Reinterpreting cultural priming effects in cross-cultural consumer research

Abstract

Experimentally priming bicultural individuals in cross-cultural consumer research to access their respective cultures has produced interesting findings. However, close examination of the experimental conditions and of the main findings reveals important inconsistencies and contradictions that cast doubt on their validity. In general, the risk of a cultural attribution fallacy is high in such cross-cultural research, due to the lack of control over three basic conditions that are required for successful cultural priming experiments: (1) the demonstrated biculturalism of study participants, (2) the experimental manipulations used to engender cultural switching, and (3) the procedures used to ensure that culture, rather than other processes such as stereotypical associations, is being stimulated and accessed. This manuscript discusses these conditions, proposes a descriptive model that clearly distinguishes the differential effects of cultural priming on either monocultural bilinguals or on bicultural individuals, and suggests a research agenda for better understanding and improving the implementation of the cultural priming research paradigm.