Intercultural consumer research: linking ethnosemiotics and online market research

Olaf Hofmann and Markus Paul

The paper summarises problems of intercultural marketing research in terms of the emic-etic distinction well known in cross-cultural research.

Intercultural consumer research: linking ethnosemiotics and online market research

Olaf Hofmann and Markus PaulSKOPOS Institute for Market and Communications Research, Germany

INTRODUCTION

The paper summarises problems of intercultural marketing research in terms of the emic – etic distinction well known in cross-cultural research. Examples show the importance of starting cross-cultural marketing research from the native consumer's world view: cultural symbols and their meanings in context determine how consumers cognitively organise and act in markets and how they perceive and talk about products and brands.

Data of a multi-stage paradigm exemplify how to avoid problems of intercultural research...

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