The impact of regional affiliation on consumer perceptions of relationships among behavioral constructs

This research assesses the impact of consumer regional affiliation, within a single country, on relationships among various marketing constructs. Secondary qualitative and quantitative data support the premise that decision-making models differ across regional societies in Russia. Primary data were collected from three Russian regions and then employed to assess the invariance of relationships among marketing constructs presented in a structural equations model. Results indicate that perceived relationships among marketing constructs and the model's overall explanatory power differed appreciably among regional societies. This implies that consumer choice models can vary in effectiveness and behave differently across regions within a single country. Another important implication is that a model can produce misleading results when data are generalized to an entire country when gathered in a single location. This research underscores the importance of recognizing regional affiliation within a country and its potential impact upon consumer behavior.