CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR ASSIGNMENT

TOPIC: IMPACT OF CULTURE SHOCK ON THE

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR

GROUP 4
SHAMBHAVI MAITRAYEE – 18020942046
KRITI KHANDELWAL – 18020942054
DIBYASHREE MUSTAUFI – 18020942070
DEEPAK BISHARWAL – 18020942072
SOMALI KASALE - 18020942078

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S.NO PARTICULARS PAGE NO

1. INTRODUCTION 3-4

2. RESEARCH 5
METHODOLOGY

3. OBJECTIVES OF THE 6
STUDY

4. ANALYSIS 7-9

5. INTERPRETATION 10

6. FINDINGS 11-15

7. CONCLUSION 16-17

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INTRODUCTION
Culture shock is an experience a person may have when one moves to a cultural
environment which is different from one's own; it is also the personal
disorientation a person may feel when experiencing an unfamiliar way of life due
to immigration or a visit to a new country, a move between social environments, or
simply transition to another type of life. One of the most common causes of culture
shock involves individuals in a foreign environment. Culture shock can be
described as consisting of at least one of four distinct phases. The four different
phases are:

 Honeymoon
 Disorientation
 Irritability and hostility
 Adjustment and integration
 Biculturality

1. Honeymoon: During this period, the differences between the old and
new culture are seen in a romantic light. For example, in moving to a
new country, an individual might love the new food, the pace of life,
and the locals' habits. During the first few weeks, most people are
fascinated by the new culture. They associate with nationals who
speak their language, and who are polite to the foreigners. Like
most honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends.

2. Disorientation: This stage involves disintegration of almost

everything familiar. The individual is overwhelmed by the
requirements of the new culture and bombarded by stimuli in the new
environment. One feels disoriented and experiences selfblame and a
sense of personal inadequacy.

3. Irritability and hostility: During this phase, you’re noticing

differences, even slight differences, and typically not in a good way.
You don’t like people’s attitudes; you have had enough of the food

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 and just want mom’s home cooking. During this phase, a person often
feels anxious, angry, sad, and/or irritable.

4. Adjustment and integration: Essentially, during this phase you

decide whether you will succumb to negativity or negotiate past it to
make the most of your experience. If you’re successful, you regain
your sense of perspective, balance, and humor, and move on to the
next phase.

5. Biculturality : You feel more at home with the differences in the

new culture. Depending on how big a change a person has
experienced. The person doesn’t have to be in love with the new
country (as in the honeymoon phase), but they can navigate it without
unwarranted anxiety, negativity, and criticism.

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OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
1. TO STUDY HOW CULTURE SHOCK ACTUALLY IMPACTED
CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR
2. ANALYSE THE RELATION BETWEEN THE AGE/GENDER OF THE
RESPONDENTS AND THEM RESTRICTING THEIR BEHAVIOUR TO
PREVIOUS CULTURE.
3. OBSERVE THE RELATION BETWEEN THE AGE/GENDER OF THE
RESPONDENTS AND THEM BEING COMFORTABLE IN FURTHER
RELOCATION.

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RESEARCH METHODLOGY
Primary Data-

The primary data will be gathered by using survey Method of various

service industries authorities’ students and through distribution of
questionnaires to various people who have been through the impact of
the cultural shock.

Sample Plan

Sample size is 200 respondents working in Aviation Industries,

Automobile industries, hospitality Industries, Real estate, IT and
financial institutions. Here the higher authorities (Top level and
Middle level Managers) of service industries and students become the
population.

Mode of Data collection.

The data will be collected through Questionnaires. The questionnaire

has been prepared accordingly by which the data from different
People who have been re-located are taken into consideration.

For the research, we prepared a questionnaire asking for general information

about the participants: their name, age, nationality, how long they have been in
India or, whether they have been abroad before and its number of relocations.

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ANALYSIS
1. Correlation between the age of the respondent and if they are comfortable in
further relocation

Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation N
2. Age 1.72 .998 203
10. Are you 1.69 .859 203
comfortable in
further relocation
2w

Correlations
10. Are you
comfortabl
e in further
relocation
2. Age 2w
2. Age Pearson 1 .177*
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .012
N 203 203
*
10. Are you Pearson .177 1
comfortable in Correlation
further relocation Sig. (2-tailed) .012
2w N 203 203
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Yes No Maybe
15-25 79 13 25
26-35 21 12 13
36-45 4 6 10
Above
45 11 4 5

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 2. Correlation between age of the respondents and them restricting themselves
when it comes to adapting

Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation N
2. Age 1.72 .998 203
7. Did you restrict 2.00 .649 203
yourself to buying
products that match
your previous culture

Correlations
7. Did you
restrict
yourself to
buying
products
that match
your
previous
2. Age culture
2. Age Pearson 1 -.002
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .976
N 203 203
7. Did you restrict Pearson -.002 1
yourself to buying Correlation
products that match Sig. (2-tailed) .976
your previous culture N 203 203

