Abstract
Key psychometric properties of the Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence (CSII) scale (Bearden,Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989) are re-assessed in a sample chosen from the Armenian-American micro-culture in theU.S.. The scale is modified in light of differences found between this group and that of the original study(Bearden, Netemeyer, & Teel, 1989). Differences found between these two groups are also highlighted. Theeffect of CSII on an Armenian-American consumer’s pre-purchase external information-search tendencies areassessed in a business suit purchasing scenario. For those who are more susceptible to informational influence,family is the most important information source. For those who are more susceptible to normative influence, wefind that they learn macro-cultural norms mostly from outside the family. “Neutral” and “impersonal” sources ofinformation are found to be quite important. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings from thisretailing scenario are discussed.
Highlights
The size of micro-culture markets in the U.S is enormous
Key psychometric properties of the Consumer Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence (CSII) scale (Bearden, Netemeyer and Teel 1989) are re-assessed in a sample chosen from the Armenian-American micro-culture in the U.S
To test the two sets of information-search hypotheses, each of the two respondent scores for consumer susceptibility to informational interpersonal influence (CSIII) and consumer susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence (CSNII) were made the dependent variable in a regression analysis in which their self-reported tendencies to consult nine sources of information, were made the independent variables, after controlling for respondent age, income and education
Summary
The size of micro-culture markets in the U.S is enormous. Several are about to exceed the trillion dollar mark in purchasing power (Nielsen, 2013). The African-American market for example is estimated at over $1 trillion annually (Nielsen, 2013). These markets have long been overlooked by both practitioners and academics, though that is changing. For example, marketers are developing separate product lines and catalogs among others, for specific micro-culture markets. Most of the academic marketing literature on micro-cultures has dealt with Hispanic- and African-Americans (e.g., Wallendorf & Reilly, 1983; Wilkes & Valencia, 1985), and while much progress has been made in understanding these two groups, not much is known about some of the smaller, but no less affluent groups (Kotkin, 1987), such as Armenian-Americans. Theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study will be discussed
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