Do minimalistic consumption messages travel cross-culturally? Examining Finnish consumer perceptions of minimalist social media content originating from indulgent and restrained cultures

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School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
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Date

2025

Department

Mikkelin kampus

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Mcode

Degree programme

(Mikkeli) Bachelor’s Program in International Business

Language

en

Pages

46 + 10

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Abstract

Despite the growing interest in minimalistic consumption, the role of national culture and its influence on minimalism remains underexplored in research. The purpose of this thesis is to fill this gap by first analyzing extant literature on minimalism and national culture and then gathering primary data to examine whether Finnish consumers interpret minimalistic consumption similarly across cultures and whether their interconsumer differences in minimalistic tendencies influence these perceptions. A structured experimental online survey, using a convenience sampling method, was conducted to examine the effect of cultural origin of minimalistic consumption content on the acceptance of minimalism. The study also considered the effect of Finnish consumers’ minimalistic tendencies and controlled for the effects of ethnocentrism and consumer affinity to the said countries. The study found that Finnish consumers generally accepted minimalistic consumption content from the two different cultures as minimalism, but there was a significant effect of the content’s cultural origin, such that the content from a high-restraint culture was perceived as more minimalistic. The level of minimalistic tendencies or the controlled factors, ethnocentrism or affinity, were not found to affect the perceived acceptance of minimalism. These findings offer valuable insights for marketers looking to position minimalist-style products effectively, and contribute to a better academic understanding of minimalism and culture.

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Thesis advisor

Shukla, Paurav

Keywords

minimalism, consumer behavior, national culture, culture

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202505113546

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