Affective Contagion Effects in Cross-Cultural Mobile Marketing: Evaluative Conditioning Experiments with Foreign Users

Abstract

The affective contagion theory is essential in marketing and consumer research. By integrating this perspective with cross-cultural mobile marketing, our study explores the role of valenced emotions aroused by cultural elements within the app and further affective contagion effects, culture affinity as antecedent, and cross-cultural factors that may affect these evaluations. Based on three evaluative conditioning experiments with foreign users in China, we found the valenced emotion aroused by cultural elements in local apps (movie posters, media content, products) triggers a contagion effect on their attitudes toward the app. Moreover, we validate the role of culture affinity in providing ex-ante emotional associations during the appraisal process, the negative impact of language foreignness, and the interaction between app origin and political ideology. Our findings hold practical implications for app developers and marketers, particularly regarding the relationship between emotion and cultural bias in global markets.

Keywords:

• Affective contagion
• mobile apps
• cross-cultural mobile marketing
• evaluative conditioning
• foreign users

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 A small proportion of respondents (n = 6, 7%) belong to Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, i.e., countries that share similar cultural aspects with China.