Journal of Consumer Marketing

Role of brand names and product types on bicultural consumers purchase intentions
Emi Moriuchi Paul Jackson
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 ROLE OF BRAND NAMES AND PRODUCT TYPES ON BICULTURAL CONSUMERS
PURCHASE INTENTIONS

INTRODUCTION

Bicultural individuals are individuals who possess dual cultural frameworks and switch

between the different cultures (Hong et al., 2001) upon exposure to cultural cues. Bicultural

individuals are not necessarily new immigrants but are rather individuals who are acculturated

(e.g., second generation and later Asian-Americans, African-Americans). The bicultural

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population has been growing steadily in the United States (Census Bureau, 2014) with a

predicted population growth of minorities, who will become the majority in the year 2050.

Therefore, marketers should learn more about bicultural consumers and understand how they

make purchase decisions.

Consumers employ their local language and culture as a way to create the identity

of a brand (Usunier & Shaner, 2002). Furthermore, languages in brands have an impact on

consumers attitude towards their perception of brands (Sela, Wheeler, and Sarial-Abi, 2012).

Thus, it is necessary for companies that conduct business in multilingual societies to decide

which language to use for their brand names, product labels and advertisements (de Run, Chin,

Khalique 2012). Extensive research has been conducted on the effect of country-of-origin on

consumers. For example, consumers perceive Japanese brands as being technically superior (i.e.,

in terms of quality) (Nagashima, 1970) and western brands (e.g., French) as possessing greater

sophistication in terms of taste and image (Leclerc, Schmitt and Dube, 1994). However, less

research has been conducted regarding language cues in a brand name (Morimoto and La Ferle,

2008; de Run, Yee, and Khalique, 2012; Batra et al., 2014). Studies have shown that the strength

of association of the individuals ethnic background influences their purchasing intentions

 2

towards those brands. To the best of the authors knowledge, no study has combined these

concepts to assess bicultural consumers attitudes toward brand names and product types and

their effects on purchase intentions. Furthermore, Johnson and Grier (2011) asserted that

different countries have been experiencing growing diversity in their population and thus are

inevitably encouraged to adopt strategies that consider groups of consumers that are not typically

targeted.
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The contribution of this article is twofold: First, we focus on a neglected yet emerging

consumer segment bicultural individual consumers. Second, we assess the extent to which

language cues in brand names and which types of product influence attitudes towards the brand

and purchase intentions.

THEORY AND HYPOTHESIS DEVELOPMENT

Cleveland, Papadopoulos, and Laroche (2011) argued that ethnic identity is subjective

and captures the perceptions of the associated group members in several dimensions. Forehand

and Deshpande (2001) looked at ethnic identity salience from a different angle, arguing that

contextual cues, such as cues in advertising, can influence consumers ethnic self-awareness in

the absence of explicit information processes. They use ethnic priming such as Asian hair to

influence Asian participants to feel more favorably towards an ethnic consumer-focused ad.

Another example was from Leclerc, Shmitt and Dubes (1994) study, in which they claimed that

French names had a COO effect on higher quality because the participants tended to associate

French brand names with favorable attitude. This suggests two things: brand names can serve as

an ethnic cue, and if the ethnic cue is congruent with the consumers ethnic background, the

attitude (negative/positive) towards a brand varies when an ethnic prime is present. In this study,
 3

we look at ethnic identity in two different ways: 1) Cultural Identity (CI), which is based on the

assimilation theory, and 2) Felt Ethnicity (FE), which is based on their momentary feeling

towards their ethnicity.

Cultural Identity (CI)

According to Tambyah and Chng (2006), cultural identity is defined as the

psychological counterpoint to national identity (p.464). Casmir (1984) defined it as the image
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of the self and the culture intertwined in the individual's total conception of reality (p. 2).

Chattaraman (2006) claims that the level of cultural acculturation is relatively less stable as a

construct when compared to ethnic identity. However, other studies (Fam et al., 2013; Yamur,

and Van de Vijver, 2012) showed that cultural identity can significantly impact consumers

consumption behavior. In this study, cultural identity is defined based on an individuals cultural

acculturation (Kang and Kim, 1998; Wallendorf and Reilly, 1983), which is determined through

consumers stages of acculturation in the host country (Matera, Stefanile and Brown, 2011).

They added that consumers who effortlessly acculturate into a mainstream culture are often

individuals from later generations (e.g., 5th generation). When these individuals assimilate

deeper into the mainstream culture, it requires a longer period of time to consider their cultural

identity.

