Investigating the Relationship Between Culture, Language and Consumer Behaviour: Three Essays on the Role of Cultural Frame-Switching, Metaphorical Structuring and Future Time Referencing

This PhD thesis presents three articles on culture and language. Article 1 proposes a conceptual framework that demonstrates the relationship between biculturalism and bilingualism on consumers’ perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Building on the notion of cultural frame-switching, it discusses the roles of (i) cognitive complexity, (ii) cognitive flexibility, and (iii) behavioural adaptability in explaining the relationship between biculturalism and bilingualism on consumers’ perceptions of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Extending the literature on paradox brands, Article 2 investigates consumers’ responses to “congruent contradiction.” Employing a case study methodology, the article shows how the Marvellous City paradox influences consumers’ metaphorical structuring, time perceptions, and responses to the paradox. The results show that consumers employ different cognitive frames (protective, introspective, and emancipatory) to make sense of congruent contradiction paradoxes. Finally, Article 3 proposes an empirical investigation of the effect of being bilingual on sustainable behaviour. Extending the literature on Future Time Referencing (FTR), the article proposes to test the relationship between being bilingual, speaking weak or strong future-oriented languages, and sustainable behaviour. In doing so, it also proposes to investigate the role of cyclical (vs. linear) time perceptions in explaining the role of being bilingual in sustainable behaviour. This thesis extends the literature on culture and language, providing implications for marketing, education, and public policy.