Time perception and consumer behaviour: some cross‐cultural implications

Abstract

Perception of time differs across cultures. As time perception is a critical component of consumer decision making, awareness of such differences is a key to successful cross‐cultural marketing. Mistakes in international marketing efforts are frequently traceable to ethnocentric cultural assumptions. No culture's perception of time is ‘right’, but there can be a tendency to impose such assumptions without cultural self‐awareness. Time perception differences in four cultures are examined: Anglo, Hispanic, Eastern and Arabic. Implications for marketing efforts due to these cross‐cultural differences are offred.