Romania - A country of contrasts
Fundamentally, Romanians are a collective and vulnerable culture, passive and reactive, as fear of failure is higher than the desire to succeed. Values such as tradition and conformism are a big part of the collective psyche, and they come from the historic need for security in the face of adversity. Romanians manifest a tendency to set themselves free of oppression (freedom from) rather that use freedom to build something (freedom to).
Being a Latin country surrounded by Slavic ones has also contributed to Romania’s particularities, from language to the taking on of individual responsibility: it’s easier to stand out as a crowd and show identification to one’s group rather than as an individual person.
Dissimulation (trained during the communist era) is, in many cases, coupled with creativity as a way to make one’s way through life. As a result, there is a low level of trust in leaders, either business or political.
The latest Ipsos Global Trends research shows Romania in the second to last position (among 25 countries) when it comes to trust in business leaders. Discrepancies between hopes placed in the new emerging business leaders, alongside politicians using the Covid context as the battleground, are two main factors explaining the situation.
There is a low level of trust in leaders, either business or political
Romania is a society full of contrasts: 94% of the population aged 16-74 are using the internet (13 million), yet 72% of them do not have basic digital skills as data from a National Statistics Instituts report for 2021 points out.
Furthermore, urban Romanians show very high propensity towards cryptocurrencies. According to a 2022 Ipsos study, four in ten Romanians own or have owned crypto currencies, and 84% intend to own them in the near future. One in two Romanians have heard of NFTs and 21% said they owned them.
Four in ten Romanians own or have owned crypto currencies
Also, the urban Romanian acknowledges the importance of ESG principles and values yet expects others to start changing the most rooted behaviors in this respect. A 2022 Ipsos study shows that 74% of urban Romanians think about themselves as behaving in an environmentally ethical manner. Despite this high figure, they place the main responsibility for fighting climate change on recycling companies (83%), on private companies (79%), on the Government (76%) and only then on their own selves (63%).
Romanians seem to embody well the saying that “He who has a ‘why’ can put up to any ‘how’”. “How many Romanians” is the question though, as the census conducted in 2022, 11 years after the previous one, announced two major pieces of bad news: the Romanian population is shrinking (because of migration and low natality rates) and the ones remaining are getting older. The average age was 40-years-old in 2015 and is estimated to go up to 49-years-old by 2050. The decrease from 23.2 million in 1990 to just under 19 million in 2022 (equal to the 1964 population) is turning everybody’s eyes towards the younger generation: who are they, what are their wishes, can we count on them?
The latest Ipsos Global Trends report for Romania (2022) is hinting at a couple of answers: younger Romanians (16-24-years-old) are more open towards the world in comparison with other age groups, as 86% of them believe that people across the world have more things in common than differences and they consider themselves citizens of the world to a significantly higher extent (69%) vs other age groups (between 31-57%). Young Romanians exhibit a higher tolerance for fluid gender identities, as 75% declared that transgender people should live their lives as they wish vs a maximum tolerance of 60% among the other age groups. Also, in their view, minorities are not treated fairly in Romania (only 40% agree vs 57-77% agreement from other age groups). Last but not least, they are also the ones considering that globalization is good for their country (69% vs 33-55% for the other ages), with 61% showing a preference for global brands over local brands.
In this cultural context, are a brand’s keys for success rely in supporting consumers’ tendency towards external locus of control, as this is the backbone of a culture at the crossroads of East and West, of Communism and free market, of individual responsibility vs collective assurance. To be successful among Romanians, a brand should exhibit both its complicit clin d’oeil towards consumers, and at the same time be a reassuring choice that provides or consolidates status rather than challenge it.
Alina Stepan