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Individualism and the desire for unique consumer products: the roles of need for uniqueness and global acculturation

Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2026

Barbara Czarnecka, Bruno Schivinski, Katherine Baxter

Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2026 (online 23 July 2026)

  • 504 non-British consumers in the UK
  • 35 nationalities
  • Structural equation modelling
  • Mediation and moderation
  • United Kingdom
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Keywords
  • desire for unique consumer products
  • cultural fit
  • individualism
  • need for uniqueness
  • acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC)
  • uniqueness
  • uniqueness motives
  • self-congruity
  • vertical individualism
  • horizontal individualism
  • consumer need for uniqueness
  • limited editions and customised products
  • mass customisation
  • global consumer culture
  • immigrant consumers
  • psychographic segmentation
  • international product management
  • status consumption
  • cultural fit hypothesis
  • congruity theory
  • acculturation theory
  • suppressor effect
  • desire for unique consumer products scale (Lynn and Harris)
  • horizontal and vertical individualism scale (Sivadas et al.)
  • AGCC scale (Cleveland and Laroche)
  • United Kingdom
  • migrants
  • cross-cultural consumer behaviour
  • structural equation modelling (SEM)
  • mediation analysis
  • moderation analysis
  • bootstrapping
  • confirmatory factor analysis
  • HTMT ratio
  • lavaan
  • survey research

Individualistic consumers want rare, customised and unusual products because individualism raises their need to be different, not directly. In a survey of 504 non-British consumers living in the UK, that need for uniqueness turned into a stronger desire for unique products among people more immersed in global consumer culture.

Key findings

  1. Both kinds of individualism raise the need for uniqueness. Among 504 non-British consumers living in the UK, vertical individualism, the competitive and status-seeking kind, increased the need for uniqueness (β = 0.61, p < .001), and horizontal individualism, the kind that values independence among equals, increased it too (β = 0.27, p < .001) (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).
  2. The need for uniqueness drives the desire for unique products. Consumers with a higher need for uniqueness had a much stronger desire for rare, distinctive and customised products (β = 0.89, p < .001); gender also predicted it (β = 0.18, p = .003), while education did not (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).
  3. Individualism works only through the need for uniqueness. The indirect effects of vertical (β = 0.54, 95% CI 0.34–0.72) and horizontal individualism (β = 0.24, 95% CI 0.05–0.36) on the desire for unique products were significant, while their direct effects were not (p = .13 and .26): full, indirect-only mediation (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).
  4. Horizontal individualism shows a suppressor effect. For horizontal individualism the indirect effect (β = 0.24) was larger than the total effect (β = 0.16, p = .02): its pull towards unique products appears only once it is routed through the need for uniqueness (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).
  5. Global consumer culture amplifies the effect. Acculturation to global consumer culture strengthened the link between the need for uniqueness and the desire for unique products (interaction unst. β = 0.09, p = .04) and also raised that desire directly (unst. β = 0.39, p < .001) (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).

At a glance

Design
Online survey in English (2023, four months); confirmatory factor analysis and a structural equation model with mediation and moderation, maximum likelihood estimation and 5,000 bootstrap draws in R 4.4.1 (lavaan, semTools)
Participants
504 valid responses from 662 completed questionnaires: non-British residents of the UK who had moved from non-Anglo-Saxon countries, from 35 nationalities (Pakistan 6.9%, Poland 6.4%, India 4.4%, Nigeria 4.1%, Romania 3.5%); 56.2% women, mean age 32; recruited through an employment agency network, student volunteers, professional networks, LinkedIn and Facebook
Predictors
Vertical and horizontal individualism (4 items each; Sivadas et al., 2008)
Mediator
Need for uniqueness (4 items; Lynn & Harris, 1997b)
Moderator
Acculturation to global consumer culture: 21 items in seven dimensions (Cleveland & Laroche, 2007), a second-order factor, with a composite score used for the interaction
Outcome
Desire for unique consumer products (8 items; Lynn & Harris, 1997a)
Controls
Gender and education
Model fit
CFA: ML χ²(834) = 2288.61, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.05, SRMR = 0.05. Structural model: ML χ²(806) = 3092.44, CFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.06

