Consequences of cultural practices on advertising: Rethinking the role of individual’s values versus social norms for cross-cultural research

Abstract

The study has contributed to the current debate on the significance of cultural referenced practices over self-reported values in the identification of culture (e.g., Fischer & Schwartz, 2011; Kirkman, Lowe, & Gibson, 2017). The study has examined whether there is a difference in the self-reported values versus cultural-referenced practices concerning masculinity and power distance. Also, which facet of masculinity and power distance, i.e., self-referenced and/or cultural referenced ratings predict the manifestation of such values in the advertising. The study has used a survey method and ask 200 respondents to report masculinity and power distance in their individual behavioural preference, in their social context and the manifestation of masculinity and power distance in advertising. The results show that self-reported and cultural-referenced rating of masculinity and power distance differ significantly. Moreover, the regression analysis shows that the culture-referenced masculinity and power distance predicts the reflection of respective values in advertising, but no such effect of self-reported values are found. Obtained results strengthen the argument that self-reported values did not identify the culture, instead, the normative values did identify the culture. Future international business and cross-cultural corporate governance research should consider the cultural practices of masculinity and power in their cross-cultural investigation.