A cross-cultural study of the use of subcontracting in consumer choice

Subcontracting is a choice strategy under which consumers choose an alternative based mainly on recommendations regarding the best alternative(s) and/or critical evaluative criteria. Previously, this strategy has been listed as an alternative means of making important and risky choices with extensive search effort. This study tried to delineate further the subcontracting strategies used as alternatives to own-based choice strategies. Three types of subcontracting were the focus of this research: decision, dimension, and recommendations-form-standard subcontracting. It was argued that the use of various subcontracting strategies could be influenced by cultural variables (e.g. individualism/collectivism) as well as by task variables (e.g. perceived uncertainty and time pressure). It was hypothesized that both cultural and task variables could influence (1) the likelihood of subcontracting in general, (2) which of the three strategies would be more or less likely to be used, and (3) to whom decisions/dimensions were more or less likely to be subcontracted. Two sets of survey data were collected: one from American students and the other from Korean students. The two data sets represented consumers with individualistic and collectivistic cultural backgrounds. Their cultural characteristics were examined in terms of individualism, self-monitoring, and susceptibility of interpersonal influence. The data revealed that collectivistic Korean students were subcontracting to out-group members (e.g. salespersons and advertisements) to a lesser extent than their individualistic American counterparts. Cross-cultural differences in the use of different types of subcontracting were also found. Implications, limitations, and extensions of these and other major findings were discussed