Title:Cultural Accommodation: Does Online Sensory Marketing Count? Examining the Effects of Fashion Brands’ Cultural Accommodation Through Multisensory Website Design
Tags:Consumer-brand identification, Cross-cultural marketing, Cultural accommodation, Homophily bias effects, Online retailing and Online sensory marketing
Abstract:
We study how foreign brands' cultural accommodation delivered through multisensory website design influences local consumers' perceptions and purchase decisions. We place particular emphasis on the Chinese fashion industry, where many non-Chinese brands suffer. Drawing upon theories of cultural accommodation and homophily bias, our experimental results indicate that foreign brands' use of cultural accommodating multisensory cues (both visual and auditory) positively influence consumers' purchase intention, while the congruence of culturally accommodating multisensory cues also enhances of consumers' purchase intention. We also demonstrate the psychological mechanism in transmitting multisensory cues of cultural accommodation into purchase intention and identify the mediating roles of consumer-brand identification and brand image in this mechanism. Our study takes a novel perspective to contribute to the emerging research stream of online multisensory marketing by employing it to facilitate international online retailing and cross-cultural communication. We also highlight the significance of developing shared identity between local consumers and foreign brands (i.e. consumer-brand identification) in order to benefit from the multisensory cues of cultural accommodation. From a managerial perspective, we shed new light on foreign brands' cultural accommodation strategies in local markets and suggest multisensory website design as a cost-effective avenue for delivering the brands' cultural accommodation effort.
Cultural Accommodation: Does Online Sensory Marketing Count? Examining the Effects of Fashion Brands’ Cultural Accommodation Through Multisensory Website Design
Cultural Accommodation: Does Online Sensory Marketing Count? Examining the Effects of Fashion Brands’ Cultural Accommodation Through Multisensory Website Design