“地球人”兼“当地人”：消费者全球当地导向对文化杂合产品评价的影响

With the trend of globalization, consumers gradually develop a new type of social identity-"global citizen" but keep their local identity at the same time. Thus, they form a "glocal" orientation. The existent theoretical as well as empirical studies show that consumers with "glocal" orientation are much more numerous than purely globals or locals. However, little research has addressed these glocals. Meanwhile, in the globalized marketplace, it appears an escalating number of culturally hybrid products. Lee Kum Kee ketchup and Heinz braising soy sauce are two examples of such hybrid products. Under the globalization context, glocalization seems to become a must. To be concrete, the local companies need to approach globalization, whereas the global companies need to employ localization strategies, both leading to culturally hybrid products. How will consumers respond to these products? In particular, whether glocals will automatically evaluate these hybrid products more positively than pure global or local products, as suggested by the identity-congruence theory? No ready answer exists as no research has ever addressed this issue. On the basis of theories of globalization, social identity, acculturation, and brand extension, the current project aims to examine systematically several questions related to above issue. First question concerns the deeper and the more exact understanding of consumer glocal orientation. We assert that glocal orientation includes both global and local orientations, but these two components are independent. Using the perspectives of culture as knowledge and resources, and identity as situated cognition, we propose that consumers with glocal orientation do not simply mix the two orientations, rather, they are able to transfer freely from one orientation to the other dependent on the situation. Multiple consumer experiments will be conducted to test it. Second question is about the culturally hybrid products. No research has ever examined culturally hybrid products from brand extension perspective. We aim to study these products as outputs of brand cultural extension, i.e., global brands extended to local products, or local brands launching global products. Such approach is quite relevant in the globalized marketplace. Third, and most important question, is pertaining to the relationship between consumer glocal orientation and their attitude toward culturally hybrid products. Based on the understanding of the first question, we then turn to propose that culturally hybrid products should be either promotion "global" or "local" cultural appeal, but not a balanced one. A comprehensive conceptual model is suggested to test consumer reactions to culturally hybrid products with various appeals. Furthermore, the brand cultural icon meaning and product ethnicity are proposed as two moderators.We expect the research findings will provide calm, objective and scientific thinking for companies of today, both Chinese and global ones.

在全球化趋势下，消费者逐步形成"全球公民"的新型社会认同，但同时仍保留其"当地人"认同，从而发展出"全球当地"导向。已有理论和实证数据显示，具有"全球当地"导向的消费者比单纯的"全球"或"当地"导向所占比例明显偏高。但目前文献很少专门探究此类人群，特别是他们对于文化杂合产品（如"李锦记"番茄酱或"亨氏"红烧酱油）的态度和评价。本项目试图以全球化、消费者社会认同、文化融入和品牌延伸为理论基础，结合全球化的背景，并考虑当地企业全球化及全球企业当地化之战略需要，系统地研究（1）全球当地导向的概念,尤其是作用形式；（2）文化杂合产品的界定和分类，如考虑品牌和产品两个层次可分为全球品牌+当地产品、当地品牌+全球产品等类型，并探讨品牌文化延伸内涵；（3）全球当地导向对消费者的文化杂合产品态度有何影响？品牌的文化符号意义和产品的国家典型性是否发生调节效应？结论将为"全球当地化"战略提供冷静、客观的思考。

全球品牌推出的文化混搭产品日益增多，同时全球化深刻影响了消费者的社会认同。在此背景下，我们申报了《“地球人”兼“当地人”：消费者全球当地导向对文化杂合产品评价的影响》这一项目。项目的主要研究内容为，利用全球品牌和品牌延伸两方面理论视角，研究消费者的全球—当地双认同如何影响其对于文化杂合产品的评价。项目实际执行过程中，我们继续采用了上述理论视角，但在具体研究内容上有所调整：①由于全球—当地认同的转化机制未能操作化，我们研究了多种社会认同对于文化混搭产品的影响；②同时，我们加入了企业层面的“文化尊重”和品牌层面的“真实性”两个角度，希望通过研究来丰富国际营销、品牌和文化混搭领域的文献，为中外企业利用文化资源实现文化创新提供思路。项目所取得的重要结果为：一方面，从全球品牌视角，我们发现消费者是否认为全球公司出于“文化尊重”而推出文化混搭产品，这对于其态度行为至关重要，而且“当地文化象征性”的重要性总体上也超过“感知品牌全球性”，这与消费者的当地认同加强相契合；另一方面，从品牌延伸视角，延伸“真实性”可能是为衡量品牌横向延伸的最重要因素，而非认知图式一致性以及其背后“流畅性”的作用。成果的科学意义在于：①突显了当地文化资源的重要性；②揭示了全球品牌利用当地文化资源时的考虑因素；③检验了“真实性”在品牌文化延伸中的重要作用。据研究结果可知，全球化自身所带来的红利可能在消费者个体心理层面已经下降，他们对于全球品牌不再热捧。与此同时，世界各地的文化资源、传统价值观受到重视，不管是当地品牌，还是全球品牌，如果包含了当地文化资源并认真利用，当地象征性提升，就可能受到消费者欢迎。特别地，在利用当地文化资源时要强调“文化尊重”的重要性，要本着理解和平等的态度，研习其精要并融入产品中，绝不能生硬搭配，让混搭变成胡搭。同时，在品牌的文化延伸过程中，要关注品牌的“真实性”，不能只为了求新而失真，在混搭中丧失品牌的原有精髓和风格。