Relationship between the personal values and shopping orientation of Chinese consumers

As the market of Greater China is becoming increasingly important for multinationals, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the personal values and shopping orientation of working adults in Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong.

The total sample of 454 included adult working Chinese from Shanghai, Taipei, and Hong Kong. Factor analysis was performed to identify separately the shopping orientations and dimensions of the personal values of the subjects. ANOVA analysis was then used to examine the differences among the subjects in terms of their shopping orientation and personal values. Lastly, correlation analysis was used to examine the relationships between dimensions of personal values and shopping orientations.

As expected, the results showed that Chinese consumers in Greater China shared similar personal values, but differences were found in their shopping orientation. Significant relationships were found between dimensions of personal values and the eight shopping orientations. Among the dimensions of personal values, self‐actualization played a major role in six of the eight shopping orientations, with shopping gender roles and economic shopping being the exceptions. Personalized shopping, advertised specials, and shopping for self‐satisfaction were found to be the three major shopping orientations that were closely related to personal values. Shopping gender roles and economic shopping were found to be unrelated to any personal values as they reflect individual short‐term goals rather than long‐term values.

The Shanghai data were collected using judgment sampling as there are regulations that restrict the distribution of questionnaires in public streets in mainland China, whereas the Taipei and Hong Kong data were collected using random sampling. Different collection methods in the sampling process may have led to a problem regarding the representativeness of the sample.

Among the dimensions of personal values, self‐actualization played a major role in shopping orientation. The self‐actualization needs of consumers could be achieved through smart shopping and bargain hunting, but also through personalized shopping and shopping satisfaction. Because consumer shopping satisfaction is generally not high in Greater China, improvements could be made to enhance shopping satisfaction by providing a shopping environment that enables consumers to demonstrate their intellectual thinking and that meets their self‐actualization needs. Personalized shopping is also important for Chinese consumers who prefer closer personal relationships with salespersons.

Various studies have focused on the classification of the shopping orientations of consumers from different perspectives, but few studies have investigated the influence of personal values on shopping orientation, especially in the Greater China market.