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Top1. Introduction
Generation theorists propose that as the macro-environment changes, there are concomitant and distinctive changes in patterns of consumer behaviour (Strauss and Howe, 1999; Bekewell and Mitchell, 2003). The macro-environment consists of Political/Legal, Socio-cultural, Ecological, Demographic, Economic, International and Technological factors (Kotler, 2009; Lamb et al., 2013). Given the influence of these forces on consumers, today’s consumers are more sophisticated, inquisitive and discriminating. They are no longer willing to tolerate substandard products and they insist on high-quality products that are healthy or save time and energy (Lamb et al., 2013). Generation Y, Millennial Generation or simply Millennials are defined as a group of people born roughly between 1982 and 2002 (Strauss and Howe, 1999), and are considered to have developed authentic and therefore distinctive consciousness (Lukina, 2016). Generation Y consumers are digital natives, consequently they are likely to have developed a different shopping style compared to previous generations (Bakewell and Mitchell, 2003).
Sproles and Kendall (1986) have identified eight basic mental characteristics of consumer decision-making as follows: (1) Perfectionism or high-quality consciousness; (2) Brand Consciousness; (3) Novelty-fashion consciousness; (4) Recreational, hedonistic shopping consciousness; (5) Price Consciousness; (6) Impulsiveness; (7) Confusion from over choice; (8) Brand-loyalty orientation towards consumption. A Consumer Style Inventory (CSI) with 40 Likert-scaled items has also been developed to measure these cognitive and personality characteristics (Chase, 2004; Sproles & Kendall, 1986).
Culture has been regarded as one of the important elements in business ethical decision-making (Singhapakdi et al, 1994, Su, 2006, Kim & Kim, 2010). Culture is learned within a society, and it affects the basic values in people’s everyday lives (Kim & Kim 2010). Although culture is generally defined at a societal level, culture impacts on individual behaviour. Culture can be seen to mediate between societal culture and specific individual personality (Janseen, 2010 citing Hofstede, 1991).
“Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting achievement of human groups, including their embodiment in artefacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values…shared by almost all members of some social group” (Podrug et al., 2006, p. 2). Management’s practices suited for one cultural environment may bring about undesirable consequences in another. To avoid such problems modern managers, must understand the core concept of the culture (Podrug et al., 2006).