Consumer acceptance of different types of cultural borrowing and its internal mechanisms

The study addresses why consumers of a borrowed culture respond differently to cultural borrowing across contexts and what internal mechanisms drive acceptance or rejection. Cultural borrowing—outsiders imitating or applying elements from another culture—is widespread in product creation and branding but often provokes backlash when perceived as disrespectful or threatening. Prior work conflated borrowing with cultural mixing or appropriation and treated borrowing monolithically, leaving unclear mechanisms and boundary conditions that determine consumer acceptance. Grounded in cultural threat theory, the authors propose that different types of cultural borrowing—defined by the relative status between borrowing and borrowed subjects (strong-to-weak, equal, weak-to-strong)—evoke varying levels of perceived cultural threat, which in turn shape acceptance. They outline five experiments to test main effects, mediation by perceived cultural threat, and moderation by (a) congruent vs incongruent use, (b) real vs virtual presentation, (c) symbolic vs functional positioning, and (d) degree of identity in the relationship between subjects.

Theoretical background distinguishes cultural borrowing from cultural mixing and cultural appropriation. Borrowing is the selective imitation/application of external cultural elements (overall or partial re-editing) and involves relations between subjects of different or equal status. Inappropriate borrowing without respect, authorization, or with distortion may be deemed cultural appropriation, often tied to status inequalities and perceived hegemony. Cultural mixing co-presents multiple cultural symbols and may be congruent or incongruent. Prior classifications focused on borrowed content types or forms (e.g., content, style, ritual-symbolic; shallow vs deep; reference vs remoulding), but lacked an essential, status-based typology. This work proposes a threefold typology by relative status: strong-to-weak, equal, and weak-to-strong borrowing. Drawing on cultural threat theory, individuals defend cultural belonging and purity when threatened, leading to negative emotions and avoidance. Hypotheses: H1—As the relative status of the borrowed subject rises (weak-to-strong → equal → strong-to-weak), perceived cultural threat decreases. H2a—Perceived cultural threat reduces acceptance of cultural borrowing. H2b—Perceived cultural threat mediates the effect of borrowing type on acceptance. H3a—The type-to-threat effect is moderated by the degree of incongruent use (stronger under incongruent than congruent use). H3b—The type-to-threat effect is moderated by presentation reality (stronger for real vs virtual). H4a—The threat-to-acceptance link is moderated by brand positioning (weaker acceptance under symbolic vs functional positioning). H4b—The threat-to-acceptance link is moderated by relationship identity (higher acceptance when the borrowing subject is more identified/liked).

Pretests and material development: Using IMF 2020 per-capita GDP and interviews with five graduate students in international economy/cultural exchange, the authors selected the United States (strong), Russia (equal), and Uganda (weak) relative to China (borrowed subject) to prime status differences. A convenience sample of 30 Chinese participants (17 male; mean age ≈28.23) rated national status confirming US>China≈Russia>Uganda; foreign culture identification and ethnocentrism were moderate with no age differences. A second pretest with 20 marketing students identified familiar tangible and intangible domains; food (highest familiarity among tangible) and short videos (highest among intangible) were chosen as stimuli. Measures: Unless noted, 5-point Likert scales (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). Manipulations indicated borrowing types via source labels (American/Russian/Ugandan) and contexts. Representativeness checks ensured stimuli signaled typical Chinese culture. Perceived cultural threat measured with two items (e.g., perceived invasion/erosion; Nie et al., 2018). Cultural borrowing acceptance measured with two items (liking, appropriateness; Zhang et al., 2023). Interference/control variables included perceived anomie, perceived creativity, cultural identification; for food studies, hunger; for anchor videos, anchor preference. Reliability was high across studies (Cronbach’s α generally ≥0.82). Analysis: ANOVAs with LSD post hoc tests, regressions, and PROCESS (SPSS 22). Mediation tested with Model 4, 5000 bootstrap samples (bias-corrected). Moderations tested with Model 1, 5000 bootstrap samples. Study 1 (tangible—food):

• Main effect study: N=120 Chinese students in Beijing (≈52% male; mean age ≈20.52) randomly assigned to strong-to-weak (US), equal (Russia), or weak-to-strong (Uganda) borrowing. Stimulus: Xiaolongbao description varying only the company nationality. Measured representativeness, perceived threat, acceptance, controls.
• Moderation by incongruent use (H3a): N=240 students from a vocational college in Nanchang (≈43% male; mean age ≈19.31) in a 3 (type) × 2 (congruent vs incongruent use) between-subjects design. Congruent use: traditional Xiaolongbao image; incongruent use: oversized Xiaolongbao image. Same measures and controls.
• Moderation by brand positioning (H4a): N=240 university students in Nanchang (≈48% male; mean age ≈20.58) in a 3 (type) × 2 (functional vs symbolic positioning) design. Functional: mass, value-focused; Symbolic: high-end, authenticity claims. Same measures and controls. Study 2 (intangible—short videos):
• Moderation by presentation reality (H3b): N=240 Chinese students in Tianjin (≈52% male; mean age ≈20.30) in a 3 (type) × 2 (real vs virtual presentation) design. Stimulus: short video series on classic Chinese myths attributed to American/Russian/Ugandan studios. Real condition used live-action images; virtual used matched cartoon images.
• Moderation by relationship identity (H4b): N=240 students from a vocational college in Nanchang (≈48% male; mean age ≈19.01) in a 3 (type) × 2 (identified vs insensible relationship) design. Stimulus: foreign female anchor (US/Russia/Uganda) making Mapo Tofu. Identified: expressed enthusiasm for Chinese culture and used Chinese greetings; Insensible: generic foodie using native-language greetings. Same measures plus anchor preference control. Ethics: IRB approval (Institutional Review Board, Business School, Jiangxi Normal University; IRB-JXNU-B-20230301). Participation was anonymous and voluntary; no sensitive data collected.

