The Relationship Between Independent and Interdependent Self-Concepts and Reasons for Purchase

Abstract

SUMMARY This article applies theory from cross-cultural psychology to identify several factors that are related to a consumer's reasons for planned and impulsive purchase decisions. At the country level, this study found that people from more collectivist countries (Malaysia and Singapore) had more strongly correlated independent and interdependent self-concepts than people from more individualist countries (USA and Australia). At the individual level, across all countries, a person's independent self-concept was positively related to purchase reasons associated with uniqueness, but not with group affiliation. In contrast, a person's interdependent self-concept was positively related to purchase reasons that depicted group affiliation and, to a lesser extent, uniqueness.