A comparative analysis of Japanese and U.S. attitudes toward direct marketing

Abstract

This study compares the current state of direct marketing in Japan and the U.S. Questionnaire responses (109 Japanese and 101 U.S.) were obtained from students of major Japanese and U.S. universities in order to test three hypotheses posed in this study: (a) general attitude toward direct marketing; (b) privacy issues; and (c) environmental concerns. The results show that (a) Japanese and U.S. respondents have similar levels of ambivalence toward direct marketing as well as concern toward environmental issues; and (b) contrary to expectations. Japanese respondents more strongly express a concern about privacy issues than do U.S. respondents. This article concludes with implications of these results for the practice of international direct marketing, followed by suggested directions for future studies.