The impact of national consumer culture on the perceived value of innovative attributes and on the price sensitivity of an innovation.

Summary Despite a large body of research on cross-cultural consumer innovativeness, the impact of culture on the perceived value of an innovative attribute has not been published. This thesis seeks to address this need by studying the impact of national culture on the perceived value of the innovative attribute of technological products in two major European countries (France and Germany), members of the Eurozone. This thesis uses the GLOBE intercultural model to study the cultural differences between these two countries. The results are based on a quantitative consumer study (N=793) using the choice-based conjoint analysis method and the "price sensitivity" attitude scale. The results confirm the impact of national culture on three concepts related to consumer attitudes toward the introductory price of a technological innovation: a consumer's perceived value of a product's innovative attribute, the importance a consumer places on the presence of an innovative attribute when choosing a product, and a consumer's sensitivity to the price of an innovation. The moderating role of income on these relationships is also a major result.