Employee’s behavior
1.3 Global Identity and Consumer Behavior toward Global Brands
Globalization indirectly introduces people with foreign culture that leads them to adopt global consumer culture. Acculturation to global consumer culture creates a new sociocultural identity named global identity. This identity is a form of ethnic identity where the individual perceives him/herself as global citizen beyond national boundaries, ethnicity, and geographical locations (Strizhakova et al., 2008; Visconti et al., 2014).
A global consumer acquires modern global lifestyle and has stronger affiliation with global culture at the expense of local culture. He/she assumes global culture is superior from local ones (Visconti et al., 2014; Zhang & Khare, 2009). This belief di- rects the individual to hold a favorable attitude toward global brands and to consume products that have global meanings to portray him/herself as a global citizen (Cleve- land et al., 2009; Karabati & Cemalcilar, 2010).
A research by Jafari and Goulding (2013) found that Iranian young middle-class consumers consumed global products as the expression of their global identity. Simi- larly, Westjohn, Magnusson, and Zhou (2015) reported a positive relationship between global orientation and attitude toward global brands among consumers in China, In- dia, and the US. Studies by Strizhakova et al. (2008), Westjohn et al. (2012), Li et al.
(2014), and Strizhakova and Coulter (2015) also revealed similar findings about posi- tive effect of global identity on attitudes toward global brands. Based on the afore- mentioned arguments and empirical findings, this study expects that:
H3: Global identity has positive influence on attitudes toward global brands
Acculturation to global consumer culture stimulates acquisition of materialistic values. These values drive an individual to admire the lifestyle of people living in other countries, particularly the West, and to consume products that may present his/her global lifestyle (Cleveland, Laroche, & Papadopoulos, 2009; Cleveland et al., 2013; Riefler, 2012). It is seen on how an individual translates symbolic meanings of marketing stimuli such as advertisements, brands, and material goods, to demonstrate
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his/her identity and personal lifestyle goals (Arnould & Thompson, 2005).
An individual holding high materialistic values tends to place material possessions at the center of his/her life to impress others. He/she is more likely to acquire products with significant value and high status, which commonly come from developed coun- tries (Josiassen & Assaf, 2013; Karabati & Cemalcilar, 2010). Therefore, materialism is often considered to have a positive relationship with public self-consciousness, par- ticularly in emerging economies (Jin & Son, 2014).
For example, Demirbag, Sahadev, and Mellahi (2010) found that materialism had a significant negative influence on British students’ preference to buy products from developing countries. Another study by Alden, Steenkamp, and Batra (2006) validated the relationship between materialism and attitude toward global brands. Studies by Riefler (2012), Cleveland et al. (2013), and Guo (2013) also support the claim about positive relationship between materialism and attitudes toward global brands. There- fore, this study proposes the last hypothesis as follows:
H4: Materialism mediates the positive relationship between global identity and atti- tudes toward global brands
CONCLUSION
Penetration of global consumer culture as the outcome of globalization should get attention from marketing scholars. This phenomenon may lessen homogeneity of con- sumers within a country and reduce heterogeneity of consumers worldwide due to the emergence of global consumer segment.
Consumers may hold multiple sociocultural identities in relation with their stances toward globalization. Adoption of a particular identity leads an individual to acquire beliefs and values related to the identity, which in turn affect his/her future behavior.
Acquisition of global identity stimulates the adoption of materialism values that leads to favorableness toward global brands than local ones. On the other hand, national identity is likely to cause consumer to hold ethnocentric beliefs, which results in less favorable attitudes toward global brands.
This study presents the relationships between sociocultural identities in the con- text of globalization that explain by social identity theory. There are four hypotheses proposed in this paper, however these hypotheses need further empirical examination.
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