Refining the tightness and looseness framework with a consumer lens

In their paper, Li, Gordon and Gelfand (this issue) introduced the Tightness–Looseness (T–L) framework to the consumer domain, and offered several ideas on how this framework could be applied to consumer behavior. In this commentary, we examine the T–L framework through the consumer lens and discuss how the uniqueness of the consumption context can refine and broaden this psychological framework. We identify four questions that aim to enrich our discussion of this framework from the perspective of consumer research, and to motivate future research questions. Specifically, we consider 1) how the interplay between the tightness/looseness of a culture and its effect on consumer behavior can be a bidirectional relationship, 2) how variances in T–L in different consumption subcultures and aspects of society (e.g., economic, political) can impact consumer behavior, 3) how the examination of T–L at different stages in the consumption process is a relevant and important question to consider, and 4) how T–L may contribute to further investigation and understanding of punishment toward business and consumer norm violators. Crown Copyright © 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Consumer Psychology. All rights reserved. Consumption phenomena involving social norms have caught the attention of consumer researchers in recent years. For example, research has explored how social norms can influence food consumption and conservation behaviors (Goldstein, Cialdini, & Griskevicius, 2008; McFerran, Dahl, Fitzsimons, & Morales, 2010a, 2010b), and how consumers can be punished by their fellow consumers for violating social norms (Lin, Dahl, & Argo, 2013). At the same time, understanding cross-cultural differences in consumer behavior has continued to garner interest in the field (Maheswaran & Shavitt, 2000). For instance, researchers have examined how cross-cultural differences can contribute to how consumers perceive gift-giving and receiving (e.g., Pusaksrikit & Kang, 2016; Valenzuela, Mellers, & Strebel, 2010), process information due to linguistic differences (e.g., Schmitt, Pan, & Tavassoli, 1994; Tavassoli, 1999), and make decisions related to brand-switching (e.g., Ng, Kim, & Rao, 2015). As social norms are culturally dependent, investigating the convergence of these two areas of research has the potential to lead to fruitful avenues of future research. In the paper by Li, Gordon, and Gelfand (2017–in this issue), the authors introduce the theoretical framework of Tightness– Looseness (T–L) of cultures. T–L refers to the strength of social norms and rules that exist within a culture, how norm violations are perceived cross-culturally, and the severity of punishment delivered to norm violators in various cultures. Beyond discussing the T–L framework the authors also propose a number of ways in which it can be applied to consumer behavior research (i.e., messages in advertising, branding, product diffusion/new product adoption, and health-related behavior among consumers). While the application of the T–L framework to consumer behavior is an interesting first step, we propose that the richness of consumption as a research context can assist in broadening and refining the T–L framework. In this commentary, we identify four questions for discussion specific to the interplay between norms and norm violations that exist within a larger society (i.e., a country), and specific consumption behaviors within that society. First, we offer our thoughts on the interplay between the cultural T–L of the broader society and specific consumer behaviors inherent in the society. Specifically, we argue that rather than simply looking at how cross-cultural T–L differences may influence or be applied to consumer behavior, it would also DOI of original article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.04.001. ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected] (L. Lin), [email protected] (D.W. Dahl), [email protected] (J.J. Argo). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jcps.2017.03.005 1057-7408/Crown Copyright © 2017 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Society for Consumer Psychology. All rights reserved. Available online at www.sciencedirect.com