Volume 7 (2022-23)

Each volume of Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy consists of two biannual issues, published in print and online.

The articles published in Volume 7 are listed below.

Volume 7 Number 2

Editorial
Jake Beniflah, Executive Director, The Center for Multicultural Science, USA
E-commerce localisation to African markets : Canadian multinational enterprise perspectives
Wootae Chun, School of Business, Canada
Emmanuel Ogwal, Lheidli T’enneh Nation, Canada

The main objective of this study is to examine and analyse the extent to which African cultural values are depicted on local business-to-consumer (B2C) websites in Africa compared with local websites in Canada during and after the COVID-19 era. By exploring the cross-cultural variations between African B2C websites and Canadian B2C websites, we attempt to provide recommendations to global marketers and diverse stakeholders on how best to localise their websites when catering to e-commerce internet users in African and Canadian regional economies. Therefore, this research extends the boundary of e-commerce marketing strategy and international marketing research to encompass the perspectives of Canadian multinational enterprises seeking to market to African regions.
Keywords: e-commerce, localisation, websites, cultural values, Canadian multinational enterprises, Africa, COVID-19
Balancing gender inequality in C-suite positions in Mexico : Women’s empowerment and success through personal branding
Diana Dávila-Ruiz, Universidad Anáhuac Mexico, Mexico
Karla Barajas-Portas, Universidad Anáhuac México, Mexico

This research paper explores the factors that empower women in C-suite positions and the relationship between personal brand and successful performance in managerial positions. The study was conducted in two stages. First, a qualitative approach consisting of 15 in-depth interviews with women in C-suite positions was employed to identify preliminary challenges and feelings relating to personal brand. The second stage was based on insights from a qualitative study of data obtained from an online questionnaire administered to 111 women in C-suite positions. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data through three key variables: feeling attractive, education level and affluence. The results indicated the validity of the conceptual model. Aspects of having a high level of education, feeling attractive and having economic independence were associated with significant empowerment for women. To date, there have been very few studies into the empowerment of women in managerial positions in emerging markets and the importance of them feeling successful in their professional development. The present study underscores the importance of personal branding for women in C-suite positions with respect to physical care, intellectual preparation and the satisfaction of being economically independent. Even though there are large differences in the gender salary gap, women in C-suite positions have been able to feel successful and competent when they feel satisfied with their personal brand.
Keywords: personal branding, C-suites, women’s empowerment, professional satisfaction, modelling, gender equality
Why is Spanglish more popular than Spanish and English among US Hispanics? A communication accommodation theory perspective
Jake Beniflah, Center for Multicultural Science, USA
Julia Estacolchic, The Match Group, USA

The blend of Spanish and English found in Hispanic-densely populated cities across the USA is known as ‘Spanglish’. It represents one of the most, significantly understudied, contemporary linguistic phenomena in the country. Using communication accommodation theory, this multi-modal (qualitative and quantitative), multi-phase study aims to understand the role that Spanglish plays in the lives of US Hispanics aged 18–34 years. In Phase 1, a qualitative study (n = 40) uncovered that the use of Spanglish is in part driven by a number of sociolinguistic factors including linguistic competence, social identification and ethnic pride. In Phase 2, a quantitative study (n = 400) found that Spanglish is used more often than Spanish and English across a number of domains (eg home, social, work and school). These findings contradict the oversimplified view of generation Z Hispanics as monolingual speakers who tend to favour English over Spanish, and the long-held general notion that Spanish is the preferred language of Hispanics in the USA. Corporations should consider leveraging the intersectionality of Spanish and English when marketing to younger Hispanics and embrace the linguistic diversity that not only defines how this generation communicates, but how they view themselves. Implications for marketers and researchers are included in this paper.
Keywords: communication accommodation theory, convergence, divergence, maintenance, generation Z, US Hispanics, Spanglish, bilingual accommodation
A cross-cultural analysis of impulsive buying behaviour : Comparing the effect of longterm orientation and shopping values of Chinese and US consumers
Pei Wang, Florida State University, USA
Sindy Chapa, Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication, USA

