The Psychology of Asian Consumers: What We Know and What We Don’t

Understanding the psychology of Asian consumers is crucial in both practical and academic domains. In this article, I briefly describe the psychological characteristics of Asian consumers on the basis of previous findings in cultural psychology and cross-cultural consumer behavior. These characteristics are organized around five cultural syndromes; collectivist-individualist orientation, interdependent-independent self-construal, holistic-analytic thinking style, prevention-promotion orientation, and reliance on past-present (or future) events. For directions guiding future research, I suggest that researchers lay emphasis on psychological similarities as well as differences among cultures and put more weight on asymmetric cultural syndromes. The importance of neuro-scientific investigations regarding cultural differences as well as examination of subcultural differences is also emphasized. KCI Citation Count: 4