Felt Ethnicity (FE)

Felt ethnicity, often referred to as momentary identification, refers to the strength of the

ethnic identification of an individual based from the level of affiliation they have with an ethnic

group (Stayman and Desphande, 1989). Studies have shown that when individuals have a strong

feelings of ethnic identity (i.e., felt ethnicity), they will likely place importance on ethnic
 4

products (Kim and Arthur, 2003; Xu et al., 2004). According to the Elaboration Likelihood

Model (ELM) (Petty and Cacioppo, 1986), persuasion can occur in two routes: the central route

and peripheral route. The central route requires cognitive elaboration, whereas the peripheral

route can occur in the absence of cognitive elaboration for persuasive messages. Furthermore, it

was asserted that information processing differs according to the individuals level of

involvement with the product. Torres and Briggs (2007) argued that the ethnicity of the model
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in an advertisement is a peripheral element (p. 151) and that ethnic cues will work as peripheral

cues when low-involvement products are involved as they will likely form an opinion of the ad

based on peripheral cues (Torress and Briggs, 2007).

Cultural Identity and Felt Ethnicity towards Brand Attitudes

Singelis (1994) suggested that through cultural socialization and globalization, the

relative strength of independent and interdependent images of the self has gradually increased.

This is especially evident among those with a well-developed sense of interdependence and a

well-developed sense of independence who are described as bicultural (Yamada and Singelis,

1999, p. 697). The ability to relate to this language influences the way they think about

themselves including their identity (Marian, and Kaushanskaya, 2004). This positive link

between the bicultural consumer and ethnic culture-related brand names explains bicultural

consumers usage of familiar language language that is related to their ethnic background to

construct, enhance and maintain their social identity.

Brand Name Attitude. Numerous product features that can be used to understand the

reason for ethnic association (e.g., country-of-origin effect): branding (Leclerc, Shmitt and Dube,

1994), felt ethnicity (Stayman and Desphande, 1989), and product type utilitarian vs. hedonic
 5

(Okada, 2005). The mechanism underlying ethnic association can be understood by examining

the deeper consumer cultural frame switching processes (Hong et al., 2000; Chattaraman et al.,

2010, LaFromboise et al., 1993; Benet-Martinez et al., 2002). When a brand name matches the

ethnic background of a consumer, the consumer can find at least two possible causes for the

endorsement: either the product is excellent (i.e., stimulus attribution) or it is made in his or her

country-of-origin. When a consumer is familiar with a brand, especially if it carries a sense of

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nostalgia, he or she will exhibit ethnocentrism towards the brand name (see Pascal, Sprout and

Muehling, 2002). The results of these endorsements will eventually lead to a biased and positive

attitude towards his or her purchasing intentions (e.g., see Belk, 1976). Maheswaren (1994)

found that the product evaluations of individuals were influenced by their perceptions of brand

name because they act as a heuristic cue.

According to Markus and Kitayama (1991), independent self-construal is organized with

reference to ones own internal repertoire of thoughts and feelings rather than those of others.

Independent self-construal is focused on ones self-identity, in which Frith (1996) claims that

self-identity is cultural identity (p. 125). As noted by Moore and Barker (2012), a key element

of cultural identity is that it has a clear self-definition, which enables one to see past cultural

stereotypes and focus on commonalities rather than differences. This suggests that individuals

who use their cultural identity in any decision making process is involved in high cognition

states. Axsom et al. (1987) and others (Cacioppo et al., 1986) argue that individual differences

such as the need for cognition, may have an impact on how individuals use brand names. For

example, if people use their cultural identity to make decisions, they are highly in need of

cognition because they will be more focused on the functionality of a product than the pleasure
 6

derived from it. This suggests that people who use their cultural identity while making decision

will not be as strongly influenced by a brand as individuals who are less in need of cognition (i.e.,

felt ethnicity).

Therefore we state the following:

H1a: Bicultural individuals cultural identity has a negative relationship with their attitudes

towards the brand name.

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H1b: Bicultural individuals felt ethnicity has a positive effect on their attitude towards the brand

name.

Based on the Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), attitudes are

representative of his or her evaluation of an entity in question (Ajzen and Fishebin, 1977, p.

889). The authors also indicated that there is a direct relationship between attitude and behavioral

intention in their TPB model. In addition, Vermeir and Verbeke (2006) found a relationship

between favorable attitudes towards sustainable behavior and behavioral intentions to purchase

sustainable food products. Thus, we hypothesize the following:

H2: Attitude has a direct relationship with purchasing intentions.

Cultural Identity and Felt Ethnicity on Product Type

Brand names and product prices are considered extrinsic cues (Pharr, 2005). Piron (2000)

found that consumers attitudes toward a product (e.g., country-of-origin effect-COO effect) has

an impact on their purchasing intentions when considering the different types of products (e.g.,

luxury versus conspicuous). Insch and McBride (2004) also found that consumers perceived

COO effect that heightened based on product evaluations is dependent on the product itself.
 7

Products can be classified according to their inherited and perceived product

characteristics as hedonic or utilitarian (Cheema and Papatla, 2010; Okada, 2005) and the

consumers buying process, such as search versus experiential goods (Mortimer and Pressey,

2013). In this study, two product characteristics, hedonic and utilitarian, were examined.