This case study compares the impact of cultural values on impulsive buying behaviours (IBBs) in two different cultures. The study considers long-term orientation (LTO) as an extended antecedent to explore the moderating role of two shopping values and self-control on IBB among Chinese and US consumers. The online survey results from 237 Chinese and 228 US consumers indicated that LTO negatively influences the IBB in both countries. As predicted, LTO was found to be a key predictor of hedonic shopping value (HSV), utilitarian shopping value (USV) and self-control in different cultural contexts. Overall, it was found that Chinese consumers have a higher level of LTO than US consumers, leading to a greater level of USV and a lower level of IBB.
Keywords: impulsive behaviour, cross-cultural, long-term orientation, Chinese, American, consumer behaviour, utilitarian, hedonic, shopping values
Culture training for strategic marketing : Case study of a Juneteenth block party
Valerie L. Williams-Sanchez, Blue Chip, USA

Juneteenth, the annual cultural celebration also known in the African American community as Emancipation Day, was made a national holiday in 2021. Today, the holiday that commemorates 19th June, 1865, the date when news of emancipation and the end of slavery finally reached enslaved peoples in the farthest reaches of America’s south-western states, is challenging companies and organisations to figure out how best to honour this shiny new and momentous holiday. And while many organisations struggle to get smart about this ‘new’ holiday, organisations that seek to understand the cultural ethos of the celebration — and their part in it — have demonstrated success. To better understand a successful campaign, this case study will examine how an event and training model with a block party theme succeeded in ‘getting Juneteenth right’ to create an informative, engaging and inspiring workplace initiative. The brand and shopper marketing agency extended the implementation of its agency-wide diversity, equity and inclusion reorientation strategy to include its Juneteenth celebration. Taking this cultureforward approach, the agency sought to educate, inform and enlist its own employees in a uniquely authentic way to build cross-cultural knowledge to strategy, creative, media and retail marketing for its list of Fortune 500 clients, including EJ Gallo, Procter & Gamble and White Castle.
Keywords: Juneteenth, cultural literacy, multicultural intelligence and relevance, DEI
Fandom in the Indian Premier League: Factors that drive team associations
Avtar Singh, Mittal School of Business, India
Rahul Sharma, Mittal School of Business, India

With the Indian Premier League now one of the most popular sporting competitions in India, marketers looking to reach cricket fans must recognise and understand the many factors that influence their affinity towards their favoured team. This case study of Indian Premier League fans investigates the various factors that motivate fans to associate with a specific team. The findings of this research will help sports team managers to engage better with targeted fans/audiences and will also assist marketers in strategising initiatives to strengthen their company’s brand equity, particularly in India.
Keywords: Indian Premier League, professional sports, cricket, fandom
Heuristics and anti-racism methodologies : Exploring possibilities for shifting antiracist education and research paradigms
Trudi L. Perkins, Momentum Enterprises, USA

This paper represents the first in a series of discussions that follow the development of a heuristic anti-racism methodology and pedagogical approach to operationalise learning beyond empathetic engagement. The experimental study explored the feasibility of using heuristic phases in a structured, yet natural flowing exploration of personal interactions with racism. With a specific focus on anti-Black racism, the researcher engaged in a 30-day sequence of purposeful awareness and investigation, creating a unique research testing environment as the first module of a course aimed at engaging deeply with racism as it presents in daily life. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the present reliance on empathy-based anti-racism and its limitations. The discussion is followed by an introduction to heuristic methods and their potential use in anti-racist inquiry and education. The paper explains how heuristics lends itself to the complexities of anti-racism by emphasising the value of the lived experiences of both the researcher and participants, as supported by a brief review of current literature. The core of this discussion presents the background to this study and an explanation of the processes used to repurpose the methodology, explore its usefulness in expanding anti-racism knowledge and practice, as well as assess the sustainability of researcherparticipants’ personal curiosity as intrinsic motivation. The paper closes with a discussion of the next steps in the development of the curriculum and suggestions for further use of these processes in anti-racism research.
Keywords: heuristic methods, qualitative methods, anti-Black racism, anti-racism education, operationalise
The need for an organisational design to secure marketer creativity within unhealthy organisational cultures
Bilgehan Bozkurt, Istanbul Arel University, Turkey

