The Effects of Consumer Cultural Values on Ethical Judgment and Performance of Global Brands Among Young Consumers

Abstract

This study uses well-developed and tested scales to examine differences across two countries in the effects of consumer cultural values on ethical judgment and global brand performance. The study measured consumer attention toward two global brands – Nike and KFC. The research was conducted using over 804 young consumers from Russia and China. The research includes two studies specifically focused on young consumers (18-25) and their attention toward two brands. The first study showed that young Chinese and Russian consumers with strong cultural values are more ethical consumers than unethical. However, consumers who demonstrated strong cultural value such as achievement showed active unethical behavior in both samples. The second study confirmed that two cultural values in young consumers, hedonism and achievement, strongly affected KFC brand performance in both countries. However, young Russian consumers with hedonism and power cultural values strongly affected Nike brand performance, as well as young Chinese consumers with universalism cultural values.