The Effects of Cultural Individualism and Self-Confidence on Propensity to Voice: From Theory to Measurement to Practice

Abstract

This article examines the effects of cultural individualism on consumers’ propensity to voice and the mediating effects of self-confidence. The authors explore these relationships in the United States and South Korea to assess whether a consumer's culture, measured as an individual difference variable, is as an explanatory variable for propensity to voice in the context of dissatisfactory marketplace experiences. They find that individualism has a positive effect on propensity to voice at the pancountry and intracountry levels and that self-confidence fully mediates the relationship between individualism and propensity to voice. The results have important implications for understanding consumer complaining behavior for organizations that serve culturally diverse consumer groups.