Hedonic products are defined as products associated with sensory, experiential and enjoyment-

related attributes that are consumed and evaluated primarily based on benefits related to
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enjoyment, taste, aesthetics, and symbolic meaning. The consumption of hedonic products is

driven by affective and sensory experiences of sensual or aesthetic pleasure (Okada, 2005).

Littrell (1990) and others (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, 1981; McCraken, 1986;

Wallendorf, Belk and Heisley, 1988) asserted that there are certain objects that serve as tools for

the conception of meaning. Littrell (1990) added that the meaning conveyed is shaped by the

cultural system in which individuals have learned to live and function (p. 230). Furthermore,

for hedonic products, consumers often relate to their self-image; therefore if the brand name is

able to elicit pleasure and is congruent with ones self-image, then the evaluation of a hedonic

product will be driven by the satisfaction with the holistic image of the product. In other words,

consumers will rely more on affective and subjective heuristics (Botti and McGill, 2011).

Utilitarian products are associated with the functional, tangible and practical attributes of

a product, and utilitarian product usage is generally based on its instrumental and functional

benefits. Utilitarian products are necessities that are vital in achieving a goal or completing a

practical task (Khan and Dhar, 2006). When a product is associated with utilitarian value, the

product will be perceived as having a lower overall product attribute quality (Kim and Hwang,

2012). Furthermore, Melnyk, Klein and Volckner (2012) argued that consumers who intend to
 8

purchase utilitarian products are able to detach the product from the context and focus on the

extent to which the products attributes are similar to what would be expected from the product

category (e.g., price). In other words, utilitarian products do not involve holistic thinking. Thus,

if the product is a utilitarian product, the perception of a brands writing (i.e., characters) implied

by a Japanese COO cue maybe diminished by the product attributes (e.g., basic function).

Thus, we argue that because cultural identity is based on cognitive rather than affective
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decision making, a consumer who uses his/her cultural identity during a decision-making process

will have a more positive evaluation of utilitarian products than hedonic products. On the other

hand, when a consumer uses his/her felt ethnicity in a decision-making process, this consumer

will be involved in an affective decision-making category. These evaluations will also have an

impact on their purchasing intentions.

H3a: When bicultural consumers use cultural identity as self-identification, their evaluations will

differ by product type.

H3b: When bicultural consumers use felt ethnicity as self-identification, their evaluations will

differ by product type.

Attitude plays an important role in determining an individuals beliefs as well as the way

they are evaluated and how much it weighs with regard to the formation of preferences. Ajzen

and Fishbein (1988) found a positive relationship between attitude and behavioral intentions.

Steenkamp (1990) and others (Dawar and Parker, 1994) indicated that cues such as brand name

and the type of product act as a signal for product quality. For example, Leclerc, Schmitt and

Dube (1994) found a positive effect of French-sounding brand names on evaluations of hedonic

products (e.g., perfume). However, they found that there was a negative effect on the way these
 9

consumers negatively evaluate utilitarian products such as computers. This result suggests two

things: first, when the product type matches its cues (e.g., brand name), the products will be

evaluated positively. In other words, the perceived strength of the relationship between the cue

and product attribute are judged. Second, due to the presence of cues, the product type (e.g.,

hedonic and utilitarian) will affect a consumers evaluation (e.g., purchasing intention) of a

product because these cues are determined by consumers perception of its predictive value. For
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example, Batra (1999) found that a western product (i.e., country-of-origin cue) has a

substantial positive effect on brand attitudes even when the perceived quality was controlled.

H4: The product type moderates the relationship between attitudes toward brand names and

purchasing intentions.

Figure 1 depicts the model and the hypothesized relationship.

--------------------------Insert Figure 1-------------------

Research Design and Methodology

Subjects and Design

Honolulu, Hawaii was chosen for various reasons. According to the US census, the Asian

population in Hawaii is experiencing a growth rate of 2.9 percent. The Asian-American migrant

population accounts for approximately 61 percent of the total change from 2012 to 2013

(www.pewresearch.org). Hawaii, with the largest Asian population, was considered a state that

would provide a substantial number of bicultural individuals to support the generalization of the

results to other bicultural populations (e.g., Hispanic-Americans). In this study, we focus on

 10

Japanese bicultural individuals within the Asian-American population because Japanese-

Americans are the largest group in the Asian-American population of Hawaii.

Stimulus Development

Product Type. Based on the hedonic (HED) and utilitarian (UT) scale developed by Voss,

Spangenberg and Grohmann (2003), 11 product categories were chosen from the studys 16

product category list1. These product categories were than pre-tested in a convenience sample of
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20 people from different ethnic groups (i.e., Japanese, Filipino, Chinese, Korean, Caucasians,

and Vietnamese). Based on the pre-test results, TV was chosen as the hedonic product, and

battery was chosen as the utilitarian product.