Across five experiments (>1,000 participants), results consistently supported the hypotheses:

• Main effects (H1, H2a): As the relative status of the borrowed subject increased (weak-to-strong → equal → strong-to-weak), perceived cultural threat decreased and cultural borrowing acceptance increased. In Study 1 (food), perceived threat means: US (M=4.175) > Russia (M=2.825) > Uganda (M=2.100), F(2,117)=366.779, p<0.01, η²=0.862; acceptance: US (M=2.200) < Russia (M=2.950) < Uganda (M=3.688), F(2,117)=85.884, p<0.01, η²=0.595. Threat negatively predicted acceptance (β≈-0.657, t=-13.192, p<0.01).
• Mediation (H2b): Perceived cultural threat mediated the effect of borrowing type on acceptance (PROCESS Model 4; mean indirect effect=0.359, SE=0.079; 95% CI [0.223, 0.534]).
• Moderation by incongruent use (H3a; Study 1): Significant interaction of type × use on perceived threat (β=1.000, t=10.507, p<0.01). Under incongruent use, higher-status borrowing yielded lower threat and higher acceptance; under congruent use, type differences in threat and acceptance were nonsignificant or minimal. Threat→acceptance remained negative in both use conditions (β≈-0.56 to -0.52, p<0.01).
• Moderation by brand positioning (H4a; Study 1): Threat→acceptance link interacted with positioning (β=-0.202, t=-2.685, p<0.01). The negative impact of threat on acceptance was stronger for functional positioning (β≈-0.925) than symbolic (β≈-0.724), with overall lower acceptance in symbolic positioning for comparable threat levels.
• Moderation by presentation reality (H3b; Study 2): Type × presentation reality interaction on threat was significant (β=-0.350, t=-6.749, p<0.01). Effects of type on threat were stronger under real (β≈-0.925, t=-25.224, p<0.01) than virtual (β≈-0.575, t=-15.680, p<0.01) presentations. Virtual presentations yielded lower threat and higher acceptance overall for comparable type conditions.
• Moderation by relationship identity (H4b; Study 2): Threat × relationship identity interaction on acceptance was significant (β=-0.153, t=-2.149, p=0.033). The negative threat→acceptance effect was attenuated when the borrowing subject was more identified/liked (identified: β≈-0.782) versus insensible (β≈-0.936). Across relationship conditions, higher relative status continued to lower threat and raise acceptance. Manipulation and control checks consistently showed high representativeness of Chinese culture in stimuli, strong internal reliability (α≈0.82–0.94), and no confounding differences in perceived anomie, creativity, identification, hunger, or anchor preference across groups.

The findings substantiate a status-based account of consumer responses to cultural borrowing. Per cultural threat theory, lower-status borrowed subjects experience greater threat when dominant groups borrow their culture, reducing acceptance; conversely, when higher-status borrowed subjects perceive influence over the borrowing party, threat diminishes and acceptance rises. This mechanism generalizes across tangible and intangible domains and is bounded by contextual moderators. Incongruent use (reinterpretation or modification) and real presentation intensify perceived threat, whereas congruent use and virtual presentation attenuate it. On the response side, symbolic brand positioning amplifies sensitivity and suppresses acceptance relative to functional positioning, and stronger identification with the borrowing subject mitigates rejection. Together, the results clarify when and why cultural borrowing is endorsed or condemned by consumers and inform strategies to reduce perceived cultural threat and improve acceptance in cross-cultural branding.

This study clarifies the concept of cultural borrowing (distinct from cultural mixing and appropriation), introduces a status-based typology (strong-to-weak, equal, weak-to-strong), and demonstrates that perceived cultural threat mediates the effect of borrowing type on acceptance. It identifies boundary conditions: incongruent use and real presentation heighten threat; functional positioning and higher relationship identity improve acceptance under threat. Practically, brands should carefully choose borrowing types and execution: preserve core attributes (congruent use), prefer virtual depictions when appropriate, emphasize functional value, and cultivate identified relationships (e.g., recognized regions or spokespeople). Future research should extend to more product categories (e.g., clothing, films), bidirectional and non-Chinese contexts, and examine how product involvement and broader cross-cultural samples shape acceptance to enhance generalizability.

Stimuli focused on food and short videos; other tangible and intangible categories (e.g., clothing, architecture, movies, music) were not tested in the main experiments. The context centered on foreign borrowing of Chinese culture with Chinese participants; results may vary across cultures, directions of borrowing (including China borrowing others), and within-country regional/ethnic differences. Variation in consumer product involvement could moderate acceptance but was not systematically manipulated. Broader, multicultural samples and multi-category designs are needed to test generalizability.