Consumer World-Mindedness, Social-Mindedness, and Store Image

Abstract

As advances in communications technology shrink the impact of geographic distance, consumers are likely to become more aware of and familiar with products and services in other parts of the world, as well as global social and ethical issues. Retailers have responded to these trends (termed here “consumer world-mindedness” and “consumer social-mindedness”) by adapting their positioning and product assortment. The authors develop measures of consumer world-mindedness and social-mindedness and examine their relationship to exposure to other cultures and store image using a survey of 191 consumers in the Netherlands. The authors examine images of three types of stores: the Body Shop, fair-trade stores, and a grocery store with an imported food products section. The results confirm that consumers’ exposure to foreign cultures increases consumer world-mindedness and social-mindedness and that both have a significant impact on store image. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for retail and international marketing management.

The Impact of Retail Store Global-Mindedness on Jordanian Consumers’ Patronage Intention

“…The above definition argues that world-minded consumers have the tendency to have more willing to try products from other cultures and they are more open to global brands and stores. Nijssen and Douglas (2008) find that consumer world-mindedness has a significant impact on store image. Westjohn, Singh and Magnusson (2012) find positive relationship between openness to experience (personality traits) and global identification.…”

“…To operationalize consumer world-mindedness, Nijssen and Douglas (2008) develop a two-dimensional (consumers' cultural openness and cultural adaptability) second-order scale. Furthermore, Nijssen and Douglas (2008, p. 88) relied on Hannerz's (1990) definition of a world-minded person which focuses on a person's ability to engage with different cultural experiences and posit that consumer world-mindedness "is related to the interest in, openness to, and adoption of products and ideas from other cultures or parts of the world and the acceptance of the norms and values of these cultures without nationalistic bias or prejudice".…”

“…Beckmann et al (2001) and Nijssen and Douglas (2008) describe world-minded consumers as people who are often respect diverse culture, eager to know more about their consumption habits, interested in international events, adore foreign travel and willing to try out products and brands from other cultures. As a result, Nijssen and Douglas (2008) assert that world-minded consumers have more positive attitudes toward foreign products and brands and they are more likely to purchase them. Cannon and Yaprak (2002) posit that world-minded consumers have positive attitudes toward a global culture and they realise it as a means of acquiring cultural capital which often enhance their status in their society.…”

“…Westjohn et al (2012) find a positive relationship between global identification and attitude toward global consumer culture positioning. Nijssen and Douglas (2008) noted that retailers who responds to consumer world-mindedness often adapts a broader product assortment and establishing both specialized stores and stores www.ccsenet.org/ijms International Journal of Marketing Studies Vol. 5, No.…”

“…4; with an international dimension. Nijssen and Douglas (2008) justify this because consumer world-mindedness is openness to ideas and products from other parts of the world. Further, previous research on this area (e.g., McCrae and Costa, 1997;Hannerz 1990) posit that consumers who are open to diverse experiences are more likely to appreciate authentic products and brands from other cultures and they are less likely to appreciate the traditions of their own culture.…”