Brand Name. A strong brand name serves as an invaluable asset for any company (Aaker,

1990; Aaker and Keller, 1990). English and Japanese brand names were used to control

conclusions about and variations in the prior knowledge of each individual product. A pre-test

was conducted to gather ideas about brand names that are suitable for electronic products

(hedonic) that symbolize Japan or America and for everyday use products (utilitarian), such as

batteries. The use of fictitious brands in our ad stimuli was also intended to stimulate market

conditions and acknowledge previous research findings that suggest that new start-up brands

make inroads into an established consumer marketing by using a comparative advertising

campaign (Muehling, Laczniak, Ehrich, 2013; Gorn and Weinberg, 1984; Grewal et al., 1997).

Several studies in the field have used fictitious brand names with the intention of inhibiting any

base-level brand awareness, brand familiarity effect or prior attitudes among respondents that

1
The products identified have been used in prior studies (Batra and Ahtola, 1990;Crowley, Spangenbeg and
Hughes, 1992; Voss, Spengenberg and Grohmann, 2003)
 11

could produce profound effects for analysis (Wang, Shih and Peracchio, 2013; Beerli-Palacio

and Martin-Santana, 2015; Lieven, Grohmann, Hermann, Landwehr, and van Tilburg, 2014;

Henderson and Cote, 1998; Keller 1987). Furthermore, according to these studies, consumer

manipulation was not an issue when fictitious brands were used.

Development of print advertisements. Four A3-sized full page, color print advertisements

were created to correspond with each of the eight between-subject conditions (2[brand names:
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Japanese vs. American] x 2 [product types: Hedonic vs. Utilitarian]). Similar to Chattaraman et

al. (2010) and Ryu, Park and Feick (2006), each advertisement was designed to be identical in

terms of layout, graphics, and length to minimize extraneous variances in the result. Each brand

name was fictitious to reinforce ethnicity. The main promotional messages were presented

around the product picture as a description of the salient attributes of the product. The pictures of

the brand names were created with the regional origin (i.e., cultural cues).

Measures

The Cultural Identity scales were adapted from a study conducted by Suinn et al. (1992).

Felt ethnicity was measured based on an adaptation of the scale used by Yamada et al. (1998).

The scale for attitudes towards brands were adapted from studies conducted by Batra and Ahtola

(1991), Leclerc, Schmitt, and Dub (1994), and Voss, Spangenberg and Grohmann (2003),

which established their reliability and validity. The purchasing intention scales was developed

based on Batra and Ahtola (1991), Leclerc, Schmitt, and Dub (1994), and Voss, Spangenberg

and Grohmann (2003). The attitude scales were measured on a seven-point Likert scale

(1=dislike it very much; 1=like it very much). Purchasing intentions (1= not very likely to
 12

purchase; 7= very likely to purchase) and felt ethnicity are measured based on the bicultural

individuals behavior with regard to their interactions at informal gatherings with other ethnic

group members, interactions with close friends from the same ethnic group, and time spent

talking to members of the same ethnic group. These variables were measured on an ordinal scale

of (1) never to (5) always by the respondent. In this study, their level of acculturated status is

measured with their socialization preference and people whom they wish to associate. These
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variables are measured based on a nominal scale from (1) almost exclusively Asian, Asian-

American, or Oriental to (5) almost exclusively non-Asian ethnic groups (e.g., Caucasians,

African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or others) (Suinn et al., 1992). To assess content

validity, we pre-tested the survey online, prior to the main survey. The exploratory factor

analysis (EFA) was further used to validate the measurement items.

Sample and Experimental Procedure

One hundred and ninety-seven Japanese-Americans (> 18 years of age) participated in the

experiment in exchange for a gift. The experiment included a 2x2 design with a brand name

(Japanese vs. American) and the consumers ethnic identification (cultural identity vs. felt

ethnicity). The experimental session was conducted at a large public event, where face-to-face

contact occurred between the researcher and the subjects. There was no control group used. The

brand names are counterbalanced into four sets of stimuli (Japanese-American, American-

Japanese, American-American, and Japanese-Japanese). Each participant was randomly assigned

to one of the stimuli.

Data Analysis
 13

Prior to estimating the structural model, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with

oblique rotation was conducted to test for potential measurement problems. The result of the

EFA supports the scales uni-dimensionality and reliability. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO)

measure of sampling adequacy verified the sampling adequacy for the sample; the KMO result

was far above Kaisers (1974) minimum threshold of 0.5. The communalities after extraction

were all greater than the 0.60 threshold of average community required by Kaisers criterion.

Bartletts test of sphericity X2 (105)=2693.740, p<.001, indicating that the correlations between
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the items were sufficiently large for the EFAs principle component analysis (PCA). The PCA

generated theoretically meaningful components because each item loaded precisely onto its

proposed latent construct without any cross-loadings. All factor loadings were satisfactory,

reporting absolute values that range from 0.584 to 0.905.

