Market Sustainability: A Globalization and Consumer Culture Perspective in the Chinese Retail Market

Farman Afzal,Muhammad Sajid,Shao Yunfei,Fahim Afzal

doi:10.3390/su11030575

Abstract

Consumer behavior is becoming increasingly heterogeneous due to the changing culture patterns and effects of globalization. This phenomenon increases the importance of focusing on the social dimension of sustainability in a consumer market. This research contributes to the body of knowledge by emphasizing the consequences of individual cultural values and individual materialistic values in the Chinese consumer market. In this endeavor, Hofstede’s framework of individual culture with materialistic effect is applied to understand consumer behavior in a processed food market. Rigorous research activity was conducted at the point of sale in different supermarkets to record the responses of random consumers. The results of multi-variate covariance-based structure equation modeling show that individual materialistic values have emerged as a key determinant, which reflects the individual culture for consumer buying behavior in a state of globalization. Power distance, long-term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance were found to be important measures of individual culture. The findings of the study are useful in assisting the industry for product launching and marketing strategies to achieve future sustainability in the processed food market. In the pursuit of a sustainable processed food market, the focus should shift toward individual cultural values away from national and group cultures.

Highlights

Achieving market sustainability has been a vast area of research, being a significant challenge in emerging markets, including meeting customer needs and achieving sustainable consumption [1]
The present research is an attempt to address the following research question (RQ): How is consumer buying behavior (CBB) at an individual level influenced by individual materialistic values (IMVs) that reflect the cultural beliefs and values of consumers within the environment of globalization for the sustainable future market? we investigated the influence of changing individual culture (IC) and materialism patterns of people on buying behavior (BB) in an emerging market in China
The critical z-ratios of all constructs were within ±1.96 for kurtosis, which is mostly recommended for the structural equation modeling (SEM) to measure the normality of sample data [52]

Summary

Introduction

Achieving market sustainability has been a vast area of research, being a significant challenge in emerging markets, including meeting customer needs and achieving sustainable consumption [1]. An increase in consumer base, and changing patterns in retail sales present opportunities for many international retailers. This attractive prospect for business expansion presents challenges for business growth [3]. People do employ consumption for their basic physiological needs but to create self-actualization and define one’s role in society [6]. Adhering to these materialistic thoughts, consumption has become a source of identification and self-realization for people because they consume the symbolic meaning of those products, an “image”, to pursue happiness and the acquisition of success [7]. In the 21st century, despite an increase in urbanization, and decomposition of the traditional joint family system, the forces of globalization are influencing people’s spending power [10]

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Conclusion