The Influence of National Culture on International Marketing & Consumer Behavior in Iraqi Kurdistan, Using Hofstede’s Model At Individual Level (Published)
There are growing interest in the consequences of culture for global marketing and advertising and many recent researches urged companies to consider the necessity of adapting their international marketing strategies to the culture of the consumer (De Mooij and Hofstede, 2010). In order to investigate the influence of national culture on international marketing and consumer behavior and answer the research questions in Iraqi Kurdistan, this paper tend to identify Hofstede cultural dimensions and explain how these dimensions may impact the global marketing management. This paper was divided into three main parts. The first part of this research concentrates on international marketing as well as national culture and tries to investigate the past research on how national culture as an independent variable may influence international marketing and consumer behavior as dependent variable. In the second part of this study, two main questions were raised and a quantitative self-respond questionnaire was used to measure the cultural values at individual level. This research used convenience sample method and it is based on the sample of 272 professionals mostly managers at different levels and combined with the previous research sample of 441 students to bring consistency and reliability to the research and also reduce sample error. In the third part, data were measured and analyzed and at the end a discussion was developed to answer the questions. The findings explain the relationship between both variables and support the past works by De Mooij and Hofstede as concrete works that can be applied by international managers. Therefore, this author can conclude that this paper provide strong argument that there is positive relationship between national culture and international marketing and consumer behavior. There are some suggestions for more cross-cultural research in this part of the world.
Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Context Model., Culture, Hofstde Model, International Marketing, Kurds
EVALUATING EFFECT OF SOCIAL FACTORS AFFECTING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN PURCHASING HOME FURNISHING PRODUCTS IN JORDAN (Published)
The present study examined the impact of social factors on consumer behavior in evaluative criteria of the purchased home furnishing in Amman (Jordan). In the literature, there are a few previous studies which have explored the topics on consumer behavior and home furniture industry in Jordan. Furthermore, the objective of this study is to investigate of purchasing behavior of home furniture consumers in Jordan. This study then will evaluate the factors that have influences on furniture purchasing decision process. The findings will allow the researcher to be able to recommend to Jordan furniture manufacturers and retailers. Also, questionnaires were distributed and self-administered to 400 respondents. Descriptive analysis, factors analysis, test of reliability, correlation test, and regression analysis were used in this study. The study results demonstrated that there is a positive and significant relationship between reference group, family, price, quality, color, and purchasing decision. In addition, implications of this work and directions for future research are discussed.
Keywords: Consumer Behavior, Furniture, Price, Quality, Reference Group, family