The partial least squares (PLS) path modelling method (Hair et al., 2014) was applied

using Smart PLS3.0 software. PLS is latent variable modelling software and is a component-

based SEM technique. This method is chosen over a more common covariance-based SEM

technique, such as maximum likelihood, because of its robustness and due to fewer identification

issues, thus avoiding estimation problems of non-convergent results (Ayeh et al., 2013). In

addition, PLS has the advantage of working with smaller samples with less demand on

measurement scales (Ayeh et al., 2013; Lowry and Gaskin, 2014).

Results

The participants analyzed were limited to Japanese and Japanese-American bicultural

individuals. A total of 197 subjects were analyzed from among 245 bicultural individuals. The
 14

following table (Table 1) provides a breakdown of the frequencies of the participants ages and

length of residence in Hawaii:

---------------------Insert Table 1---------------------------

Most respondents (69.1%) were born in the United States as the offspring of first or

previous generation family members ( 2nd generation), whereas 25.4% were born outside the

United Stated but were raised in the US for most of their lives. Only 2.5% were not sure which
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generational category they fall into due to the lack of information.

Respondents who identified their ethnicity (self-reported) as Japanese represented 26.5%

of the respondents, whereas Japanese-Americans represented 53.9% of the respondents. Of the

total, 58.8% had attended school from when they were less than 5 years old.

---------------------Insert Table 2---------------------------

At the beginning of each experiment, the participants were provided with a questionnaire

which includes questions on felt ethnicity and demographic information. Once the first part of

the survey was completed, they were presented with two ads in the same sequence, one after

another (order of advertisements: 1) hedonic products, 2) utilitarian products). The participants

were told that the products advertised were designed by a newly founded retail company that was

introducing a new product to the Hawaiian market. After the participants finished examining the

first ad, they were asked to answer a list of questions pertaining to the ad they had just seen.

Once the session was over, the participants were debriefed, thanked, and given their gifts as

compensation.
 15

Manipulation Checks and Covariates

The manipulation checks for brand names were performed in the pre-testing stage. From

the pre-test results, we found that the brand names are representative of the country-of-origin. In

the current study, a manipulation check was performed to test whether the consumers age and

gender has an effect on their purchasing intentions of hedonic and utilitarian products. The

ANOVA results showed that the participants age and gender in terms of their purchasing
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intentions did not differ significantly across the two products. To confirm that the perceived

quality of the product types were as intended, a t-test was conducted that showed a significant

difference between the hedonic and utilitarian products (hedonic=4.17 versus utilitarian=3.92,

p<.01). According to the t-test, there is no difference in feelings towards the product and between

the bicultural CI group and bicultural FE group. These results indicate that there were no

confounding effects from subjects ethnic identity and their feelings towards the brand name.

Measurement Analysis

According to Hatcher (1994), the number of subjects should be at least 5 times larger

than the number of variables. The sample represented in this study fulfils the criteria for an

adequate sample size due to the total of 197 subjects and the total of 16 variables. To assess the

convergent validity, an analysis determined that each indicator loaded significantly on the

constructs they were intended to represent. As shown in Table 3, all of the constructs average

variance extracted (AVE) values are well above the minimum threshold of 0.50 (Bagozzi and Yi,

2012). All of the standardized loadings were above 0.50 (p<.001), demonstrating indicator

reliability (see Table 3). Similarly, the model constructs attained high Cronbachs alpha and
 16

composite reliability (p) values that were greater than 0.90, implying internal consistency. All of

the constructs exhibit discriminant validity (see Table 4). Discriminant validity is also measured

using the Heterotrait-Monotrait Ratio (HTMT) quality criteria. The maximum HTMT value was

0.90, which is at the threshold of 0.90 (Henseler, Ringle and Sarstedt, 2015).

--------------------------Insert Table 3, 4-----------------------

A complete bootstrapping procedure was also conducted to check the HTMT inference.
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The maximum HTMT value was 0.90, which is below the threshold of 1.0 (Henseler, Ringle and

Sarstedt, 2015). To check for a multi-collinearity problem, the variance inflation factor (VIF)

was calculated at 1.27, which is below the threshold of 5 (Hair, Ringle and Sarstedt, 2011), and

the tolerance level was above 0.2. These results show strong evidence for the reliability and

validity of construct measures. According to Hair et al. (2014), PLS-SEM does not assume that

the data are normally distributed. Thus, instead of using the Kolmogorow-Smirnow and Shapiro-

Wilki test, PLS-SEM uses a bootstrapping procedure to test the significance of the path

coefficient.

Evaluation of the Structural Model

The essential criterion in PLS path models for the assessment of the structural models is

the coefficient of determinations (R2) of the endogenous latent variables (Henseler, Ringle and

Sincovics, 2009). The percentages of the explained variance (R2 ) value for attitude, brand name

and purchasing intentions are 4, 6.5, and 64.2, respectively. Figure 2 displays the outcome of the

structural model test. In running the bootstrap analysis, we followed the procedure suggested by
 17

Hair et al. (2012). The nonparametric bootstrap analysis of 5000 subsamples and 197 cases

revealed the proposed relationships. All except H1a, 2a and 2b were significant.