Yes No Maybe
15-25 25 68 24
26-35 9 29 8
36-45 3 11 6
Above
45 6 10 4
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 3. Correlation Between gender of the respondents and them being comfortable
in further relocation

Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation N
1. Gender 1.54 .500 203
10. Are you 1.69 .859 203
comfortable in
further relocation
2w

Correlations
10. Are you
comfortabl
e in further
1. relocation
Gender 2w
1. Gender Pearson 1 .073
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .304
N 203 203
10. Are you Pearson .073 1
comfortable in Correlation
further relocation Sig. (2-tailed) .304
2w N 203 203

Male Female
Yes 15 28
No 55 63
Maybe 24 18
Total 94 109

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 4. Correlation between gender of the respondent and them restricting
themselves when it comes to adapting

Descriptive Statistics
Std.
Mean Deviation N
1. Gender 1.54 .500 203
7. Did you restrict 2.00 .649 203
yourself to buying
products that match
your previous culture

Correlations
7. Did you
restrict
yourself to
buying
products
that match
your
1. previous
Gender culture
1. Gender Pearson 1 -.144*
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .040
N 203 203
*
7. Did you restrict Pearson -.144 1
yourself to buying Correlation
products that match Sig. (2-tailed) .040
your previous culture N 203 203
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Male Female
Yes 56 59
No 17 18
Maybe 21 32
Total 94 109
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INTERPRETATION
 According to our analysis for reallocation mean stands at 1.72 and standard
deviation was .998 as per the responses of 200 people, which is quite
strong.
 As per the analysis of age of respondents and adaptability maximum people
aged below 25 were comfortable in adapting themselves for reallocation.
 Correlation between gender and restricting themselves from adapting was,
that it was high for female as compared to male.

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FINDINGS:
We, for our survey on impact of culture shock got a total of 203 responses.

1.) Out of these 203 responses, 53.7% i.e... 110 respondents were females and
rest 93 were males.

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2.) The age group from which we got most of our responses were 15-25 and 26-35
with maximum responses being from the former.

3.) Out of the total responses, 52.2%i.e... 106 respondents were students followed
by the next highest being private employees (40 respondents).

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4.) In our survey, we found out that 77.3%i.e... 157 of our respondents had
relocated.

5.) The major reason for relocation was for education (51.7%i.e... 105) followed by
employment (26.6%i.e... 54).

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7.) Most of our respondents (58.1%i.e... 118) were of the opinion that they did not
restrict themselves to buying products matching their previous culture, with
21.2%i.e... 43 respondents being ambivalent.

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8.) Out of the 176 respondents, majority of the respondent which is 59.1% (104)
were of the opinion that they had no issues with purchasing the products which
match the new culture which they are a part of now.

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10.) Out of the 203 respondents, 56.7%i.e... 115, now feel that they would be
comfortable if they happen to further relocate with 17.2%i.e...35 of the respondents
are of the opinion that they would rather not relocate further while 26.1%i.e...53
respondents being ambivalent.

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CONCLUSION
Culture Shock is the concept which does not affect only common man. It is also
applicable to expert professionals and organisations. There is a strong need to find
some technical and scientific approach to reduce the effect of culture shock on
psychological and physiological aspect of human to balance two different cultures.

Culture shock could create a serious problem for a new comer to a foreign place.
Culture could be learned and adapted easily with open mind while prepare to adjust
the behaviour to match the new culture to avoid the culture shock mainly aimed to
understand and explore the phenomenon of culture shock amongst expatriates on
assignments abroad. It talked about many things that are associated with culture
shock and highlighted the causes and effects of this phenomenon. The dissertation
focused at first on the literature based on culture shock and its stages and
influences. It explored the facts and highlighted the already conducted
research and its results of the studies on culture shock. The dissertation then
explored the psychological, emotional and other aspects of culture shock
through qualitative research conducted in the form of survey conducted
amongst expatriates. This research involved participation from various kind of
people around the nation , who gave their accounts of experiences.

Personality variables such as self-confidence and assertiveness have been noted in

the adjustment to the culture. Self-efficacy, including academic and social self-
efficacy, has not been sufficiently researched in respect to Indian students’
adaptation process. Language barriers have been repeatedly reported to influence
cultural adjustment.

Culture shock is a widely spread phenomenon in today’s extremely mobile world;

every year millions of people travel to different countries and might face totally
different cultures. Not all of them are capable of successfully handling the awaiting
cultural differences and end up with culture shock. It is a prominent issue
in academic world too because with the programs such as thousands of students’
study in a different university for a term or more. In this limited time students may
have to face culture shock causing their academic success to decrease. Therefore, it
is essential to minimize the negative effects of facing a different culture by taking
precautions. In this study we tried to see that whether being informed about the

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host culture affects the feelings of the student in a positive direction however, we
found no correlation. We believe that more research is necessary to have are liable
result as limitations affected our results

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