Abstract:

Culturally mixed products (CMPs) refer to products embodying components from two or more cultures. These products can be categorized into two distinct categories: intrusive and integrated, depending on the extent of intrusion between the embedded cultures. The present research focuses on integrated CMPs, which are more prevalent than intrusive CMPs in everyday life. Considerable research has examined what factors influence consumer responses to integrated CMPs. This research expands the existing literature by introducing social identity conflict as a contextual factor that may enhance consumer preference for such products. We posit that social identity conflict poses a threat to the self, leading to the activation of a self-verification motivation. Integrated CMPs embody different cultures with conflicting elements, so consumers with conflicting social identities tend to perceive these products as congruent with themselves and thereby helpful for self-verification. As a result, they will show a higher preference for integrated CMPs when experiencing social identify conflict than not. Based on this theorization, we further posit that the positive influence of social identity conflict on preference for integrated CMPs will be attenuated when consumers acquire products for functional rather than symbolic purposes, and when they purchase products for others rather than for themselves.

We conducted six studies to test our hypotheses. Study 1a assessed participants' chronic experiences of social identity conflict and their preferences for an integrated CMP or a regular product, with product type as the between-subjects factor. Study 1b manipulated participants' social identity conflict and asked them to choose between an integrated CMP and a regular product. Study 2a was similar to study 1b in the stimuli, measurement and procedure, except for three revisions. First, we added an identity-synergy condition to rule out the focus on the relationships between social identities as an alternative explanation for the focal effect. Second, we used the same stimuli as in study 1b, but asked participants to rate their preferences rather than make a choice regarding the two products. Third, we measured participants’ negative emotions, cognitive flexibility, novelty-seeking, and self-concept clarity, as well as perceived product value in self-verification to investigate the underlying process. Study 2b sought further evidence for the underlying process using a 2 (social identity conflict: activated vs. not) × 2 (alternative means to self-verification: provided vs. not) between-subjects design. For participants provided with an alternative means to self-verification, they were asked to recall and write down a person who could accept their conflicting social identities. Studies 3 and 4 employed a 2 × 2 between-subjects design to examine the moderating effect of purchase goal and purchase recipient, respectively.

Confirming our hypothesis, study 1 demonstrated a positive relationship between social identity conflict and preference for integrated CMPs. Specifically, study 1a revealed a significant social identity conflict × product type interaction on consumer preference (B = 0.28, SE = 0.13; t(296) = 2.23, p = 0.027, Cohen's d = 0.26). As predicted, social identity conflict heightened the preference for the integrated CMP (index = 0.28, 95% CI = 0.1015 ~ 0.4638, Cohen's d = 0.37), but had no effect on the preference for the regular product (index = -0.002, 95% CI = -0.1756 ~ 0.1720). Study 1b confirmed the causality of the proposed relationship by showing that manipulated social identity conflict increased the likelihood of choosing the integrated CMP (45.6% vs. 32.8%; χ² (1) = 4.30, p = 0.038, φ = 0.13).

Study 2 corroborated self-verification as the underlying mechanism. Specifically, study 2a showed significant differences among the three conditions (F(2, 397) = 3.75, p = 0.024, η² = 0.01), with those in the identity-conflict condition (M = 4.61, SD = 2.15) showing a higher preference for the integrated CMP than those in the control condition (M = 3.92, SD = 2.25, p =0.010) and those in the identity-synergy condition (M = 4.07, SD = 2.11, p = 0.042). The mediation process analyses further confirmed that the effect of social identity conflict (vs. control) on preference for the integrated CMP was mediated by perceived value of the product in self-verification (index = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.1595 ~ 1.0138), but not by participants’ negative emotions, cognitive flexibility, novelty-seeking or self-concept clarity (see Figure 1).

Study 2b showed a significant interaction between social identity conflict and alternative means to self-verification, F(1, 570) = 8.22, p = 0.004, η² = 0.01; see Figure 2. When the alternative means to self-verification were not provided, the focal effect was replicated such that participants in the social identity conflict condition indicated a greater preference for the integrated CMP (M = 4.38, SD = 2.22) than those in the control condition (M = 3.85, SD = 2.23), F (1, 570) = 4.13, p = 0.043, η² = 0.01. When the alternative means to self-verification was provided, however, the effect was reversed (M_conflict = 3.74, SD_conflict = 2.20; M_control = 4.27, SD_control = 2.27), F(1, 570) = 4.09, p = 0.044, η² = 0.01. These results provide further evidence for self-verification as the underlying process of the focal effect.

Study 3 corroborated the moderating effect of purchase goal by revealing a significant interaction between social identity conflict and purchase goal, F(1, 296) = 8.54, p = 0.004, η² = 0.03. As shown in Figure 3, participants in the social identity conflict condition preferred the integrated CMP (M = 2.84, SD = 1.93) more than those in the control condition (M = 2.28, SD = 1.40; F (1, 296) = 3.98, p = 0.047, η² = 0.01) when they bought products for symbolic purposes. However, this effect was flipped when participants bought products for functional purposes (M_conflict = 2.25, SD_conflict = 1.59; M_control = 2.85, SD_control = 1.91), F(1, 296) = 4.57, p = 0.033, η² = 0.02. The moderated mediation process analyses further confirmed perceived product value in self-verification as the underlying process to account for the moderation effect (for the symbolic-purchase condition, index = 0.78, 95% CI = 0.3015 ~ 1.3042; for the functional-purchase condition, index = −0.58, 95% CI = −1.0410 ~ −0.1077).

Study 4 demonstrated the moderating role of purchase recipients in the focal effect (B = -0.72, SE =0.37, Z = -1.98, p =0.048). We found that participants in the social identity conflict condition were more likely to choose the integrated CMP (P = 60.2%) than those in the control condition (P = 43.1%; β = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.1828 ~ 1.1981) when they purchased the product for themselves. However, this effect disappeared when they purchased the product for others (P_conflict =49.6%, P_control =50.4%; β =−0.03, 95% CI = −0.5374 ~ 0.4712).

Our research contributes to the CMP literature by recognizing a novel antecedent of consumer preference for integrated CMPs and elucidating the role of self-verification in this relationship. More broadly, this research advances the knowledge of how social identity conflicts shape consumer behavior. In practical terms, our findings provide managers with actionable suggestions on how to market integrated CMPs.

Key words: social identity conflict, integrated culture mixing, self-verification, purchase goal, purchase recipient