Abstract
In order to profit from China’s enormous business opportunities, international firms need to know Chinese consumer preferences. To learn more about intrinsic Chinese consumer preferences and their distinction from other Asian consumer preferences, this study analyzes differences in the formation of customer satisfaction, repurchase intent, and word-of-mouth intent between Chinese-born and locally born consumers in Japan. Verifying culture-based hypotheses, cross-industry analyses show that Chinese-born consumers pay less attention to the public brand image and risk-related switching costs, but more attention to quality expectations, perceived value, experienced usefulness, and financial switching costs than Japanese consumers. Marketing strategies should account for these preference structures.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abulaiti, G., Enkawa, T., & Frank, B. (2010). Influences of the economic crisis on customer attitudes and the moderating role of culture. Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control, 40(2), 69–77.
Armstrong, J. S., & Overton, T. S. (1977). Estimating nonresponse bias in mail surveys. Journal of Marketing Research, 14(3), 396–402.
Aydin, S., & Özer, G. (2005). National customer satisfaction indices: an implementation in the Turkish mobile phone market. Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 23(5), 486–503.
Ball, D., Coelho, P. S., & Machás, A. (2004). The role of communication and trust in explaining customer loyalty: an extension to the ECSI model. European Journal of Marketing, 38(9/10), 1272–1293.
Baumgartner, H., & Steenkamp, J.-B. E. M. (2001). Response styles in marketing research: a cross-national investigation. Journal of Marketing Research, 38(2), 143–156.
Bergkvist, L., & Rossiter, J. R. (2007). The predictive validity of multi-item versus single-item measures of the same constructs. Journal of Marketing Research, 44(2), 175–184.
Bergkvist, L., & Rossiter, J. R. (2009). Tailor-made single-item measures of doubly concrete constructs. International Journal of Advertising, 28(4), 607–621.
Bloemer, J., de Ruyter, K., & Wetzels, M. (1999). Linking perceived service quality and service loyalty: a multi-dimensional perspective. European Journal of Marketing, 33(11/12), 1082–1106.
Burnham, T. A., Frels, J. K., & Mahajan, V. (2003). Consumer switching costs: a typology, antecedents, and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 31(2), 109–126.
Chen, F., Qvint, G., & Jarlengrip, J. (2007). Listen! There are other road users close to you—improve the traffic awareness of truck drivers. In C. Stephanidis (Ed.), Lecture notes in computer science (Vol. 4555, pp. 323–329). Berlin: Springer.
Chinese Customs (2011). Import and export statistics. http://english.customs.gov.cn/publish/portal191/. Accessed 22 November 2011.
CIA (2011). The world factbook. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/. Accessed 9 May 2011.
Dale, B. G. (2003). Managing quality (4th ed.). Oxford: Wiley.
de Ruyter, K., Wetzels, M., & Bloemer, J. (1998). On the relationship between perceived service quality, service loyalty, and switching costs. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 9(5), 436–453.
Drolet, A. L., & Morrison, D. G. (2001). Do we really need multiple-item measures in service research? Journal of Service Research, 3(3), 196–204.
Fischer, M., Völckner, F., & Sattler, H. (2010). How important are brands? A cross-category, cross-country study. Journal of Marketing Research, 47(5), 823–829.
Fornell, C. (1992). A national customer satisfaction barometer: the Swedish experience. Journal of Marketing, 56(1), 6–21.
Fornell, C., Johnson, M. D., Anderson, E. W., Cha, J., & Bryant, B. E. (1996). The American customer satisfaction index: nature, purpose, and findings. Journal of Marketing, 60(4), 7–18.
Garner, J. (2006). The rise of the Chinese consumer: theory and evidence. West Sussex: Wiley.
Grether, J. M., & Mathys, N. (2008). Is the world's economic center of gravity already in Asia? DEEP Working Paper 08.03. Lausanne: University of Lausanne. http://www.hec.unil.ch/deep/textes/08.03.pdf. Accessed 22 November 2011.
Heine (2010). Cultural psychology. In S. T. Fiske, D. T. Gilbert, & G. Lindzey (Eds.), Handbook of social psychology (5th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 1423–1464). New York: Wiley.
Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G. J. (2005). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Japan Today (2010). Toyota president apologizes to Chinese customers. http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/toyota-president-apologizes-to-chinese-customers. Accessed 2 February 2011.