This paper proposes research questions to secure marketer creativity within unhealthy organisational cultures. The emergent phenomenon that paved the way to this purpose is that organisations that communicate that they significantly implement marketing without implementation could complicate marketer creativity within these unhealthy organisational cultures. Creativity is becoming an influential part of modern marketing although marketing had involved creativity, and creativity needs orientations that marketing could provide. Therefore, it is reasonable to rethink the organisation in order not to sacrifice marketer creativity. A series of careful discussions in this domain reveal that focus and the link between strategy and culture could help shape organisational design. The proposed research questions ask for research on focal points, motivations, personal competitive advantages and congruity. The potential benefits include trustable organisations, a superior work environment, congruity with target audiences, and operating during economic transitions and challenges. This is an intersection between marketer behaviour and organisation studies against a leadership issue to secure a marketing priority. This approach supports a highly integrated theory of the organisation. However, it mainly supports a ‘deepening of marketing among practitioners’. Avoiding a superficial understanding of marketing and creativity in practice could help.
Keywords: organisational design, organisational culture, creativity, employee behaviour, leadership

Volume 7 Number 1

Editorial
Jake Beniflah, Founding Editor, Journal of Cultural Marketing Strategy
The influence of marketer and user-generated communication on brand preference
Talvinder Kaur, PhD Candidate and Sarbjit Singh Bedi, Associate Professor, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology

Social media channels have evolved into a powerful platform for brands and consumers to communicate with each other, with today’s consumers increasingly relying on the information obtained through social media to guide their opinions and preferences. This paper examines the relationship between social media communication and different aspects of smartphone brands. The study uses structural equation modelling to interrogate data collected from 651 heavy or medium users of social media. The findings reveal that user-generated content has a strong influence on brand image, attitude toward the brand and brand preference, while marketer-created content has a significant but relatively smaller effect on attitude toward the brand and brand preference. The mediation role of attitude toward the brand is found to be significant in the development of brand preference. These findings will help marketers improve their social media communication by focusing on unbiased information. At the same time, this will help them understand the increasing importance of user-generated communication over marketer-created communication.
Keywords: social media communication; marketer-created media; user-generated media; brand attitude; brand image; brand preference
Predicting consumer behaviour toward digital K-pop albums: An extended model of the theory of planned behaviour
Nono Wibisono, Associate Professor of Business Administration, Bieke F. Arrasy, Marketing Study Program Graduate and Wahyu Rafdinal, Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Politeknik Negeri Bandung

This study examines intent to purchase digital K-pop albums among K-pop fans in Indonesia. It employs the extended theory of planned behaviour (TPB) by integrating two additional variables: (1) frequency of K-pop consumption and (2) idol worship. The data, collected from 421 Indonesian K-pop fans, were processed using the structural equation model—partial least square modelling technique. The results indicate that, with the exception of attitude toward digital K-pop albums, all TPB constructs positively and significantly affect the purchase intentions of K-pop fans. Meanwhile, the attitude toward the digital K-pop album variable has a significant negative impact on purchase intention. The two additional variables (ie frequency of K-pop consumption and idol worship) influence fans to be more open to Korean culture and music. These findings will help the K-pop industry develop a strategy to better understand fan purchase behaviour in order to increase the popularity of K-pop both at home and abroad, and hence drive sales. This study is the first to empirically employ the extended model of TPB by integrating idol worship and frequency of K-pop consumption to analyse the purchase intentions of K-pop fans.
Keywords: purpose-driven communications, stakeholder communications, corporate communications, global communications
Measuring the perception of trust: Two cultural approaches
Amy Huber, Associate Professor and Sindy Chapa, Director, Center of Hispanic Marketing Communication, Florida State University

