International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 2 No. 19 [Special Issue - October 2011] 99 Business Students’ Attitudes towards Consumerism, Marketing Practices and Government Regulations: A Comparative Study of Poland and Turkey Fatma Demirci Orel, PhD. Professor of Marketing Deniz Zeren, PhD. Lecturer in Marketing Department of Business Administration Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Office No.112, Cukurova University, 01330 Balcali, Adana, Turkey. Abstract Consumerism has received a certain amount of attention in marketing literature however attention has been mostly focused on consumerism issues in developed countries. The purpose of this research is to study and compare attitudes towards consumerism in two developing countries; Poland and Turkey. Paper and pencil questionnaires were distributed to business students at a Polish university and a Turkish university. The data were analyzed to make comparisons between the attitudes of university students towards consumerism, marketing practices and government regulations in Poland and Turkey. The empirical findings of the two quantitative studies indicate both significant differences and similarities between Poland and Turkey. This paper presents an initial focus on an important area of consumerism research, by comparing quantitative results of two developing countries. Keywords: Consumerism; Marketing practices; Turkey; Poland. 1. Introduction Consumerism has attracted a considerable amount of interest since the 1960s in the marketing literature. Several published studies have attempted to compare and contrast the attitudes of specific groups of consumers in both the east and west towards consumerism. However, attention has not been focused on consumerism issues in developing countries where consumerism is still growing.When looking at the earlier cross-national studies in consumerism, it is seen that few comparative studies include countries in transition such as Poland, which has established a new social order, but has not been able to change all aspects of its social structure, including official institutions and established legal practices. This study is a cross national study conducted in Poland and Turkey. Although Turkey is not a post-communist country, Turkey's economy was characterised by a heavy reliance on state intervention before 1980. Turkey accepted the concept and principals of a free market economy in 1980. This study aims to examine the changing market and consumer attitudes towards consumerism, marketing practices and government regulations since the transition to a free market economy in both Poland and Turkey, highlighting similarities and differences. This paper begins with a brief overview of consumerism literature; the next section presents a discussion of why these two countries were chosen for the study. The third section introduces the research survey instrument used to define the terms of the constructs of interest, and the related scale measures. The remainder of the paper discusses the empirical survey findings, and provides insights as to the contribution of this field of research to businesses that are willing to operate in Poland, Turkey and/or similar markets. The paper concludes with research contributions, limitations and recommendations for future study. 2. An Overview of Relevant Literature Consumerism can be defined as “a social movement designed to augment the rights and powers of buyers in relation to sellers” (Kotler, 2000). Kotler (2000) names the six major factors that contribute to the rise of consumerism as structural conduciveness, structural strains, growth of a generalised belief, precipitating factors, mobilisation for action and social control. According to Lysonski et al. (2003), consumerism, in essence, deals with consumer issues regarding a range of marketing related issues. The past 20-30 years have witnessed several conceptual and empirical studies, exploring consumer attitudes towards consumerism, marketing systems and government practices, both at national and cross-cultural level. National studies mainly focused on U.S. results. Significant findings such as those of Barksdale and Darden (1972) showed that most U.S. respondents (70%) thought that most manufacturers did not handle consumer complaints well. Kroll and Stampfl (1986) categorise U.S. consumers into 4 different consumer profiles according to their perceptions of consumerism.