Life style and consumers in Taiwan and the United States: A cross -cultural comparison of activities, interests and opinions (AIOs)

The first purpose of this dissertation is to explore, in a cross-cultural setting, the similarities and differences in activities, interests, and opinions (AIOs) between Taiwanese and US consumers. An understanding obtained from the first purpose will be useful for global marketers in devising appropriate marketing strategies to target American and Taiwanese consumers who live in quite different cultural-societal contexts. The second purpose attempts to examine the similarities or differences between the two groups of consumers by testing hypotheses derived from Hofstede's theoretical framework of five cultural dimensions. The second purpose will provide insight into what extent Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, which are derived from personnel in a large multinational company in the late 1960s and early 1970s to measure management and organization practices, are applicable to consumers regarding their AIOs at the turn of the 21st century.;This dissertation is based on responses to 89 selected Life Style Survey items, from (a) a US sample of 3,090 respondents provided by 1999 DDB Life Style data, and (b) a Taiwan sample of 1,341 respondents in an island-wide survey through the support of Taiwan Navy personnel who asked their parents, relatives, neighbors and friends to participate.;Results indicate that US and Taiwanese consumers show more similarities than differences when viewed from the overall factor structure, given that six identical factors, five similar factors and one different factor are discovered between both groups. However, both groups of consumers show more differences than similarities at the item level and six scales levels formed by using six identical factors. Four of the six hypotheses are generally supported indicating that Hofstede's 5-D culture model is useful and applicable for explaining and predicting the differences between US and Taiwan consumers regarding their AIOs. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed and future studies are suggested.