The Influence of Identity Fusion on Patriotic Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Korea and the U.S.

This study proposes that there is a significant relationship between identity fusion with a country and patriotic consumption behaviors, and individuals’ cultural backgrounds play an important role in this relationship. To test this idea, this study focuses on fused persons and explored how these persons reacted to advertising that contained patriotic messages. Further, to uncover possible cross-cultural differences in individuals responding to those patriotic ad messages depending on their fusion level, this study explores and compares people from two different cultural contexts; Korea vs. the United States. The results demonstrated that fused persons in both countries increased their willingness to be patriotic consumers by showing a high consumer ethnocentric tendency and favorable responses to patriotic advertising while such influences of identity fusion on patriotic consumption behaviors are stronger in the collectivistic country (i.e., Korea) than in the individualistic country (i.e., the U.S.). Additionally, the findings of study suggest that fusion can be a more influential factor to predict consumers’ patriotic consumption behaviors than identification.