Consumer Cultural Renaissance: Conceptualisation, Scale Development, and Validation

Abstract

As incessant globalisation leads to the pervasive erosion of traditional Asian culture by Western consumerism, a recent phenomenon has emerged that allures Asian consumers to reconnect with their traditional culture via consumption. We postulate that this behaviour is rooted in a self-identity, consumer cultural renaissance (CCR), that has not been studied empirically. The primary aim of this study is to develop and validate a scale for CCR. With China as context, Study 1 developed a 7-item scale for CCR (CCRSCALE), and Study 2 validated that CCR is distinct from other social identities: ethnic identity, cultural identity and consumer ethnocentrism. Study 3 then demonstrated the influence, as well as the underlying mechanism, of CCR on product evaluation. The findings revealed that consumers with higher CCR dispositions evaluated products that symbolised traditional Chinese culture more favourably. Furthermore, they associated symbolic attributes (closeness, sense-of-belonging, and kinship) with the products. These attributes mediated the influence of CCR on product evaluation. A key theoretical contribution is that CCR extends the boundary of what is currently known about self-identities. The CCRSCALE will facilitate further research, and guide marketers in developing effective strategies to tap this nascent self-identity.