Culture establishes the standards or norms leading which all market behavior respite. Cultural norms are defined as an understood way of acting or behaving recommended by the society as a whole. Customs sometimes change and are often unclear or ambiguous, but they exert a powerful influence that guides our daily lives. A norm can be any kind of social standard, which may correct or not, ethical or moral, except what the norms of a society declare to be just or correct ethical or moral. In some societies, a buyer is expected to good deal with the merchant over every purchase. But in United States and Australia most purchase are made without much bargaining. Although some prices are negotiated, or system is characterized as a one price economy because the retailer sets the price and the buyer can accept or reject it.
Cultural norms serve to guide our actions as buyers, for example in searching for products the buyer is expected to acquire sufficient information to make a sound judgment. Cultural norms come in pairs. They prescribe what acceptable behavior is and what is not. We are required to do one thing and are forbidden to do its opposite. We are required to drive on the right side of the road (prescribed) and forbidden to drive on the left (proscribed). Buyers are required to deal honestly and forbidden from dealing dishonestly. Cultural norms are standards to judge behavior. Conformity is accepted and nonconformity is not accepted after a given point. We can judge our own behavior as well as that of others.