Figure 1. Conceptual model, with the estimates reported in Table 2

H1: β = 0.61***H2: β = 0.27***H3: β = 0.89***H5: unst. β = 0.09*β = 0.39***H4a: indirect β = 0.54*** (direct 0.09, n.s.)H4b: indirect β = 0.24*** (direct −0.08, n.s.)gender 0.18**, education n.s.VerticalindividualismHorizontalindividualismNeed foruniquenessDesire for uniqueconsumer productsAGCCControl variables:gender, education
Vertical and horizontal individualism (H1, H2) raise the need for uniqueness, which raises the desire for unique consumer products (H3); the dashed connectors show the indirect effects (H4a, H4b), and acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC) moderates the last path (H5). Standardised coefficients except H5 and the direct AGCC path (unstandardised). * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001; n.s. = not significant; n = 504.

Figure 2. The moderating effect of acculturation to global consumer culture

12345Low need for uniquenessHigh need for uniquenessDesire for unique consumer productsHigh levels of AGCCLow levels of AGCCInteraction: unst. β = 0.09, p = 0.04
Redrawn from Figure 2 of the article (line end points read from the published plot). The desire for unique consumer products rises with the need for uniqueness at both levels of AGCC, but more steeply for consumers high in AGCC (interaction unst. β = 0.09, p = 0.04).

How individualism leads to the desire for unique products

Effects on the need for uniquenessVertical individualism0.61Horizontal individualism0.27Effect on the desire for unique productsNeed for uniqueness0.89Indirect effects via the need for uniquenessVertical individualism0.54Horizontal individualism0.24Total effects on the desire for unique productsVertical individualism0.63Horizontal individualism0.16
Standardised coefficients from Table 2 of the article (n = 504). All paths shown are significant; the direct effects of individualism on the desire for unique products (0.09 and −0.08) were not.

Tables

Table 1. Reliability and validity scores of the conceptual model

Construct α ω CR AVE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
1. Vertical individualism 0.87 0.89 0.87 0.62 0.79 0.57 0.72 0.70 0.37 0.07 0.26 0.48 0.48 0.42 0.43
2. Horizontal individualism 0.87 0.90 0.86 0.61 0.60*** 0.78 0.56 0.51 0.41 0.11 0.42 0.56 0.35 0.39 0.23
3. Need for uniqueness 0.94 0.94 0.93 0.78 0.75*** 0.59*** 0.88 0.86 0.50 0.08 0.40 0.55 0.49 0.54 0.58
4. Desire for unique consumer products 0.90 0.92 0.89 0.51 0.81*** 0.57*** 0.89*** 0.71 0.44 0.19 0.32 0.41 0.50 0.59 0.6
5. Cosmopolitanism 0.87 0.88 0.87 0.70 0.38*** 0.43*** 0.51*** 0.49*** 0.84 0.03 0.41 0.62 0.43 0.34 0.32
6. Exposure to marketing activities 0.74 0.74 0.75 0.50 0.10 0.13* 0.12* 0.17** −0.03 0.71 0.04 0.08 0.15 0.23 0.36
7. English language usage and exposure 0.78 0.78 0.77 0.53 0.27*** 0.44*** 0.41*** 0.36*** 0.42*** −0.11 0.73 0.45 0.48 0.26 0.15
8. Social interactions 0.83 0.85 0.83 0.64 0.55*** 0.59*** 0.62*** 0.62*** 0.64*** −0.05 0.47*** 0.80 0.45 0.28 0.23
9. Global mass media exposure 0.83 0.84 0.82 0.61 0.52*** 0.38*** 0.52*** 0.59*** 0.47*** 0.16** 0.52*** 0.55*** 0.78 0.47 0.54
10. Openness to and desire to emulate GCC 0.78 0.80 0.82 0.61 0.50*** 0.42*** 0.58*** 0.66*** 0.35*** 0.21** 0.30*** 0.42*** 0.47*** 0.78 0.65
11. Self-identification with GCC 0.83 0.85 0.85 0.66 0.49*** 0.27*** 0.59*** 0.66*** 0.30*** 0.39*** 0.13* 0.34*** 0.52*** 0.59*** 0.81

