ESSAYS ON CULTURE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Culture refers to a set of shared beliefs, values, and norms within a group. Broadly, culture also encompasses phenomenon that are emerging or prevalent in society. Given that cultural factors are powerful elements that can shape how individuals think, feel, and behave, it is important to understand how culture shapes consumer behaviors. At the same time, with society evolving rapidly, it is crucial to understand how consumers react to rising cultural phenomenon, as well as the implications of social phenomenon for consumers. In this dissertation, I present three essays exploring the role of culture in influencing consumer behavior. In the first research project focusing on consumers within the US, I examine the relationship between political ideology and the propensity to engage in price negotiations. Through studies that involve analysis of real-world real estate transaction data, analysis of Google Trends data, and pre-registered lab studies, I show that conservatives are more inclined to engage in price negotiations than their liberal counterparts. This is because conservatives, relative to liberals, endorse free-market principals more strongly and can more easily justify the righteousness of participating in zero-sum price negotiations. In the second project that takes a global perspective, I present evidence two archival analyses and six pre-registered lab studies to identify interdependent self-construal as a cultural factor that contributes to cultural heterogeneity in consumers’ willingness to adopt products that highlight their incorporations of artificial intelligence (i.e., AI-branded products). This is because individuals higher on interdependent self-construal are more sensitive to AI-branded products’ benefits pertaining to enhance and maintain one’s social image and status. Relative to less interdependent individuals, who primarily evaluate AI-branded products’ functional benefits, more interdependent individuals evaluate both functional and social approval benefits, thus demonstrating a greater propensity to adopt AI-branded products. Finally, the third essay focuses on the consumption culture to understand consumption’s impact on consumer well-being. With a systematic review of consumption happiness research and a large-sample pre-registered study, I propose a new research framework that can more systematically capture consumption’s implications for consumer welfare.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D., Management

Level thesis:degree_level

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Management

Grantor

Cornell University

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Pan, Archer

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Woolley, Kaitlin
• van Osselaer, Stijn
• Fath, Sean

Language dc:language.iso

en

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7298/pdj4-yv75

Dc Identifier Other

ProQuest Submission ID: 14928
ProQuest Publication ID: 31998992

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ecommons.cornell.edu:1813/117616