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Express Your Social Self: Cultural Differences in Choice of Brand-Name Versus Generic Products
Heejung S. Kim*
and
Aimee Drolet
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kim{at}psych.ucsb.edu.
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Abstract |
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This research examined cultural differences in the patterns of choices that reflect more social characteristics of a chooser (e.g., social status). Four studies examined the cultural difference in individuals’ tendency to choose brand-name products (i.e., high-status options) over generic products (i.e., low-status options) and the underlying reasons for these differences. Compared to European Americans, Asian Americans consistently chose brand-name products. This difference was driven by Asian Americans’ greater social status concerns. Self-consciousness was more strongly associated with the brand-name choices of Asian Americans (vs. European Americans), and experimentally induced social status led Asian Americans (vs. European Americans) to make more choices concordant with self-perception. These findings highlight the importance of considering external and social motivations underlying the choicemaking process.
First published on October 9, 2009, doi:10.1177/0146167209348641
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2009;35:1555.
A more recent version of this article appeared on December 1, 2009
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