Triadic Gender Effect on the Susceptibility to Gender Bias and Ageism; and Its Subsequent Effect on Product Preference in C2C-Encounter

Abstract

This research proposes, the triadic gender effect (TGE) on gender based difference in consumer’s susceptibility to social influence during the customer-to-customer (C2C) encounter and its subsequent influence on preferences for products perceived as being associated with the other consumer in buying context. It further investigates the role of ageism and gender bias on the stereotypic effect of the group category of the other consumer. We conduct two studies showing that, due to the gender differences in self-construal, information processing and social cognitive projection; men and women differ in the categorization and evaluation of groups based on gender and age. It further leads to the difference in the preference for the products perceived as being symbolically associated with the respective group members. In particular, women use a local approach, and draw more categories based on gender and age than men, who use a global approach and focus on larger groups. Additionally, women show a greater positive association with in-groups than do men; hence there is a more positive effect of in-group on women’s product preference than on men’s product preference. By contrast, men show a greater negative association with out-groups and dissociative groups than females; thus, there is a stronger negative effect of out-groups and dissociative groups on men’s product preference. Overall women show greater positive association with groups than do men. The results show significant effect of gender bias and ageism in C2C encounter.