Evidence suggests that US adults are trending away from having a primary care physician. Moreover, those from minority groups are even less likely to visit a usual healthcare provider. At the same time, Hispanics are more likely to have illnesses that can be prevented or mitigated with regular screenings, while maternal mortality rates among US Hispanics are rising. Consequently, enhancing perceptions about preventative care among underserved female populations is imperative in assuaging health disparities. Research suggests minority communities are often socialised with collectivist values, while medical marketing messages are often tailored to individualistic priorities. Consequently, preventative healthcare marketing messages may fail to capitalise on important cultural cues that can engender medical trust. This 2-by-2 experimental study compares the effects of culture-sensitive and culture-centred design approaches in preventative healthcare medical marketing messages on attitudes and medical trust levels among young adult Hispanic and non-Hispanic white women. Findings from 124 survey respondents revealed that in the area of fairness, the culture-centred message designed by in-group members elicited greater levels of trust among ethnically similar participants. However, the message created by the white out-group designer using the culture-sensitive approach elicited greater levels of global trust among non-Hispanic whites. These findings underscore the value of direct ingroup experience in designing preventative healthcare marketing messages.
Keywords: healthcare marketing; medical trust; culturally competent; culture-centred; culture-sensitive; Hispanic; self-affirmation; collectivism
How should companies respond to complaints? Measuring satisfaction among Generation Z online shoppers
Young Joon Lim, Associate Professor and Jennifer Lemanski, Professor, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

When responding to a customer complaint, companies can choose between five response strategies, namely: apology, excuse, justification, denial and no response. This study proposes a conceptual model for measuring a customer’s satisfaction with how their complaint is handled. Based on a survey of over 300 college students, the study finds that following a service failure, Generation Z consumers value apologies over any other response strategy. These findings serve as a reminder to external communication managers and strategic communicators not to ignore the traditional crisis communication strategy of apology when communicating with Generation Z consumers.
Keywords: Generation Z; apology; corporate response; digital age; online review; angry customers
Artificial intelligence in customer service: An empirical study of the banking sector
Bilal Eneizan, Associate Professor of Marketing, Jadara University

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become very important in the business world. The reasons for this include increased computing power, low cost, advanced algorithms, and the ability to leverage Big Data. AI is increasingly being deployed to deliver real-time customer service through live-chat messaging channels. These systems use data from different sources to provide customers with options, recommendations and resolutions. With a focus on the banking sector, this study examines the impact of usefulness, ease of use, problem-solving ability and trust on consumers’ intention to use and preference for AI in the customer service context. The findings indicate that the various variables examined all have a positive effect on both intention to use and preference for AI. These findings are discussed from both an organisational and customer perspective. The finding that customer satisfaction can be significantly improved via the use of AI systems has important implications for the banking sector.
Keywords: AI; customer service; problem-solving ability; trust; ease of use; usefulness; behavioural intention
Reducing employee turnover intentions through ethical leadership and positive organisational behaviour
Mitali Dohroo, Research Scholar and Taranjeet Duggal, Professor, Amity Business School and Amirul Hasan Ansari, Professor of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University

Using data obtained from the literature, this study conducts statistical analysis to improve understanding regarding the relationship between firms and their employees. The results indicate that employee turnover is lower among companies that combine strong, effective leadership with distinct organisational culture and behaviour.
Keywords: positive organisational behaviour; employee turnover reduction; leadership; HR practices
Eye tracking provides valuable insights in neuroscience: An empirical brand perception food marketing study
Francesco Pinci, Master’s degree student, Roma Tre University

This study examines the importance of product packaging as a marketing medium. Using the example of commercially available pasta, the research focuses on key visual aspects of its packaging, such as colour, shape, packaging material and logo. The findings from studies like this are particularly important to food and beverage companies as they help marketers better understand the consumer purchase decision process. The study analyses data gathered from surveys administered through Google Modules, and visualisation data obtained using iMotions eye-tracker software. The results confirm the importance of packaging design elements such as colour and product information when it comes to consumer buying behaviour.
Keywords: eye-tracker; food marketing; marketing psychology; branding; consumer behaviour
Applying the theory of reasoned action to measure intent to purchase halal food
K. Ramya, Assistant Professor, Avinashilingam Institute for Home Science and Higher Education for Women

The halal market exists primarily to cater to practising Muslim consumers, as it permits the sale of only those products and services permissible under Islamic law. Non-Muslims, however, are learning that halal products meet superior standards in terms of hygiene, safety and quality. This is contributing to a growing demand for halal goods around the world. With a focus on the largely untapped halal market in India, this study examines the relationship between attitudes and intent to purchase halal products among both Muslim and non-Muslim consumers. The study provides an opportunity for entrepreneurs and retailers to understand better how the halal market may be expanded in India and beyond. As such, this study has research and practical implications.
Keywords: halal products; attitude; intention; Muslims; non-Muslims; theory of reasoned action (TRA); SEM-PLS