The role of culture in shaping consumer-waiting behaviour

Despite three decades of academic research on waiting in services, we still know very little about how consumers wait in different cultures. The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of the role culture plays... [ view full abstract ]

Despite three decades of academic research on waiting in services, we still know very little about how consumers wait in different cultures. The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of the role culture plays in shaping how consumers wait for services. Therefore, this paper aims to bring culture to the forefront of research on waiting, to begin exploring how culture influences how consumers wait, and to consider the ensuing practical considerations for managing waiting in different national contexts. A qualitative study was carried out by using in-depth interviews and personal diaries. The sample includes 19 expatriates from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and North America all of whom live in Catalonia, Spain. The results suggest that there are differences in the cultural interpretations of time and waiting, culture shapes the consumer waiting behaviour and there are cultural interpretations of what it means to wait and when waiting occurs. This study has important implications for international companies and for research on waiting in services. Firstly, the results suggest that the overall generalizability across cultures of wait management strategies should be reconsidered. Secondly, this research calls into question the effectiveness of more specific wait management strategies.