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1 – 10 of over 1000Steven Lysonski and Srinivas Durvasula
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which young urban Nigerians in Lagos have become acculturated to global consumer culture and the impact of acculturation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent to which young urban Nigerians in Lagos have become acculturated to global consumer culture and the impact of acculturation on consumer ethnocentrism and materialism.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 165 young Nigerians living in Lagos completed a survey. The survey scales consisted of seven different dimensions of global consumer acculturation, ethnocentrism, materialism and demographics. All scales had strong reliabilities.
Findings
Nigerians were acculturated to a large degree in terms of cosmopolitan tendency, exposure to marketing activities of multinationals, English language usage, social interactions, and global mass media exposure. However, openness to emulate global consumer culture was moderate and identification with global consumer culture was very low. Acculturation affected consumer ethnocentrism and materialism to some extent.
Research limitations/implications
Only one segment of consumers in Nigeria was examined. Because the original scale for global consumer acculturation lacked psychometric rigor, we revised it using psychometric purification.
Practical implications
Nigerians may be in a state of transition as they adapt to global consumer culture. Nigerians may have some resistance in adapting to global consumer culture given ideological, nationalistic, and socio-economic conditions. International marketers must realize that a level of “glocalization” is required attuned to the identify and national character of Nigerians. The authors discuss the paradox that Nigerians have low identification with global consumer culture despite their exposure to global forces.
Originality/value
No other research has used the authors’ approach. The paper provides a fresh way of looking at Nigeria as it transitions into a global market and advances our understanding the connection of global consumer culture with ethnocentrism and materialism. The research can serve as a catalyst in looking at global consumer culture in Africa and in BRIC countries.
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Bidit Lal Dey, Sharifah Alwi, Fred Yamoah, Stephanie Agyepongmaa Agyepong, Hatice Kizgin and Meera Sarma
While it is essential to further research the growing diversity in western metropolitan cities, little is currently known about how the members of various ethnic communities…
Abstract
Purpose
While it is essential to further research the growing diversity in western metropolitan cities, little is currently known about how the members of various ethnic communities acculturate to multicultural societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore immigrants’ cosmopolitanism and acculturation strategies through an analysis of the food consumption behaviour of ethnic consumers in multicultural London.
Design/methodology/approach
The study was set within the socio-cultural context of London. A number of qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, observation and photographs were used to assess consumers’ acculturation strategies in a multicultural environment and how that is influenced by consumer cosmopolitanism.
Findings
Ethnic consumers’ food consumption behaviour reflects their acculturation strategies, which can be classified into four groups: rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment. This classification demonstrates ethnic consumers’ multi-directional acculturation strategies, which are also determined by their level of cosmopolitanism.
Research limitations/implications
The taxonomy presented in this paper advances current acculturation scholarship by suggesting a multi-directional model for acculturation strategies as opposed to the existing uni-directional and bi-directional perspectives and explicates the role of consumer cosmopolitanism in consumer acculturation. The paper did not engage host communities and there is hence a need for future research on how and to what extent host communities are acculturated to the multicultural environment.
Practical implications
The findings have direct implications for the choice of standardisation vs adaptation as a marketing strategy within multicultural cities. Whilst the rebellion group are more likely to respond to standardisation, increasing adaptation of goods and service can ideally target members of the resistance and resonance groups and more fusion products should be exclusively earmarked for the resonance group.
Originality/value
The paper makes original contribution by introducing a multi-directional perspective to acculturation by delineating four-group taxonomy (rebellion, rarefaction, resonance and refrainment). This paper also presents a dynamic model that captures how consumer cosmopolitanism impinges upon the process and outcome of multi-directional acculturation strategies.
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Reza Ashari Nasution, So Won Jeong, Byoungho Ellie Jin, Jae-Eun Chung, Heesoon Yang, Robert Jeyakumar Nathan and Devi Arnita
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on religious grounds.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through focus group interviews with 20 Muslim respondents in Indonesia.
Findings
The findings specifically highlighted that Muslim consumers’ acceptance of Korean products varied. Muslim consumers’ acceptance was influenced by similarities and differences in values between Islamic and Korean cultures. Consumers categorised into each acculturation mode (assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation) showed different behavioural patterns in Korean product acceptance. This study proposes that global products can be optimised through specific and targeted marketing campaigns for different types of Muslim consumers with products that comply with their religious values.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored the importance of religious values (e.g. righteousness, compassion and respect for others) with respect to the acceptance of foreign products in the acculturation context. Additionally, how values from other cultures reconcile with the Indonesian Muslims’ affinity for Korean culture has been limitedly studied. This study aims to fill these gaps by identifying the role of religious factors in the acceptance of global products by taking the example of Indonesian Muslim consumers and Korean products.
