Reflections on the Meaning and Structure of the Horizontal/Vertical DistinctionMEANING AND STRUCTURESH VITT, ZHANG, TORELLI, LALWANI

implications of the horizontal/vertical distinction described in our article (Shavitt, Lalwani, Zhang, & Torelli, 2006) in a number of interesting directions. We join these authors in calling for further research on horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism constructs. We also highlight conceptual and structural issues that remain to be resolved and evaluate priming and other operational approaches to the study of horizontal and vertical individualism and col-lectivism. We have argued for the importance of distinguishing between horizontal and vertical cultural values in understanding the role of culture in consumer psychology (Shavitt, Lalwani, Zhang, & Torelli, 2006). Horizontal cultures or cultural ori-entations value equality whereas vertical cultures or cultural orientations emphasize hierarchy (Triandis & Gelfand, 1998). In our article, we reviewed research on the utility of this distinction for predicting consumers ’ personal values, self-presentations, responses to persuasive communications