The Impact of Cultural Values on Attitude Formation toward Cultural Products: Mediating Effects of Country Image

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the influence of cultural values on the development of attitudes toward cultural products and purchase intentions while considering country image as a mediating variable in this relationship. Cultural dimensions were categorized into five groups: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity, and long-term orientation. A web-based questionnaire was distributed to 974 Asian consumers who had purchased and used foreign cultural products. Data analysis was conducted in two stages: exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using SPSS, and structural equation modelling (SEM) using EQS 6.4. The results revealed that power distance, individualism and collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity had significant positive impacts on attitudes toward cultural products, whereas long-term orientation did not. Positive attitudes toward cultural products are linked to high purchase intent. Country image was identified as a mediator in the relationship between attitudes toward cultural products and purchase intention. This study contributes to the literature by identifying and explaining the relationship between cultural values and consumer behavior, and selecting and consuming these consumers’ rational, emotional, and reasonable cultural products. It is necessary to increase explanatory power by developing various cultural values and introducing additional variables, as in Hofstede’s theory of cultural value. The practical and theoretical implications of this study are outlined in the conclusion.