Culture and Moral Ideologies Of African Americans

Abstract

This research explores the relationship between culture, measured by the four dimensions of Hofstede's theoretical framework (i.e., collectivism, masculinity, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance), and the two dimensions of personal moral philosophies (i.e., idealism and relativism). A sample of 243 African-American consumers was used to test the relationships between the four independent variables and the two dependent variables. Results confirm that culture affects moral orientations. Specifically, findings suggest a positive relationship between collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and idealism, and a negative relationship between masculinity and idealism. Results also suggest a positive relationship between collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and relativism. Although the study is U. S. based, the results should prove valuable to global marketers because Hofstede's cultural framework allows managers to identify differences in personal moral philosophies of consumers across different cultures and thus provides a theoretical base for designing more effective global marketing strategies.