Markets in the Middle East often appear toward the higher end of CX scores, reflecting a tendency in some cultures to give more positive ratings on survey scales.
Global companies comparing customer satisfaction or brand perception across countries may be drawing misleading conclusions because cultural habits strongly influence how people answer survey questions, according to new research by Ipsos.
The study, “When Difference Doesn’t Mean Different,” examines customer experience (CX), brand health, employee sentiment and societal attitudes across more than 100 countries, concluding that cultural response bias remains deeply embedded in global survey data.
The phenomenon occurs when respondents from different cultures consistently favour certain points on a rating scale regardless of the question. In surveys using scales such as 1–10 or five-point Likert scales, some markets tend to select extreme scores while others prefer middle responses, making direct cross-country comparisons unreliable.
Ipsos analysed CX benchmark data collected between 2020 and 2025 across more than 30 industries, alongside global brand and employee datasets. The results broadly confirm earlier findings from a 2018 Ipsos study showing that systematic differences in response styles persist across markets and sectors.
For multinational brands running global customer experience programmes, these differences can create the illusion that some markets are outperforming others when, in reality, the variation may reflect cultural response styles rather than genuine differences in customer satisfaction.
Middle East markets among the higher scorers
The analysis shows that markets in the Middle East often appear toward the higher end of CX scores, reflecting a tendency in some cultures to give more positive ratings on survey scales.
In cross-sector CX benchmarks covering customer recommendation and satisfaction scores, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia appear among markets recording relatively strong ratings compared with many global peers.
Similar patterns are visible in Ipsos’ brand health benchmarks. In surveys measuring “brand closeness” — a metric capturing emotional connection between consumers and brands — the UAE and Saudi Arabia again appear toward the higher end of the scoring range in global comparisons.
Employee experience research reveals comparable trends. In a global database covering responses from about 2.8 million workers across 118 countries, Saudi Arabia and Qatar appear among markets where relatively high shares of employees say they feel proud to work for their company.
Patterns extend beyond CX surveys
The Ipsos analysis suggests that cultural response styles influence multiple forms of research, including brand perception and workplace sentiment surveys, not just customer experience programmes.
However, the study also finds that societal attitudes and political context can sometimes disrupt these patterns. When questions focus on broader social or economic issues, responses may reflect national debates or cultural norms rather than consistent survey-scale behaviour.
For example, in Ipsos Global Trends data, countries such as Egypt appear among markets with relatively strong levels of agreement on several societal attitude questions, highlighting how social context can shape responses.
Implications for global brands
Because cultural response bias can inflate or deflate scores, Ipsos cautions that simple comparisons of survey results across countries can be misleading.
Instead, companies should focus on alternative approaches such as comparing brand rankings within individual markets, tracking trends over time in each country, or calibrating responses against customer expectations.
The report concludes that while cultural response bias is unavoidable in global research programmes, its impact can be reduced through careful survey design and analysis — allowing companies to draw more reliable conclusions from international data.
