Cross-cultural invariance of consumers' price perception measures: Eastern Asian perspective

Purpose - In response to the impact of market globalization and concerns over the universality of marketing measures, this study seeks to examine the measurement invariance of consumers' price perception scales cross-culturally with samples drawn from four Eastern Asian countries, i.e. China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, using multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA). In addition, this study further examines the differences and similarities in the mean levels of consumers' price perceptions across the four samples. Design/methodology/approach - A convenience sample of undergraduate college students was employed. A total of 958 students with business-related majors completed a questionnaire in Beijing, China; Seoul, South Korea; Tainan, Taiwan; and Chonburi, Thailand. Findings - Having established psychometric properties and demonstrated the partial scalar invariance of measurements and structural parameters, the results indicated that the consumers' price perception scale containing five dimensions (i.e. price-quality schema, prestige sensitivity, value consciousness, sale proneness, and price mavenism) appears to be useful in Eastern Asian cultures. In addition, results of latent mean comparison revealed not only some similarities but also differences related to the five dimensions of price across the four Eastern Asian samples. Research limitations/ implications - The main limitation is the issue of generalizability of the findings because of the use of student samples. Originality/value - This study is among the first to examine cross-cultural invariance of consumers' price perception within Eastern Asian countries using MGCFA.