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Michel Laroche, Rong Li, Marie-Odile Richard and Muxin Shao
This study aims to investigate how consumers respond to global brands adapting to local elements. Specifically, this study identified three factors (i.e., cultural compatibility…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how consumers respond to global brands adapting to local elements. Specifically, this study identified three factors (i.e., cultural compatibility, cultural elements authenticity and cultural pride) affecting the purchase intentions (PIs) toward global brands using Chinese elements among Chinese consumers in China and Chinese immigrants in North America. Another aim is to examine the moderating role of acculturation in the relationship between cultural pride and PIs among Chinese immigrants.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies were conducted to test the hypotheses in China and North America. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the factor structure. Hierarchical regression was used to test the main effects and moderated regression analysis was used to test the moderation effect.
Findings
Results show that cultural compatibility, cultural elements authenticity (CEA) and cultural pride positively affect the PIs toward global brands with Chinese elements for both Chinese consumers and Chinese immigrants. Further, among Chinese immigrants, acculturation moderates the relationship between cultural pride and PIs.
Originality/value
This study explored the factors influencing the PIs toward global brands using Chinese elements, filling a research gap. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine how perceived CEA affects consumers’ PIs toward global brands with Chinese elements. Further, the findings have implications for global brands that want to target Chinese consumers and Chinese immigrants in overseas markets.
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Sigal Segev, Ayalla Ruvio, Aviv Shoham and Dalia Velan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of acculturation on immigrant consumers’ loyalty. The authors posit that the acculturation orientation of immigrants determines…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of acculturation on immigrant consumers’ loyalty. The authors posit that the acculturation orientation of immigrants determines their consumer loyalty to both ethnic and mainstream brands and stores.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of Hispanic consumers in the USA and consumers from the former Soviet Union in Israel, this study tests a model in which two acculturation continua, original culture maintenance and host culture adaptation, serve as antecedents for immigrants’ consumer loyalty.
Findings
Acculturation determines the extent of immigrants’ consumer loyalty. Both acculturation continua are associated with distinct loyalty patterns that are similar across the two immigrant groups.
Research limitations/implications
Despite sampling limitations, the paper demonstrates that immigrants’ acculturation orientation influences their loyalty to ethnic and mainstream brands and stores. Shared by ethnic consumers in two culturally diverse markets, this relationship transcends geographic boundaries.
Practical implications
The results provide insights for marketers with respect to the development of segmentation and positioning strategies and tactical implementations that address the preferences of ethnic consumers.
Social implications
This paper highlights the importance of understanding the unique needs of ethnic consumers and addressing them. Successful integration of immigrant consumers into the marketplace can also help in their integration into the host society at large.
Originality/value
Findings shed light on the commonalities and differences among immigrant groups in different national settings. The paper highlights the role of cultural transition as a key experience that affects immigrants regardless of specific environmental or situational circumstances.
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Mark Cleveland and Fabian Bartsch
The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework that highlights the reinforcing nature of global consumer culture (GCC). In doing so, this paper highlights a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework that highlights the reinforcing nature of global consumer culture (GCC). In doing so, this paper highlights a dialectic process in which consumers trade-off, appropriate, indigenize and creolize consumption into multiple GCCs.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is conceptual with illustrative examples.
Findings
GCC is a reinforcing process shaped by global culture flows, acculturation, deterritorialization, and cultural and geographic specific entities. This process allows consumers to indigenize GCC, and GCC to contemporaneously appropriate aspects from myriad localized cultures, producing creolized cultures.
Research limitations/implications
Marketing research and practices need to shift away from the dichotomous view of global and local consumption fueled by a misleading view of segmentation. Instead, marketers should focus on identifying the permutations of emerging GCCs, how these operate according to the context and accordingly position their marketing mix to accommodate them.
Originality/value
The proposed model reviews and integrates existing literature to highlight fundamental research directions that present a comprehensive overview of GCCs, its shortcomings and future directions.
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Angela Gracia B. Cruz and Margo Buchanan-Oliver
The consumer acculturation literature argues that reconstituting familiar embodied practices from the culture of origin leads to a comforting sense of home for consumers who move…
Abstract
Purpose
The consumer acculturation literature argues that reconstituting familiar embodied practices from the culture of origin leads to a comforting sense of home for consumers who move from one cultural context to another. This paper aims to extend this thesis by examining further dimensions in migrant consumers’ experiences of home culture consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyses data gathered through multi-modal depth interviews with Southeast Asian skilled migrants in New Zealand through the conceptual lens of embodiment.
Findings
Building on Dion et al.’s (2011) framework of ethnic embodiment, the analysis uncovers home culture consumption as multi-layered experiences of anchoring, de-stabilisation and estrangement, characterised by convergence and divergence between the embodied dimensions of being-in-the-world, being-in-the-world with others and remembering being-in-the-world.
