Erick Mas

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Kelley School of Business-Indiana University 

Aaron Barnes 

Assistant Professor of Marketing at the University of Louisville-College of Business 

Top Rated or Best Seller? Culture Influences Responses to Attitudinal versus Behavioral Consensus Cues

Synopsis: Marketers tend to use consensus cues about others’ behavioral choices (“Best Seller”) as opposed to their attitudes (“Top Rated”) when labeling products in e-commerce settings. This paper suggests that the effectiveness of these two types of cues may differ in ways that depart from common marketing practice. We suggest that cultural factors influence consumer responses to attitudinal and behavioral consensus cues. Prior research shows that in non-Western or interdependent contexts, choices are often responsive to social expectations rather than personal preferences. This paper proposes that, because interdependence expects such behavioral conformity, cues that convey consensus about others’ choices may be less diagnostic and, thus, less persuasive than cues that convey consensus about others’ attitudes. Two cross-national industry datasets, along with four experiments examining cultural differences in multiple ways offer evidence consistent with this reasoning, suggesting that among interdependent, behavioral consensus cues can actually be less effective than attitudinal ones.