A Factor Analytic Comparison of U.S. and German Information Seekers

Separate two-level factor analyses were performed upon data from large samples of subscribers to product testing magazines in the U.S. and Germany. Cross cultural comparisons show strong similarities of patterns in attitudes and behavior with regard to the purchase process and market environment. Differences seem mostly related to importance of brand name and advertising in the U.S. and the tendency of the Germans to include more variables in factors overall-perhaps linked to traditional German thoroughness. One interesting issue in research on consumers is the extent to which conclusions and implications extend beyond national and cultural boundaries. It is clear that there are significant cross-national differ-ences in consumer behavior, even among nations with similar heritage and at comparable stages of economic development (Sommers and Kernan, 1967; Green and Langeard, 1975; Hall, 1960). There is also ample evidence that some patterns of similarity exist which are too obvious and too potentially valuable to be ig-nored (Hempel, 1974; Ehrenberg and Goodhardt, 1968; Elinder, 1965; Fatt, 1967). From both the stand-point of efficiency in research effort by investigators and effectiveness in strategy formation by multi-national firms, it would be helpful to know more about which behavior and attitudes change at na-tional-cultural boundaries, and which remain rela-tively constant (Buzzell, 1968). The growing research literature in the cross-cultural area seems mostly to deal with selecting typical samples from the countries or cultures of interest, identifying useful similarities and differ-ences in behavior, attributes, and attitudes between samples, and drawing inferences about the country populations as a whole (Green and Langeard, 1975;