A comparative study of Australian-born and Asian-born consumers' decision-making styles in high involvement purchase situations: a case of automobile purchases

This study investigates the differences between individualism-collectivism and consumer decision-making styles applied to the purchase of automobiles. An adapted version of the widely used Consumer Styles Inventory (Sproles & Kendall, 1986) was used to measure consumer decision-making styles. Based on a sample of 203 respondents from individualist and collectivist backgrounds, exploratory, and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted on Sproles and Kendalls (1986) CSI adapted for high involvement purchases. Mean differences between the two cultural backgrounds were assessed via MANCOVA. Results indicated that collectivist consumers scored higher on ‘brand conscious’ and ‘confused by overchoice’ decision making styles. The study also discusses how automobile companies could develop suitable marketing strategies for individualist and collectivist consumers in Australia.