-------------------Insert Figure 2--------------------

Table 5 displays the result of the hypotheses testing. Hypothesis 1a, which assumes that

there is a negative relationship between cultural identity and attitude, was marginally supported

(=-.011, t=1.80, p<.10). H1b proposes a direct positive relationship between felt ethnicity and
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attitude (=.159, t=1.98, p<.01), and the effect is significant (Cohen, 1990). H1b is supported.

H2, which proposed a direct relationship between attitude and purchasing intentions, was

significant (= .785, t=27.87, p<.01). Therefore, H2 is supported. H3a, which proposes that

cultural identity has a positive relationship with the product type, is supported (= .391, t=5.33,

p<.01). H3b, which proposes that felt ethnicity has a positive effect on product type (=-.041,

t=0.05, p>.05), was not supported.

-------------------Insert Table 5--------------------

A linear regression through SPSS was also conducted to verify the moderating effect of

product type on purchasing intentions via attitude (=--.148, p>.05). The product type did not

have a moderating effect on the relationship between attitude and purchasing intentions. Thus,

H4 was not supported.

Predictive Validity (Q2)

The Stone-Geissers Q2 test is the principle measure for the assessment of the predictive

relevance of the exogenous latent variables (Wong, 2013). The fundamental notion of this
 18

measure is that the model should be able to sufficiently predict each endogenous latent

constructs indicators (Hair, Ringle, and Sarstedt, 2011). This test was conducted through a

blindfolding procedure to estimate the cross-validated redundancy measures Q2. The omission

distance is represented by OD, which is suggested to be between 5 and 10 (Wong, 2013). The

results show that OD was 7, which is within the acceptable range. The resulting Q2 values greater

than zero indicate that the observed values are well reconstructed and that the exogenous
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constructs have predictive relevance for the endogenous construction under consideration,

whereas Q2 values less than zero suggest the contrary (Ayeh et al., 2013). All Q2 values are

significantly above zero, which is evident of the models predictive relevance (see Table 6).

-------------------Insert Table 6--------------------

Discussion

In this study, we examined the impact of a bicultural individuals self-identification (i.e.,

cultural identity and felt ethnicity) towards their attitude towards brand, in turn affecting their

purchasing intentions. The results of this experiment generally showed that product types are not

as important as language cues in advertising. The language of a brand name has a significant

impact in bicultural individuals attitudes towards brands.

In general, between the product types, Japanese brand names yielded more positive

responses in terms of attitude towards brand than the American brands did. Although product

type did not have a moderating effect on the relationship between the attitudes towards brand and

purchasing intention, it is interesting to see that bicultural individuals perceptions varied. Based

on their cultural identity, the earlier generation of Japanese-Americans preferred English brand
 19

names (M=4.33) over Japanese brand names (M=4.00) for hedonic products. Japanese-

Americans of later generations (3rd generation and beyond) preferred Japanese brands (M=4.54,

4.57) over English brands (M=3.23, 4.09) for hedonic products. For utilitarian products, later

generation Japanese-Americans preferred English brand names (M=4.09) over Japanese brand

names (M=4.00). This result is consistent with social identity theory and the cultural frame

switching theory-based expectation in the hypotheses. The results support the idea that
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consumers may perceive a Japanese sounding/appearing brand, which matches the ethnicity of

the subject, as a source that is susceptible to reporting bias (Eagly et al., 1978).

Upon closely examining the different product types, brand name did not appear to have

as strong of an effect for utilitarian products. This result is consistent with Leclerc, Schmitt, and

Dubes (1994) finding that utilitarian products are based on functionality and is consistent with

Feick and Higies (1992) theory that source similarity had a strong impact on preference-

heterogeneous products (i.e., hedonic) but not on preference-homogeneous products (i.e.,

utilitarian).

GENERAL DISCUSSION

There are a few key findings that emerged from this research. The results from this study

revealed that Hawaiis bicultural consumers felt more favorably towards Japanese brand names

than American brand names. Although in acculturation theories, it has been claimed that

Japanese-Americans are more westernized and have assimilated into the U.S. host culture, the

results showed that Japanese-Americans in Hawaii are rather different. For example, Japanese

brand name products were favored over English brand name products. The findings in this study

have implications for different possibilities of how bicultural individuals process information
 20

through different stimulants, such as product category and brand names (foreign vs. local). The

self-construal theory provides an explanation: individuals who hold Asian values are perceived

to be more interdependent in their decision-making processes. Thus, it was apparent in the results

that products with Japanese brand names, which are closely related to the subjects ethnicity, are

perceived to be more favorable.

As globalization takes place, cultural values and beliefs change over time and these
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changes happen when immigrants migrate to another country, especially to countries with the

opposite spectrum of the cultural values. However, despite the Western influences, the Japanese

culture which is inclined to show conformity and humility, is still prevalent in Hawaii. In Hawaii,

there is an apparent U shape trend in the Japanese cultural adaptation. As shown in the results,

first generation Japanese-Americans (i.e., foreign born) are more apt to adopt a new culture and

abandon their culture-of-origin, thus explaining their preference for English brand names over

Japanese brand names. On the contrary, the earlier generation of Japanese-Americans may yearn

to learn more about their ethnic origin, due to social influences, and therefore have a preference

for Japanese brand names.

