Evaluation of Eastern-Central European Citizen’s Decision-Making Style – a Comparative Study. Part I

Having looked at western and Eastern-Central European adverts, the prominence of fact-based commercials was identified in ECE countries, whereas most of the western advertisements creatively take the audience to a journey, while showing limited information. This comparative study evaluates the reasons for this phenomenon, while answers the following questions: What kind of identity emerges as a consequence of the turbulent political and economic changes, as consumers’ transition from a communist to a democratic country? What kind of adverts do ECE consumers prefer? What influences their decision-making? The first part of the publication looks at identity formation from an academic point of view, with its main focus on Slovak consumers. It identifies possible reasons behind differences in decision-making styles, arising from the turbulent political and economic changes. These factors resulted in ECE consumers having higher risk aversion, uncertainty avoidance and lower institutional trust, having an impact on their information-searching behavior while creating a new consumer base with developing identity. The second part of the contribution will analyze findings and present recommendations.