European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

The Input of Psychology in Methodological Considerations of
Cross Cultural Marketing Research 252
to control the expectations, guesses or hypotheses on the part of the subject when coming into contact
with the researcher, is by attempting to communicate one's aims, assimilating them to the most
common spheres of education and medicine (Frijda & Jahoda, 1969).
Interpreting the findings
The complexity of the culture-variate situation renders interpretation hazardous. Alternative
interpretations are often hard to exclude in marketing research. Attribution, for example, of some
specific personality trait to some cultural group usually carries three connotations: supposed
transsituational generality; relative immutability of the behaviour concerned when in new situations;
and early origin during the life-cycle (Frijda & Jahoda, 1969). These assumptions, though, cannot be
made unless they have been explicitly and systematically examined.
Too readily, behaviours are taken to be parts of a pattern, elements of some "cultural
orientation", instead of specifically learned, isolated reaction tendencies. The unity of culture and
culture-training should not, however, be overrated and taken as an axiom in interpretative efforts
(Frijda & Jahoda, 1969). It is easy to be illegitimately drawn to the conclusion that if similarity among
groups is found then some universal process is involved (Strodtbeck, 1969) but this should not be
concluded unless it is supported by valid and reliable findings.
It has been argued that establishing that a culture has an effect on behaviour is a much easier
task than establishing that culture does not matter. This is because it is difficult to distinguish between
total failure in communication and total difference in perception (Strodtbeck, 1964). It is, therefore, the
marketing researcher's responsibility to interpret the results in an appropriate way, while baring in
mind all the methodological difficulties he encountered in his study.
Conclusion
Although there are certain products and markets, for which similar reactions could be identified across
the globe, one may also find other sectors that differ considerably from country to country and from
culture to culture. The majority of international marketing research “flops” are the apparent results of
lack of cultural sensibility, a lack of recognition of certain attitudes and values that make a successful
marketing mix in one country unpromising to another (Ricks, 1993). Obviously, meaningful cultural
differences should lead into different marketing policies. The marketing researcher could adopt
psychologists’ considerations when designing cross-cultural marketing researches.
Cross-cultural psychology as well as cross-cultural marketing research seek to comprehend the
systematic covariation between cultural and behavioural variables (Reynolds, 2000). Included within
the term cultural are ecological and societal variables, and within the term behavioural are inferred
variables. We should not forget that what we often call "human nature" is not only a reflection of
human biological potential, but also a product of culture and two classes of formative experience,
socialisation and enculturation (Segall et al., 1990). Together these account for both the uniformities
and the diversities in the behaviour of human beings. Human behaviour must be viewed in the
sociocultural context in which it occurs, if we are truly to understand it (Segall et al., 1990).
Traditionally, though, the cross-cultural study is one which Western industrial cultures are
compared with pre-literate tribal ones. As regards the latter, however, it must be pointed out that there
are hardly any cultures left that remain unaffected by Western ideas and technologies (Frijda & Jahoda,
1969). Most cultures have lost their traditional identity and have given in the pressures of the "more
civilised people". This has a positive side: the methodological problems have become easier to
overcome. Information, regular contact and easier accessibility have helped researchers to approach
different cultures with more confidence. But, this has also had a negative impact on cross-cultural
marketing research: in some respects, cross-cultural studies have lost their biggest advantage: the study
of the unknown.