Managerial Implications

A key component of this research is to understand the wide distribution of meanings and

the multiplicity of overlapping cultural groups that is evident in the current consumer market. To

understanding the complexity and uniqueness of bicultural individuals personalities and the

phenomenon of cultural frame switching, an interdisciplinary approach was adopted in this study.
 21

Cultural identity and felt ethnicity are key precursors to any consumption behavior and is

a market segmentation criterion that has not received much attention. As the world gradually

transitions into a multicultural environment, the presence of bicultural consumers is becoming

important for businesses to address, especially for any ethnically related marketing activities.

Differentiation, branding, and other advertising activities are marketing strategies that are based

on a good understanding of the peculiarities of a dual or multi-ethnic identity. In general, the

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findings in this study suggest that companies should utilize the consumers felt ethnicity to

positively impact bicultural consumers attitudes. The product-country associations and

bicultural individuals attitude towards advertising in top-of-mind type elicitation tasks constitute

a framework within which information processing and choice are most likely to take place. As a

consequence, manufacturers, designers and brand managers will want to ensure that the language

cues, attitudes and product types fit the reference frame.

Bicultural individuals identification has an impact on their attitudes toward brands,

which subsequently affects their purchasing intentions (Ajzen and Driver, 1992). Based on the

result, the relationship of felt ethnicity with product COO association was found to be strong in

hedonic products, implying that marketers should avoid universal COO-based promotion. Rather,

they should consider the ethnic background of the target market and identify whether their

product have an appeal that can be advantageous for the product. Furthermore, felt ethnicity may

interpret each associative cue such as the perceived country-of-origin, its historical place of

production, or the manufacturing headquarters differently. In contrast, COO-based promotion is

generally less effective for utilitarian products. Thus, there is no need for different COO-based

strategies that can vary across the ethnic backgrounds of a target market. This may also suggest
 22

that marketers can focus on the value of the product because bicultural individuals may value

purchase intention over cognitive-affective attitudes.

Second, the result suggests that when developing advertisements, advertising managers

should take into account the effect of language characters and their target audiences ethnicity.

Usunier and Cestre (2007) stated that the branding of a key ingredient develops a congruency

between the origin inferred by the consumers and the actual product origin. They argue that
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brand names can evoke the origin through linguistic inference (p. 64). Thus, marketers should

not just concentrate on one component of an advertisement design (e.g., images); rather, the goal

should include all potential factors that can affect the effectiveness of an ad. More emphasis

should be placed on the name given to a particular brand when designing a hedonic product ad.

Based on the results, felt ethnicity did not have an impact on the type of product type promoted;

rather, cultural identity had a strong impact on the type of product being promoted. As the

willingness to purchase is related to the congruence between felt ethnicity and COO, marketers

should begin assessing the target market for which a specific product type is being developed.

LIMITATIONS AND FURTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS

This study is one of a few that has been conducted on bicultural individuals in a culture

other than a minority ethnic group setting. One of the limitations was that Japanese characters

were used to represent Japanese products, and English letters were used to represent American

products. It is possible that the changes in the language may have yielded different results. The

differences are likely to be the main effects because consumers are bound to have different

schemas towards ethnic groups and symbolic brand names across different cultures.
 23

Second, a different group of bicultural individuals (i.e., westernized individuals), for

example, Singapore-Chinese individuals, would probably vary in their preference towards

symbolic brand names and social surroundings (i.e., gift recipients) due to their mixture of

Eastern and Western culture. In addition, a brand name that is localized may be used to check

whether these consumers react differently depending on their felt ethnicity and cultural identity.

Finally, this article focuses primarily on the persuasion effects of brand name advertising;
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thus, the message strength, brand attitude and purchasing intentions were used. Future research

should examine other dimensions of consumer responses, such as attention-grabbing strategies.

Prior research has also shown that depending on the communication medium, the subjects

memory of the messages differs. There has also been increasing emphasis on creating positive

images of brands and identity as part of advertising strategies. For instance, marketers may

choose to use endorsements (e.g., from celebrities and athletes) to generate images of

sophistication, power or nationalism.