Japanese Ministry of Finance (2011). Trade statistics of Japan. http://www.customs.go.jp/toukei/info/index_e.htm. Accessed 22 November 2011.
Japanese Ministry of Justice (2011). Migration statistics. http://www.moj.go.jp/nyuukokukanri/kouhou/nyuukokukanri04_00009.html. Accessed 9 July 2011.
Johnson, M. D., Gustafsson, A., Andreassen, T. W., Lervik, L., & Cha, J. (2001). The evolution and future of national customer satisfaction index models. Journal of Economic Psychology, 22(2), 217–245.
Kreft, I., & de Leeuw, J. (1998). Introducing multilevel modeling. London, UK: Sage Publications.
Lee, A. (2010). Skills, motivation, commitment: hiring the right man. InterChina Insight, August. http://www.interchinaconsulting.com/files/interchina_insight_-_skills._motivation._commitment._20100810.pdf. Accessed 25 May 2011.
Lindell, M. K., & Whitney, D. J. (2001). Accounting for common method variance in cross-sectional research designs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(1), 114–121.
Liu, B. S.-C., Furrer, O., & Sudharshan, D. (2001). The relationships between culture and behavioral intentions toward services. Journal of Service Research, 4(2), 118–129.
Maccoby, M. (1994). Creating quality culture in the East and West. Research Technology Management, 37(1), 57–59.
Mason, C. H., & Perreault, W. D. (1991). Collinearity, power, and interpretation of multiple regression analysis. Journal of Marketing Research, 28(3), 268–280.
Meng, J., & Nasco, S. A. (2009). Cross-cultural equivalence of price perceptions across American, Chinese, and Japanese consumers. The Journal of Product and Brand Management, 18(7), 506–516.
Money, R. B., Shimp, T. A., & Sakano, T. (2006). Celebrity endorsements in Japan and the United States: Is negative information all that harmful? Journal of Advertising Research, 46(1), 113–123.
Muller, D., Yzerbyt, V. Y., & Judd, C. M. (2005). When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(6), 852–863.
New World Encyclopedia (2010). Chinese diaspora. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Overseas_Chinese. Accessed 15 January 2011.
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.
Reichheld, F. F., & Sasser, W. E. (1990). Zero defections: Quality comes to services. Harvard Business Review, 68(5), 105–111.
Rossiter, J. R. (2002). The C-OAR-SE procedure for scale development in marketing. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19(4), 305–335.
Schaefer, K. (2007). History of Chinese outbound tourism. http://www.tourism-china.net/facts/history-of-chinese-outbound-tourism. Accessed 28 January 2011.
Sharma, P. (2010). Measuring personal cultural orientations: scale development. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 38(6), 787–806.
Shiba, R. (2006). アジアの中の日本 [Japan within Asia]. Tokyo: Bunshun.
Takano, Y., & Osaka, E. (1999). An unsupported common view: comparing Japan and the U.S. on individualism/collectivism. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2(3), 311–341.
Taras, V., Steel, P., & Kirkman, B. L. (2010). Examining the impact of culture's consequences: a three-decade, multi-level, meta-analytic review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 405–439.
Thompson, D. V., Hamilton, R. W., & Rust, R. T. (2005). Feature fatigue: when product capabilities become too much of a good thing. Journal of Marketing Research, 42(4), 431–442.
Türkyılmaz, A., & Özkan, C. (2007). Development of a customer satisfaction index model: an application to the Turkish mobile phone sector. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 107(5), 672–687.
Yi, Y., & La, S. (2004). What influences the relationship between customer satisfaction and repurchase intention? Investigating the effect of adjusted expectations and customer loyalty. Psychology and Marketing, 21(5), 351–373.
Zhou, K. Z., Su, C., & Bao, Y. (2002). A paradox of price-quality and market efficiency: a comparative study of the US and China markets. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 19(4), 349–365.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Co-Editor, Frank R. Kardes, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments on earlier drafts.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Frank, B., Abulaiti, G. & Enkawa, T. What characterizes Chinese consumer behavior? A cross-industry analysis of the Chinese diaspora in Japan. Mark Lett 23, 683–700 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-012-9171-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11002-012-9171-8