Diagonal values (in italics) are the square roots of the average variance extracted (AVE); values below the diagonal are standardised Pearson correlations; values above the diagonal are heterotrait–monotrait (HTMT) ratios of correlations. CR = composite reliability; GCC = global consumer culture. ML χ²(834) = 2288.61, CFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI [0.05–0.06]); n = 504. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001. Values as printed in the article.

Table 2. Standardized and unstandardized structural coefficients of the conceptual model

Path β 95% CI t p
H1. Vertical individualism → need for uniqueness 0.61 10.49 <0.001
H2. Horizontal individualism → need for uniqueness 0.27 4.31 <0.001
H3. Need for uniqueness → desire for unique consumer products 0.89 21.17 <0.001
Control variables
Gender (ref: 1 = female) → desire for unique consumer products 0.18 2.93 0.003
Education → desire for unique consumer products 0.07 1.01 0.31
Mediation analysis: indirect effects via need for uniqueness (specific indirect std. β)
H4a. Vertical individualism → need for uniqueness → desire for unique consumer products 0.54 0.34–0.72 9.71 <0.001
H4b. Horizontal individualism → need for uniqueness → desire for unique consumer products 0.24 0.05–0.36 4.27 <0.001
Direct effects (controlling for the mediator)
Vertical individualism → desire for unique consumer products 0.09 −0.01–0.16 1.52 0.13
Horizontal individualism → desire for unique consumer products −0.08 −0.12–0.05 −1.13 0.26
Total effects (direct and indirect effects)
Vertical individualism → desire for unique consumer products 0.63 0.47–0.77 10.81 <0.001
Horizontal individualism → desire for unique consumer products 0.16 0.02–0.35 2.26 0.02
Moderation analysis (unst. β)
H5. Need for uniqueness → desire for unique consumer products | AGCC 0.09 0.02–0.21 2.02 0.04
Direct effect derived from the moderation analysis (unst. β)
AGCC → desire for unique consumer products 0.39 0.17–0.61 4.60 <0.001

ML χ²(806) = 3092.44, CFI = 0.90, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.06 (90% CI [0.06–0.07]); AGCC = acculturation to global consumer culture; n = 504; 5,000 bootstrap draws. Values as printed in the article.

