Traditional Chinese Cultural Values

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Modern Cultural Values
Conclusion
List of References

Introduction

Traditional Chinese cultural values have changed because of new economic relations and cultural transformations. Only parts of those traditional values are persisting in today’s Chinese society. In general, the consumption process is a learning experience that affects and is affected by perception. Perception influences the selection and interpretation of marketing information, symbols, and products. Because it affects the expectations of potential results from various customer choices, it is a significant factor in individual and group reaction. In essence, perception determines how marketing reality is interpreted and thereby influences the consumer.

Modern Cultural Values

Consumptions process

The main traditional Chinese cultural values affecting modern Chinese consumers who consume luxury goods are wealth, solidarity with others, sense of righteousness, a sense of cultural superiority and being conservative. In modern Chinese society, buying runs the gamut from habitual, routine purchases, which involve little planning, to such purchases as houses and automobiles, which require deliberation and evaluation over a considerable period of time; from purchases initiated by the buyer to those initiated by the seller; from purchases where powerful, logical, and rational motives exist as in some industrial situations, to purchases where more emotional motives are the dominant force, as in such consumer goods as perfumes (Chen, 2002; Yangwen, 2007). The reasons for making purchases vary among traditional Chinese buyers. Such traditional Chinese features as status symbols, prestige, utility, economy, price, service, and warranties may appeal to different segments of the market (Yi, 2009).

The value of solidarity and sense of righteousness

From the traditional Chinese buyer’s point of view, solidarity with others and sense of righteousness depends on what a buyer thinks and feels. If he acts to achieve his objectives effectively, his behavior is rational regardless of what manufacturers, retailers, or social critics might believe. For traditional Chinese buyers, rationality applies to self-approved reasons for purchasing or not purchasing — those that the buyer feels to be right and reasonable because they are in line with his own expectations and image of himself. For example, the desire to have well-styled clothing, good design in furniture, or tasty food may not be economic or utilitarian (Fan and Xiao 1998). Such a desire may be rational. Still, what might appear to a market analyst to be an irrational purchase motive because the purchase is psychologically based may be a perfectly rational motive to the consumers concerned. In terms of traditional Chinese cultural values, buying behavior is rational if the purchases have been approved by the buyer, who acts to satisfy his physical or psychological needs, even though reasons for purchase may conflict with what observers feel should be done or are not readily apparent to researchers. In terns of traditional Chinese cultural values, purchase reaction that is geared to satisfy such needs as the need for affiliation, the need for achievement, or the need for power should not be termed irrational (Warner, 2000; Hollensen, 2007).

The value of being conservative

Following traditional Chinese cultural values, the value of being conservative can be described as rational choice for consumers who want to buy those products that will permit them to sustain favorable images and social memberships as to buy items that meet economic and utilitarian standards. Emotional motives or appeals connote satisfaction of wants or desires regardless of whether they are appropriate for “the logical economic man.” Emotional is not the antithesis of rational. The situation or environment in which a person finds himself is also important to purchasing action and motivation. The primacy drive is the tendency to deal with the environment. General behavior is determined by the environmental opportunities, and the interaction of a consumer’s or company’s capacity with the environment will generate specific interests (Child, 2000). Following traditional Chinese cultural values, people become absorbed in and motivated by dealing with environments. In marketing, this theory has received considerable emphasis, as in the marketing concept and the systems approach, which stress adaptation to environments so that company goals may be achieved. These needs will be keenly felt as never before. As a result, different status groups and symbols emerge as a means of satisfying such needs (Child, 1994).

A sense wealth and cultural superiority

In terms of traditional Chinese cultural values, a sense of wealth and cultural superiority creates aspirations and expectations linked directly to consumer motivation, behavior, and achievement. Indeed, the desire to achieve is a strong factor in economic accomplishment. There is something in the customs, institutions, and motives of men that accounts for substantial achievement in some areas and lack of achievement in others. In marketing situations consumers appear to adjust their levels of aspiration. With an increase in income and achievement of certain objectives, they seem desirous of moving up to higher levels of consumption (Yangwen, 2007). Traditional Chinese cultural values state that modern consumers exceed the income levels they had originally anticipated. Then, having shifted their levels of aspiration upward, they become dissatisfied with their products and environments. New learned needs become important, and an upward adjustment in goals occurs that continues as higher incomes are realized (Chen, 2002).

Conclusion

In sum, modern Chinese consumers plan their purchases on the basis of an expected environment. Expectations of strikes, changes in tax patterns, and salary or wage raises have a significant role in the allocation of discretionary income. Consumer perceptions and their images of companies, brands, and products rather than the actual physical characteristics of goods and services are critical considerations in purchase behavior. The store image stems from such diverse factors as advertisements, sales personnel, merchandise, services, pricing strategies, physical plant, and layout. The consumer seems to accept those experiences and opportunities that are deemed favorable to his self-image and to reject, alter, and ignore those that are not.

List of References

Chen, A. 2002, The Structure of Chinese Industry and the Impact from China’s WTO Entry. Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 44, iss. 1, p. 72.

Child, J. 1994, Management in China during the Age of Reform. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Child, J. 2000 ‘Management and Organizations in China: Key Trends and Issues’.

In Li, J.T., Tsui, A. and Weldon, E. Management and Organizations in the Chinese Context. Basingstoke: Macmillan, pp. 33–62.

Fan, J. X., Xiao, J.J. 1998, Consumer Decision-Making Styles of Young-Adult Chinese. Journal of Consumer Affairs, vol. 32, p. 275.

Hollensen, S. 2007, Global Marketing: A Decision-Oriented Approach. Financial Times/ Prentice Hall; 4 edition.

Warner, M. 2000. Changing Workplace Relations in the Chinese Economy. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan.

Yangwen, Z. 2007, Chinese Medicine Men: Consumer Culture in China and Southeast Asia. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, vol. 38, p. 65.

Yi, LI. Brand Effect on Consumer Behavior in China. 2008. Web.

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