Research limitations/implications
This paper underscores home culture consumption in migration as an ambivalent embodied experience. Further research should investigate how other types of acculturating consumers experience and negotiate the changing meanings of home.
Practical implications
Marketers in migrant-receiving and migrant-sending cultural contexts should be sensitised to disjunctures in migrants’ embodied experience of consuming home and their role in heightening or mitigating these disjunctures.
Originality/value
This paper helps contribute to consumer acculturation theory in two ways. First, the authors show how migrants experience not only comfort and connection but also displacement, in practices of home culture consumption. Second, the authors show how migrant communities do not only encourage cultural maintenance and gatekeeping but also contribute to cultural identity de-stabilisation.
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This paper seeks to explore whether predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation would differ across demographic segments in an emerging market (India)…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to explore whether predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation would differ across demographic segments in an emerging market (India). Further, the paper aims to investigate if predisposition towards foreign brands (acting as a proxy for forces of globalization) would lead to consumer acculturation among consumers in India.
Design/methodology/approach
Instruments to measure predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation were developed on the basis of extensive literature review. The data comprised of urban, educated, middle‐class Indian consumers. The data were collected using structured questionnaire. ANOVA and T‐test results were used to determine if extent of predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation would differ across demographic segments. Multiple regression analysis was used to test the impact of predisposition towards foreign brands on consumer acculturation.
Findings
The findings indicate that significant difference exists among various demographic segments with respect to predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation. Also, predisposition towards foreign brands does impact consumer acculturation among Indian consumers. Various demographic factors such as age, income and educational qualification level significantly affect this causal relationship.
Practical implications
This paper provides interesting insights about the buying behavior of Indian consumers. These insights would enable corporate managers to develop more focused strategies catering to the Indian consumers.
Originality/value
The paper empirically demonstrates that Indian consumers, when segregated into various demographic segments, do show significant differences in their predisposition towards foreign brands and consumer acculturation. It also ascertains that predisposition towards foreign brands does lead to consumer acculturation.
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Roy Toffoli, Michel Librowicz, Ahlem Hajjem and Issam Telahigue
This study investigates how direct cultural interaction between a supplier country’s personnel and host country purchasing decision makers (HCNs) occurring during the exporting of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study investigates how direct cultural interaction between a supplier country’s personnel and host country purchasing decision makers (HCNs) occurring during the exporting of professional, high-contact services can help shape the latter’s perception of the image of the supplier country and their willingness to buy its services or products. The article develops a theoretical framework that identifies those key drivers and their relationship.
Methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper based on a comprehensive review of the literature complemented by a pilot study with offshore executive MBA programs.
Findings
A conceptual model is developed with a series of testable propositions.
Practical implications
The framework should help companies and organizations involved in the exporting of such services devise programs to bolster the image of their country as a provider of these and other services and products.
Social implications
Trade in services is becoming a lifeline for many developed countries that have seen their manufacturing industries relocate to low labor-cost countries. Thus, it is imperative for these countries to bolster their COO to gain competitive advantage. Developing countries can also use such a framework as a means of improving the overall image of their own country and its products.
Originality/value
This research complements those rare studies done on the acculturation of HCNs by examining, for the first time, this process in the context of the exporting of professional services and on how it can lead to changes in the perception of the HCNs vis-à-vis the image of the supplier country.
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Swagata Chakraborty and Amrut Sadachar
The present study compared Indian consumers' attitude (AT) toward and purchase intention (PI) from Western apparel brands, as a function of their Western acculturation (WA)…
Abstract
Purpose
The present study compared Indian consumers' attitude (AT) toward and purchase intention (PI) from Western apparel brands, as a function of their Western acculturation (WA), consumer ethnocentrism (CE) in apparel consumption, consumer cosmopolitanism (CC) and country of residence (India vs the USA).
Design/methodology/approach
The sample included Indians residing in India and the USA, who were 19 years or older, and visited online or brick-and-mortar apparel stores. An online survey was administered through Amazon Mechanical Turk to collect the data. The data was analyzed through multi-group structural equation modeling.
Findings
WA engenders CE among Indian consumers, especially among Indians residing in India. WA and CC positively influence AT. CE did not have a significant negative influence on AT. Although a high CE lowers the PI, a high WA, CC and positive AT can translate into high PI.
Research limitations/implications
The study did not use an experimental design. Therefore, causal relationships between the research variables could not be explained. Majority of the respondents were male. This might have confounded the findings with potential gendered effects.
Practical implications
Western apparel brands targeting Indian consumers in India and the USA should focus on projecting their cosmopolitan and pro-Indian image to target this population's cosmopolitan and ethnocentric outlook, thereby enhancing PI.
Originality/value
The study proposed and empirically tested a conceptual model indicating the relationship between some of the important predictors of Indian consumers' PI in the context of Indians residing in the USA and India.
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