The majority used s-commerce to purchase tickets for entertainment (44.5%) and 67% had been using s-commerce for more than two years.

The study shows that transaction safety (.480) and reputation (.450) both at the .01 level of significance, most contribute to trust in an s-commerce platform. The combination of all seven factors explains .784 of all variation in the sample with regard to trust in s-commerce. This is statistically significant at the .05 level of confidence and shows that purchase intentions can be explained by the seven-factor model the researchers created (Kim, Park, 2013). The model of s-commerce security and reliability therefore is statistically sound and applies to the South Korean social e-commerce industry. Study limitation include the lack of cross-sectional design definition and the development of an effective control group to measure dependent variable correlation to the trust measure. Another limitation is the lack of global applicability of results and lack of orthogonal support for each of the groups shown in the results. Overall the model is ideally suited for South Korea yet lacks enough statistical validity to be extrapolated on a broader context.

Critical Analysis of Evaluation of international Brand Alliances: Brand Order and Consumer Ethnocentrism

In the study Evaluation of international Brand Alliances: Brand Order and Consumer Ethnocentrism (Li, He, 2013) the authors are concentrating on the aspects of how ethnocentrism as they relate to the relative levels of growth throughout a nations; economy. The authors have found that the greater the economic growth, the less ethnocentric citizens are in preferring one brand over another (Li, He, 2013).

The study methodology includes two real brands that were based on fictitious brand alliances with known companies in Taiwan, the nation where the research as completed. The two brands were Heineken from the Netherlands, and Uni-President from Taiwan. Both brands are extremely well-known in the Taiwanese market and served as the basis of the comparison of ethnocentrism. The authors defined a methodology specifically designed to capture preferences for the Taiwanese brand over the well-known beer brand from the Netherlands. The methodology was also designed to reflect the employment of Taiwanese relative to the profits going to the Netherlands-based company. The survey instrument were printed questionnaires administered to two respondent populations.

The demographics of the survey included 46.9% of all respondents in the 20 to 30-year-old age group and 53.1% over 30. 56.4% were male and 44% were female in group one and 53.1% were male and 46.9% were female in group two., The surveys were presented both in English and Chinese and the respondents were given the opportunity to comment on the open-ended questions as well. The first set of respondents were based on Taiwan and the second in the United States.

The survey results indicated that the Taiwanese were less ethnocentric by at a statistically significant level than the Americans (Li, He, 2013). The study also showed that consumer ethnocentrism was also highest for native brands relative to tangential brands form mainland China as well (Li, He, 2013). The researchers noted that the greater the level of economic growth and stability of a country, the lower the ethnocentrism and more open adoption of international brands (Li, He, 2013). Brands weren't seen as a threat but as an addition to the overall experience of the consumers living in these nations. The study limitations included a lack of statistical quality control over each group in the sample. Selection and screening of respondents by brand loyalty and affinity was also not completed as well. Due to these factors this study is not considered statistically valid on a global level.

Critical Analysis of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM): How Connecting Social Analytics to Business Analytics

enhances Customer care and Loyalty

The ongoing evolution of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) continues to show potential for unifying the social networks and social media platforms individuals and companies rely on daily to communicate. The intent of the study Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM): How Connecting Social Analytics to Business Analytics enhances Customer care and Loyalty (Nadeem, 2012) is to ascertain how effective the nascent field of Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) is and how it is progressing over time. The implications on greater Lifetime Customer Value (CLV), reduced churn and higher overall profitability are the goals of the analysis the researcher has in completing the study.

The methodology for the study is based primarily on a literature review of the latest SCRM studies, in addition to interviews with the leading experts in this field including Paul Greenberg, leading CRM analyst and blogger. The study methodology also makes use of secondary data from a primary research study completed by Baird and Parasnis (2011). This study forms the foundation of the analysis and shows the results of interviews with 1,056 consumers located throughout the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and France. Respondent incomes were between $25,000 and $100K and also included a subsegment of 351 business executives in the countries mentioned. The researchers on this specific project concentrated on measuring the impact of social media and SCRM as a strategy in the nations defined in the sample. The consumer segment of the analysis captured the impact of SCRM on their purchasing strategies and behavior.

The impact of SCRM on the purchasing cycles of consumers showed that the effects of Facebook advertising was negligible, however the updates and tweets on pricing data was valuable and led to increased sales (Nadeem, 2012). The respondents also mentioned that they had a better grasp of the key differentiators of each brand on social media after communicating with them via SCRM systems. The companies tracked in the study showed higher sales as a result of SCRM systems on most commodity-based products, and shorter evaluation cycles on the more expensive, highly differentiated products (Nadeem, 2012). The study has several significant limitations in that the data is secondary are the researchers are attempting to add it into a framework for the evaluation of SCRM as an overall strategy. It also lacks a clarity of focus on the overall value of SCRM to consumers as well in terms of bettering their lives with more efficient use of branding information.

Critical Analysis of A Cross-Cultural Study of Consumer Ethnocentrism between China and the U.S.

The study A Cross-Cultural Study of Consumer Ethnocentrism between China and the U.S. (Tsai, Lee, Song, 2013) is designed based on the hypothesis that American consumers are more ethnocentric that Chinese consumers. Like the previous study of Taiwanese consumers (Li, He, 2013) this study is designed to capture the level of ethnocentrism between American and Chinese consumers specifically quantifying the areas of nationalism, patriotism, internationalism, age, gender and education (Tsai, Lee, Song, 2013). The researchers contend that the greater the level of globalized integration of a given company the lower the level of ethnocentrism.

The methodology is based on a series of online user panels located in the U.S. And Beijing, China during April through June, 2011. These consumer panels are specifically designed to allow for greater capture of specific nuances around ethnocentric purchasing behavior. The Web-based survey is designed to capture four constructs of patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and consumer ethnocentrism (Li, He, 2013). In terms of demographics a total of 506 American and 564 Chinese consumers were contacted with the female-to-male ratio (46.4:53.6) being very close to the actual U.S. Census figures for 2011. The American respondents were relatively young (18 -- 45 years old), predominantly white (91.7%), and from nearly every income segment and education level. The Chinese sample has 57.1% total women which is a higher concentration than China actually has according ot its census (Li, He, 2013).