Multilevel cultural issues

Abstract

Multilevel structures are omnipresent. Consumers live in geographical locations, shop in specific stores, or are members of clubs. Consumers who belong to the same group share characteristics and are expected to be more similar than consumers belonging to another group. In data analysis, this sharedness needs to be taken into account to enable valid inferences. In this chapter, we describe what multilevel analysis is and introduce major methods when dealing with multiple levels of analysis (e.g., individual and country). We elaborate on the key issues in multilevel analysis being aggregation and isomorphism, and finalize with a discussion on the conventional top-down approach in which higher levels affect individuals and the recent bottom-up approach in which individuals via their attitudes and behaviors affect societal norms. Multilevel issues are expected to become more popular in the next years, also because of the available new tools for applied researchers.