Table A1. Descriptive statistics: factor loadings, means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis
Construct and item λ Mean SD Skew. Kurt.
AGCC – Cosmopolitanism
I am interested in learning more about people who live in other countries 0.85 3.98 0.74 −0.45 0.40
I like to learn about other ways of life 0.85 4.04 0.69 −0.41 0.58
I enjoy being with people from other countries to learn about their views and approaches 0.81 3.99 0.76 −0.46 0.32
AGCC – Exposure to marketing activities
In my city, there are many billboards, and advertising signs for foreign and global products 0.66 3.71 0.94 −0.90 0.63
It is quite common to see ads for foreign or global products in local media 0.73 3.71 0.81 −0.88 1.08
When I read a newspaper, I come across many advertisements for foreign or global products 0.72 3.89 0.80 −1.16 2.24
AGCC – English language usage and exposure
I feel very comfortable speaking in English 0.83 3.77 0.95 −0.36 −0.54
I often speak English with family or friends 0.64 3.74 0.97 −0.75 0.28
I speak English regularly 0.72 4.25 0.63 −0.63 1.18
AGCC – Social interactions
I prefer spending my vacations outside of the country that I live in 0.56 3.69 0.88 −0.12 −0.44
Visiting foreign countries is one of my favourite things 0.91 3.80 1.02 −0.43 −0.70
I often think about going to different countries and doing some travelling 0.89 3.92 1.00 −0.76 −0.08
AGCC – Global mass media exposure
I enjoy watching Hollywood films at the theatre 0.72 3.70 0.90 −0.44 0.11
I enjoy watching Hollywood movies that are in English 0.87 3.67 0.89 −0.22 −0.37
Some of my favourite actors/actresses are from Hollywood 0.76 3.58 0.89 −0.13 −0.20
AGCC – Openness to and desire to emulate GCC
I think people my age are basically the same around the world. For example, a 20-something in Nigeria is basically the same as a 20-something in the USA, Germany, or anywhere else 0.66 2.30 0.97 0.34 −0.36
I think that my lifestyle is almost the same as those of my age group in other countries 0.83 2.61 0.92 0.06 −0.52
I think my lifestyle is almost the same as those of people of my social class in other countries 0.84 2.80 0.99 0.00 −0.64
AGCC – Self-identification with global consumer culture
The way that I dress is influenced by the advertising activities of foreign or global companies 0.85 2.98 1.10 −0.18 −0.86
Advertising by foreign or global brands has a strong influence on my clothing choices 0.89 2.95 1.13 −0.24 −0.91
I pay attention to the fashions worn by people in my age-group that live in other countries 0.70 2.70 1.16 0.16 −0.91
Need for uniqueness
I prefer being different from other people 0.91 3.61 1.24 −0.98 −0.22
Being distinctive is important to me 0.90 3.54 1.20 −0.82 −0.53
I intentionally do things to make myself different from those around me 0.88 3.25 1.37 −0.49 −1.23
I have a need for uniqueness 0.85 3.42 1.24 −0.69 −0.83
Desire for unique consumer products
I am very attracted to rare objects 0.76 3.65 0.97 −1.18 0.46
I tend to be a fashion leader rather than follower 0.78 2.90 1.37 −0.22 −1.56
I am more likely to buy a product if it is scarce 0.70 3.26 1.09 −0.67 −1.09
I would prefer to have things custom-made than to have them ready-made 0.63 3.96 1.05 −1.27 0.96
I enjoy having things that others do not 0.78 3.77 1.10 −1.05 0.19
I often order custom features on the products I buy 0.71 2.61 1.31 0.11 −1.59
I like to try new products and services before others do 0.70 3.00 1.32 −0.30 −1.45
I enjoy shopping at stores that carry merchandise which is different and unusual 0.67 4.05 0.85 −1.54 2.95
Vertical individualism
It is important that I do my job better than others 0.84 3.43 1.21 −0.55 −1.01
Winning is everything 0.83 2.63 1.40 0.16 −1.58
Competition is the law of nature 0.67 3.34 1.19 −0.68 −0.90
When another person does better than I do, I get tense and aroused 0.82 2.91 1.34 −0.05 −1.48
Horizontal individualism
I often do “my own thing” 0.84 3.78 0.99 −0.60 −0.30
I rely on myself most of the time; I rarely rely on others 0.73 3.90 0.86 −0.49 −0.26
My personal identity, independent of others, is very important to me 0.81 3.74 0.99 −0.51 −0.38
I’d rather depend on myself than others 0.75 3.93 0.82 −0.36 −0.38

λ = standardised factor loading. Items and values as printed in Table A1 of the article (capitalisation of English and Hollywood standardised). The article reports that the desire for unique consumer products was rated from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree, need for uniqueness and AGCC from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree, and individualism from 1 = never to 7 = always.

The question

Brands court consumers who want to stand out with limited editions, rare items and customisation, but segmenting international markets by broad cultural labels often fails to predict who will want them. Drawing on the cultural fit hypothesis, we asked how the cultural values of vertical and horizontal individualism lead to the desire for unique consumer products, whether the personality trait of need for uniqueness carries that effect, and whether acculturation to global consumer culture, with its abundance of global and customisable products, makes the link stronger.

