The Changing Expectations of Consumers in Cross-Cultural Service Encounters
The Changing Expectations of Consumers in Cross-Cultural Service Encounters
复制标题
消费者在跨文化服务遭遇中不断变化的期望
DOI：
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发表时间：
2007
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Pikuei Tu
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. C. Lin;Rungting Tu;Ke Chen;Pikuei Tu
[摘要]随着竞争的全球化，理解和适应来自不同文化背景的消费者的需求变得越来越重要。这项研究强调了消费者期望的变化时，与不同文化背景的服务提供者进行互动。利用霍夫施泰德（1991）所确定的文化价值观，特别是权力距离和个人主义，我们考察了中国和美国两种文化背景下消费者期望和感知的差异，在跨文化的服务背景下。我们进一步从在这两个国家进行的深入访谈中汲取灵感，并就消费者和服务提供商的文化背景对消费者期望的影响提出建议。管理的影响，局限性和未来的研究方向也提出。【关键词】消费者行为;跨文化;期望;随着商业全球化进程的加快，不仅是那些已经或计划走向海外的企业，而且对于在本土经营、面对来自不同文化的消费者的企业来说，理解和适应跨文化背景下的消费者行为已经成为服务业的一项必须。此外，在一家公司内看到不同国籍的服务人员也不再罕见。与跨文化消费者和员工打交道的复杂性可能是压倒性的，但对公司的成功至关重要。在过去几十年里，出现了许多国际管理和营销战略，并在文献中进行了研究;例子包括有争议的概念，如营销宇宙和全球同质性，强调各国之间的相似性而不是差异性（Dawar和帕克，1994年; Levitt，1983年）。然而，这些研究的很大一部分集中在商品行业（即，制造）。此外，大多数跨文化研究强调文化差异，通过比较和对比两个或两个以上国家的消费者行为，并为管理者提供修改程序或产品以满足这些不同国家消费者的建议。这种方法分别看待文化，没有承认在服务业中，不同的文化是相互作用的;因此，顾客在遇到外国公司及其雇员时，与遇到国内供应商时，可能有不同的期望和反应。服务业的早期研究已经广泛地研究了顾客期望在质量感知和未来购买意向中的重要性（Boulding et al. 1993; Zeithaml，Berry，and Parasuraman 1996; Kopalle and Lehmann 2006;博尔顿，Lemon，and Bramlett 2006）。其他研究强调了服务员工的绩效在互动中的关键作用（Bowen和Lawler，1992; Hartline和Ferrell，1996; Baker和Fesenmaier，1997）。顾客行为对服务的影响也得到了证实（Zeithaml，1988; Kinard and卡佩拉，2006）。然而，很少有研究将这些理解扩展到跨文化营销背景。由于在任何一个国家都有可能遇到来自不同文化的服务提供者或客户，雇员和公司的国籍可能会大大改变提供者和客户的期望，从而影响他们的互动行为和满意度。例如，国际旅行者可能对不同的航空公司有不同的服务期望，同时，由于他们的国籍，对同一公司的不同空乘人员有不同的期望和看法。同样，空乘人员可能会根据他们过去的经验或同事提供的信息，对同一架飞机上（选择相同的服务）来自不同文化背景的乘客持有不同的期望。…
[Abstract] As the competition becomes intensively globalized, understanding and accommodating the needs of consumers from different cultural backgrounds have become increasingly important. This study highlights the variations of consumer expectations when interacting with service providers of different cultural backgrounds. Utilizing the cultural values identified by Hofstede (1991), particularly power distance and individualism, we examine the differences in consumer expectations and perceptions against the background of two cultures, China and the U.S., in cross-cultural service contexts. We further draw inspirations from in-depth interviews conducted in these two countries and generate propositions regarding the influence of consumers' and service providers' culture backgrounds on consumer expectations. Managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are also presented. [Keywords] Consumer behavior; cross-culture; expectation; service Introduction With the acceleration of globalization in business, understanding and accommodating consumer behavior in cross-cultural contexts have become musts for the service industry, not only for companies that have extended or planned to go overseas, but also for any company operating in its homeland facing consumers from different cultures. It is, also, no longer unusual to see service personnel of various nationalities within one company. The complexities of dealing with cross-cultural consumers and employees can be overwhelming and, yet, crucial to a company's success. Many international management and marketing strategies have emerged and been examined in the literature over the past few decades; examples include controversial concepts such as marketing universels and global homogeneity that emphasize similarities rather than differences across nations (Dawar and Parker, 1994; Levitt, 1983). However, a large portion of these studies center on goods industries (i.e., manufacturing). In addition, most of these cross-cultural studies emphasize cultural differences by comparing and contrasting consumer behavior in two or more countries and providing managers with implications to modify their procedures or products to satisfy consumers of these different countries. This approach looks at cultures separately and fails to acknowledge that in services, different cultures interact; therefore, customers might hold different expectations and react quite differently when they encounter foreign firms and their employees than when they encounter domestic providers. Earlier research in services has extensively examined the importance of customer expectations in quality perceptions and in future purchase intentions (Boulding et al. 1993; Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman 1996; Kopalle and Lehmann 2006; Bolton, Lemon, and Bramlett 2006). Other studies have stressed the crucial role of service employees' performance in interactions (Bowen and Lawler 1992; Hartline and Ferrell 1996; Baker and Fesenmaier, 1997). The impact of customer behavior in services has also been demonstrated (Zeithaml, 1988; Kinard and Capella, 2006). However, little research has extended these understandings to a crosscultural marketing context. As it is possible to encounter service providers or customers from different cultures in any given country, the nationality of employees and firms could significantly change the expectations of both providers and customers and, thus, influence their interactive behaviors and satisfaction. For example, an international traveler may have different service expectations for different airlines and, at the same time, varying expectations and perceptions of different flight attendants in a same company due to their nationalities. Similarly, flight attendants may hold divergent expectations of their passengers from different cultural backgrounds on a same plane (chosen the same service) based on their past experience or information from colleagues. …