Individual-Level Cultural Values: Decision Making Styles among Individualist and Collectivist Customers (Case Study: Customers of Automobile Radial Tire)

Awareness of consumers’ decision-making styles is crucial for the effectiveness and development of a business marketing strategy in the tire industry. It helps to meet the needs of the consumers and transmit the desired value to them. Purchasing tire is a very rare purchase, and it takes a long time to repurchase. It is an essential resource for the car and it plays a strategic role in the safety and security of the passengers. Therefore, it is important for the consumers to be aware of the features and crucial role in the car. Besides, identifying the desirable style requires extensive research regarding the decision to purchase a tire. Thus, this study aimed to identify similarities and differences in consumers’ decision-making styles considering the cultural tendency of collectivism / individualism in regards with the purchase of car tires.  

The present study is considered applied in nature and is considered as a descriptive-survey research in terms of purpose and strategy. The statistical population includes all those who have purchased automobile radial tires from tire stores in Tehran between July and September in 2016. The required data were collected by means of a 35-item questionnaire based on a quantitative scale (Likert) from “strongly disagree” to “strongly agree”.  

Analysis of variance showed there is no significant difference in terms of cultural issues among the following decision-making styles: "sensitivity to quality", "hedonism and the desire to purchase for entertainment", “sensitivity to the new and up-to-date products”, and "willingness to purchase spontaneously". However, there was a significant difference among the following styles (at 95% level): “consumers’ confusion due to abundant choices", "sensitivity to popular brand" and "habitual purchasing and loyalty to a brand”. Regarding ranking of decision-making styles among individualistic and collectivist consumers, "sensitivity to product quality", "sensitivity to up-to-date and new products" and "habitual purchasing and loyalty to a brand" were the most frequent styles among collectivist customers. In addition, "consumers’ confusion due to abundant choices", "sensitivity to popular brand", "tendency to purchase spontaneously" were the other frequent styles, respectively. Similarly, the ranking of decision-making styles among individualistic customers is completely consistent with the ranking among collectivist individuals.  

The quality is more important than any other dimensions, and the quality of a product and the perception of the high quality of a particular brand are among the priorities of consumers of tire. "Consumers’ willingness to purchase new products" is the second high priority item in the decision-making of collectivist as well as individualistic people while purchasing tires. Although the "habitual purchasing and loyalty to a brand" is common among all the customers, it is of higher importance among those who are more inclined to collectivism because “loyalty and integration” are crucial parts of collectivists’ culture. People who are more prone to individualism are less confused because they are the ones who make the final decision in selecting a product. Brand sensitivity is greater among collectivists because of their attention to individual identity. The "willingness to purchase spontaneously" is common because of the lack of importance regarding purchasing a tire for the consumers. In this case, tire sellers can have a big impact on choosing the type and the brand of tire. Therefore, building purposeful communication between sellers and buyers is important.