Cultural Factors affecting Consumer Behaviour

UNIT 1-SESSION 3 & 4

WHAT IS CULTURE?

• 1. Given the broad and pervasive nature of culture, its study generally requires a detailed
examination of the character of the total society, including such factors as language, knowledge,
laws, religions, food customs, music, art, technology, work patterns, products, and other artifacts
that give a society its distinctive flavor.

• 2. In a sense, culture is a society’s personality. For this reason, it is not easy to define its
boundaries.

• 3. Culture is the sum total of learned beliefs, values, and customs that serve to direct the
consumer behavior of members of a particular society.
TYPES OF CULTURE

• 1. Material Culture
• 2. Non-material culture
• 3. Corporate culture
• 4. Culture of diversity
• 5. Popular culture
• 6. Foreign culture
CHARACTERISTICS OF CULTURE

• 1. Culture is abstract
• 2. Culture is learned behaviour
• 3. Culture includes values and attitude
• 4. Culture is shared
• 5. Culture includes material objects
• 6. Culture is pervasive
• 7. Culture is idealistic
• 8. Culture is transmissive
• 9. Culture is transmitted
• 10. Culture varies from society to society
• 11. Culture is continually changing
• 12. Culture takes the help of language
ELEMENTS OF CULTURE

• 1. Languages
• 2. Symbols
• 3. Norms
• 4. Values
• 5. Customs
• 6. Attitude
• 7. Rituals
• 8. Physical artefacts
• 9. Unique metaphors and jargons
• 10. Shared beliefs
• 11. Behavioral norms
FUNCTIONS OF CULTURE
The various functions of culture are as follows-

∙ Culture creates a viable distinction between two organizations

∙ The culture encourages commitment to the workplace

∙ Culture boosts the stability of a social system

∙ Culture provides the employees with appropriate standards of behaviour and attitude in the organization

∙ Culture provides a distinctive identity for the employees working in an organization

∙ Culture defines goals, values and attitude

What are Cultural Factors ?
What is Subculture

• Cultural factors comprise of set of values and ideologies of a particular

community or group of individuals. It is the culture of an individual which
decides the way he/she behaves. In simpler words, culture is nothing but values
of an individual. What an individual learns from his parents and relatives as a
child becomes his culture.
• Each culture further comprises of various subcultures such as religion, age,
geographical location, gender (male/female), status etc.