1.1.3. Cultural differences

According to Zhou et al. (2002) culture represents a shared set of values that influence societal perceptions, attitudes, preferences, and responses and that people are deeply influenced by the cultural values and norms they hold and these influence consumers buying patterns (Park and Jun, 2003). According to Hofstede’s culture model, cultural differences are categorized into five dimensions; power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation (Hofstede, 1984; Hofstede, 1991) which lead to different shopping behaviours. Kim et al. (1998) classified culture as the western culture which is individualistic and low context and comprises of such countries as USA, UK and New Zealand; and an oriental culture which is collective and high context and comprises of such countries as China and Hong Kong. The difference in the individualism-collectivism dimension can lead to different shopping orientations for example those customers from an individualistic culture are likely to use the internet for e-commerce (Park & Jun, 2003). However, not much research has been done in New Zealand to compare the buying patterns of its citizens with those buying patterns from New Zealand immigrants.