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 Table 1. Sample Characteristics of Respondents

Japanese Japanese-American Total

Demographics Items n % n % n %
Gender
Male 24 36.9 51 38.6 65
Female 41 63.1 81 61.4 122
100
Age
18-25 5 7.7 10 7.6 15
26-33 15 23.1 18 13.6 33
34-41 10 15.4 31 23.5 41
42-49 16 24.6 32 24.2 48
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50 and above 19 29.2 41 31.1 60

100
Arriving Age (n=)
Born here 17 26.2 117 88.6 134
Less than 5 Years 4 6.2 5 3.8 9
6-10 years 2 3.1 1 .8 3
11-15 years 0 0 0 0 0
16-20 years 7 10.8 4 3.0 11
21 years and above 35 53.8 5 3.8 40 100

Years Spent in
School
None at all 23 35.4 0 0 23 35.4
Less than 5 yeas 16 24.6 7 5.3 23 29.9
6-10 years 2 3.1 5 3.8 7 6.9
11-15 years 3 4.6 16 12.1 19 16.7
16-20 years 5 7.7 37 28 42 35.7
21 years and above 16 24.6 67 50.8 83 75.4

197 100
 Table 2. Sample Behavioral Characteristics of Respondents

Japanese Japanese-American Total

Exposure to Media n % n % n %
Listening to Ethnic
Music
Never 9 13.8 37 28 46 41.8
A little 6 9.2 38 28.8 44 38
Sometimes 5 7.7 27 20.5 32 28.2
Half-time 10 15.4 16 12.3 26 27.7
Often 8 12.3 10 7.6 18 19.9
Very Often 12 18.5 2 1.5 14 20
Always 15 23.1 2 1.5 17 24.6
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100
Watching Ethnic TV
program
Never 3 4.6 8 6.1 11 10.7
A little 8 12.3 29 22 37 34.3
Sometimes 9 13.8 42 31.8 51 45.6
Half-time 5 7.7 18 13.6 23 21.3
Often 10 15.4 20 15.2 30 30.6
Very Often 11 16.9 12 9.1 23 26
Always 19 29.2 3 2.3 22 31.5

Watching Ethnic 100

Movies
Never 4 6.2 13 9.8 17
A little 9 13.8 37 28 46 16
Sometimes 9 13.8 29 22 38 41.8
Half-time 9 13.8 20 15.2 29 35.8
Often 12 18.5 21 15.9 33 29
Very Often 7 10.8 9 6.8 16 34.4
Always 15 23.1 3 2.3 18 17.6
25.4

197 100
 Table 3. Factor Loadings for individual items.

Construct Item Loading Cronbach Composite AVE VIF

s alpha Reliability
Cultural Preference to 0.96 .82 .91 .62 1.16
Identity associate with people
of the same ethnic
background
Association with 0.63
others when adult
Acculturation 0.87
Felt Social Interaction 0.88 .87 .92 .80 1.16
ethnicity
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Interaction with close 0.90

friends
Informal Interaction 0.91
Attitude Feelings towards 0.96 .85 .85 .65 1.06
towards utilitarian product
brand name
Feelings towards 0.96
hedonic product
Perceived quality of 0.84
utilitarian product
Perceived quality of 0.53
hedonic product
Purchasing Utilitarian product- 0.76 .88 .91 .62 1.09
Intentions Purchasing intentions
for self
Utilitarian product- 0.78
Purchasing intentions
for co-workers
Utilitarian product- 0.85
Purchasing intentions
for family
Hedonic product- 0.76
Purchasing intentions
for self
Hedonic product- 0.75
Purchasing intentions
for co-worker
Hedonic product- 0.82
Purchasing intentions
for family
 Table 4. Inter-Construct Correlations and the Square Root of AVE

Attitude Cultural Felt Ethnicity Product Type Purchasing

Identity Intentions
Attitude (0.805)
Cultural -0.102 (0.848)
Identity
Felt Ethnicity 0.173 -0.441 (0.893)
Product Type 0.019 0.407 -0.121 (1)
Purchasing 0.792 -0.144 0.194 -0.076 (0.789)
Intentions
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 Table 5. Results of Hypothesis testing.
Hypotheses Path t-value Supported?
Coefficient
Hypothesis 1a Cultural Identity Attitude -.011* 1.80 Yes
Hypothesis 1b Felt Ethnicity Attitude .159*** 1.98 Yes
Hypothesis 2 Attitude Purchasing Intentions .785*** 27.87 Yes
Hypothesis 3a Cultural Identity Product Type .391*** 5.33 Yes
Hypothesis 3b Felt Ethnicity Product Type -.041 0.05 No
Hypothesis 4 Moderating effect of product type -.148 -1.02 No
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Table 6. The Prediction Relevance (Q2) Test.

Endogenous SSO SSE Q2

Construct
Attitude 732 721.154 0.291
Product Type 244 206.976 0.152
Purchasing Intention 1464 906.583 0.460
 Figure 1. Conceptual Research Framework

Cultural H1a Attitude

H2 Purchasing
Identity towards brand
Intentions
name
H4
H1b H3a
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Product Type
Felt Ethnicity (Hedonic vs.
Utilitarian)
H3b
 2

Figure 2. Research Framework

Cultural .011* Attitude 0.785*** Purchasing

Identity towards brand Intentions
name
.391***
-.148
.159***
Felt Ethnicity Product Type
(Hedonic vs.
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.
-.041 Utilitarian)