Global consumer tendencies

A great deal of the international consumer behavior and market segmentation literature has focused on the most effective means by which consumers in m ultiple markets can be understood and those markets organized for successfu l operations. One of the assumptions in much of this literature is the exis tence, and increasing influence, of global consumers whose social and cultu ral differences are overshadowed by their similarities in terms of psycholo gical consumer tendencies. Unfortunately these global consumers' tendencies are generally shown to exist through anecdotal or surrogate evidence. Virt ually no direct empirical support that demonstrates the existence of such a phenomenon has been produced. The purpose of this study was to explore the notion that consumers around the globe are becoming more similar in terms of psychological consumer tendencies. The results show that, across several generally accepted psychological consumer tendencies, there may be empiric al evidence to support the existence of global consumers. (C) 2001 John Wil ey & Sons, Inc.