Implications

Practical implications

Segment by values, traits and global orientation rather than by nationality alone. For vertical individualists, position rare products as markers of status, with appeals to exclusivity and prestige (for example luxury watches or limited-edition fashion capsules); for horizontal individualists, drop status appeals and frame uniqueness as authentic self-expression, for example through mass-customisation platforms such as Nike By You or Converse's design-your-own service. Launch the most unconventional and customisable lines first in cosmopolitan, globally integrated markets, and lean on local cultural congruity where global acculturation is low.

Theoretical implications

The study extends the cultural fit hypothesis from person-organisation fit to product preferences and shows that a personality trait, the need for uniqueness, actively transforms cultural values into consumption rather than passively carrying them: horizontal individualism drives the desire for unique products only through it, a suppressor effect. It also supports acculturation theory in a deterritorialised setting, with global consumer culture acting as a behavioural enhancer of uniqueness seeking.

Limitations and future research

  • The survey is cross-sectional, so it cannot establish cause and effect or follow behaviour over time.
  • The sample consists only of non-British citizens living in the UK, who acculturate to the host country and to global consumer culture at once; replications with native consumers in their home countries are needed.
  • Respondents self-selected into an online survey, which may introduce bias.
  • Collectivism was left out by design; future work could test horizontal and vertical collectivism and compare public, value-expressive products with private, utilitarian ones.

Questions this paper answers

Do individualistic consumers prefer unique products?

Yes, but indirectly. Among 504 non-British consumers in the UK, vertical and horizontal individualism raised the need for uniqueness, and that need in turn drove the desire for unique consumer products; individualism had no significant direct effect (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).

What is the difference between vertical and horizontal individualism?

Vertical individualists value autonomy together with competition and status; horizontal individualists value autonomy and self-expression among equals. In this study vertical individualism had the stronger effect on the need for uniqueness (β = 0.61 against 0.27) (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).

Does global consumer culture make people want more unique products?

It amplified the effect: the link between the need for uniqueness and the desire for unique products was steeper for consumers more acculturated to global consumer culture (interaction unst. β = 0.09, p = .04), and acculturation also raised that desire directly (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).

How should brands market unique products to different consumers?

The authors suggest status and exclusivity appeals for vertical individualists, self-expression and customisation for horizontal individualists, and launching unconventional product lines first in globally integrated markets (Czarnecka, Schivinski & Baxter, 2026).

Key concepts

Desire for unique consumer products
A consumer's motivation to seek out, acquire and own goods, services and experiences seen as rare, distinctive or uncommon (Lynn & Harris, 1997a).
Need for uniqueness
A personality trait: the need to differentiate oneself from others and to be seen as one of a kind (Snyder & Fromkin, 1980).
Vertical individualism
A cultural value orientation that combines personal autonomy with a desire for status and hierarchical competition.
Horizontal individualism
A cultural value orientation that combines personal autonomy and self-expression with social equality.
Acculturation to global consumer culture (AGCC)
How far a person has integrated global consumer culture into their identity, measured on seven dimensions such as cosmopolitanism, global mass media exposure and self-identification with global consumer culture (Cleveland & Laroche, 2007).
Cultural fit hypothesis
The idea that people prefer products, brands and experiences that are congruent with their cultural values and personality traits.
Suppressor effect
A pattern in which an indirect effect is larger than the total effect, because the direct effect runs in the opposite direction.

Open science and materials

Study materials

Scale items
All 41 items for vertical and horizontal individualism, need for uniqueness, desire for unique consumer products and the seven AGCC dimensions, with loadings, means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis, are in Table A1 below.
Eligibility
Respondents had moved to the UK from non-Anglo-Saxon countries; all declared speaking English at home and/or at work. The questionnaire was pretested with 30 business students.
Data screening
Incomplete questionnaires and respondents with zero or very low standard deviation across all items (0.1 to 0.3) were excluded; no outliers were found (±3.29 SD on composite scores and Mahalanobis distances), leaving 504 of 662 responses (76.1%).

How to cite

Czarnecka, B., Schivinski, B., & Baxter, K. (2026). Individualism and the desire for unique consumer products: the roles of need for uniqueness and global acculturation. Journal of Product & Brand Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-09-2025-6337

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