According to Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel (2001), "[c]ulture has a profound
effect on why and how people buy and consume products and services" (p. 320). In
the present study, Hofstede's classifications of national culture are used as a framework
to examine the relationships among long-term orientation national culture (Taiwan and
United States), type of clothing (formal and casual clothing), and gender (female and
male) on consumers' clothing values (aesthetic, economic, political, religious, social,
and theoretic clothing values).
The data collection method was a direct handout questionnaire in classes at
Oregon State University in the United States and at National Pingtung University of
Science and Technology in Taiwan. A seven-point scale was used to measure the
mean scores of six clothing values. The questionnaire also measured the validity of
Hofstede's framework and the respondent's demographic characteristics. The
questionnaire was first developed in English, translated into Chinese, and then
translated back into English.
Overall, 487 of the questionnaires from the United States and 903 from Taiwan
(the total number was 1390) were eligible for analysis in this study. Data from the
questionnaires were analyzed using a multivariate analysis of variance and
paired-sample analysis t-test.
The results revealed that six consumers' clothing values were affected by national
culture and the type of clothing and partially influenced by gender. As hypothesized,
the mean scores of consumers' economic and religious clothing values were
significantly higher in high long-term orientation (Taiwan) than in low long-term
orientation (United States), whereas the mean scores of aesthetic clothing value was
significantly lower in high long-term orientation (Taiwan) than in low long-term
orientation (United States).
Significant differences were found for gender on consumers' aesthetic, political,
social, and theoretic clothing values. As hypothesized, female consumers scored
significantly higher on aesthetic and social clothing values than did male consumers.
Based on the results from this study, the similarities and differences among
consumers' clothing values in different national cultures, between genders, and type of
clothing can be important basic information for international marketers when planning
and implementing marketing plans across countries. / Graduation date: 2004
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/29903 |
| Date | 30 October 2003 |
| Creators | Hsu, Hsiu-Ju |
| Contributors | Burns, Leslie Davis |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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