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The paper examines relationships between acculturation, affective attitude toward the advertisement (Aad), and purchase intention (PI) of Asian‐Indian immigrants. Our results indicate that (i) Aad as well as PI of Asian‐Indian immigrants for the Indian versus the American advertisements vary within and across the stages of acculturation: low, moderate, and high, and (ii) there is a strong positive relationship between Aad and PI. Our results imply that the degree of acculturation (DA) should be considered in advertising. Low and moderate acculturated Asian‐Indians would be more effectively reached by developing Indian advertisements depicting Indian cultural themes rather than American advertisements showing mainstream American culture. High acculturated Asian‐Indian immigrants should be reached by American advertisements rather than Indian advertisements. Our findings also confirm that the more consumers like an advertisement the more likely they are to indicate an intention to purchase the advertised product.

This study compares perceptions regarding Indian versus American print advertisements of Asian‐Indian immigrants residing in the United States of America. It examines whether these perceptions varied with their degree of acculturation. Our results show that when Asian‐Indian immigrants are treated as a homogeneous group without considering their degree of acculturation, the preferences for Indian versus American advertisements are mixed. However, when examined from an acculturative perspective, we find that as acculturation increased, subjects preferred American advertisements more, and Indian advertisements less. The results imply that degree of acculturation should be considered as a segmentation variable when developing an advertising strategy for immigrant consumers.

This chapter presents a cultural re-interpretation of race/ethnicity and sexuality in the American academy from the perspective of a gay man originally from India settled in the United States for more than 22 years. The reflection is based on experiences in graduate education in the United States during the closing decade of the 20th century.

The author employs a personal critical narrative, gaining insights and developing an alternative “voice” of race/ethnicity and sexuality other than what gets reported in the mainstream media and contrary to stereotyped representations. It involved resisting real and/or imagined lapses emerging in Asian-Indian contexts in areas such as ethnic gender role differentiation, heterosexism, improper academic practices, and unethical intellectual property infringement, while at the same time questioning the limitations of American gay white hegemonic dictates in a journey of self-discovery and self-growth.

The chapter identifies select strategies in the provision of information services that, had they been available during the author’s graduate education, would have better addressed (and supported) efforts to deconstruct and understand perceptions of unjust/prejudiced behaviors. The insights are meant to provide future directions to both individuals and institutions that are coping with similar needs, situations, and perceptions of people who are stuck between a rock and hard place owing to intersections in their multiple (and seemingly conflicting) identities (e.g., based on race/ethnicity and sexuality). The chapter calls for a more inclusive understanding of diversity-information-leadership intersections to better respond to the needs of such marginalized individuals and communities.

The purpose of this study is to explain the level of involvement of Asian‐Indian consumers residing in the US when purchasing Indian ethnic apparel and contemporary American clothing at different levels of acculturation.

Data were gathered by a questionnaire administered to 254 Asian‐Indian consumers from the southeastern United States.

Low levels of acculturation among Asian‐Indians did result in a higher level of involvement in Indian ethnic apparel. Consumers who were moderately acculturated to western culture were less involved in Indian ethnic apparel but became increasingly involved as they became more acculturated to the US culture. In conclusion, Asian‐Indians, who were new to the US, may try to identify with the new culture leading to a decline in involvement with Indian ethnic apparel. As these consumers became more comfortable in their new environment they may have felt a need to connect with their original culture, and this could have led to a renewed interest in Indian ethnic apparel.

This study fulfills a need for literature on how ethnic groups residing in a foreign land view products indigenous to their original culture across the stages of acculturation. Understanding consumer interests of targeted market segments and their impact on the overall population may benefit fashion marketers.

The importance of ties between older people and their children has been widely documented as a fundamental component in the provision and receipt of support. While the reference to such support is usually made in a benign manner, it is overly simplistic to assume that support provided by family members will always and necessarily lead to positive outcomes for older people. A person's perception of the adequacy or quality of support is inevitably influenced by his or her expectation of the type, frequency and source of support preferred or required. Most existing British research on the family support of older people has concentrated on those from the white‐British majority with little cross‐group comparisons. This article reports on in‐depth qualitative research with 17 and 21 older people from white‐British and Asian‐Indian backgrounds respectively. It demonstrates how gender, ethnicity, migration history and a range of other factors interweave in complex manners to affect individuals' expectations for support from their adult children. The findings reveal commonalities and differences within and between groups and demonstrate that the association between expectations of support and resultant sense of well‐being is complicated and is often conditional. Stereotypes within and across groups need to be examined given the observation that while familial norms may be played out differently in different cultural contexts, individuals make sense of and rationalise their expectations for support to take into account the dynamics of changing structures and attitudes.

The purpose of this study was to examine the health promotion behaviours of Gujarati Asian Indian immigrants in the United States. Although there is an abundance of literature on health promotion behaviours, research on Asian Indian immigrant’s health promotion behaviour remains unexplored. The research was conducted on a national sample of 261 Gujurati immigrants via survey questionnaire. Apath model was utilised to test predictors of health promotion behaviours among the respondents. Findings reveal that health promotion behaviours were positively associated with the respondent’s age, number of work hours and negatively associated with meal change to a more western diet. Implications for social work practitioners are discussed.

Religion's influence in consumer research remains under‐researched. This paper aims to explore religiosity's effect on culture and consumption by comparing Indians living in Britain, with Asian Indians and British Whites. The paper is relevant to both academics and practitioners who wish to understand the role of religion's influence regarding culturally determined consumer behaviours.

A questionnaire measuring family, self‐identity, materialism, possessions as status symbols and reference groups was administrated in London and Mumbai. Religiosity was measured by religious institution attendance and the importance of religion in daily life. A total of 415 questionnaires were submitted to factor analysis, identifying six factors. These factors were then submitted to Multinomial Logistical Regression (MLR), with the two religiosity themes used as influencing variables on the factors.

The analysis indicated that Indians living in Britain and British Whites sample groups were culturally less group‐ and consumption‐oriented than Asian Indians. Declining levels of religiosity produced mixed results for Indians living in Britain, when compared to Asian Indians, indicating that: attendance at a religious institution is not akin to viewing religion as an important aspect of daily life, a diversity of religiosity determined consumer behaviours across the Indian sample groups, and religion is an acculturation agent. The research, however, is limited owing to the small sample group and the need to maintain cross‐cultural methodologies.

Marketing practitioners should recognise the importance of religion in culture in Eastern cultures, while in Western cultures they should focus on the centrality and the need to use consumption to maintain the individual's sense of individuality.

There is anecdotal evidence that ethnic minority physicians are underrepresented in managed care contracts. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to determine ethnic Asian‐Indian physician‐managed care organization experience and job satisfaction in the USA by age, gender, region and percent of patients in managed care organizations.

A random (nation‐wide) mail survey was conducted of 254 physicians who were American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) members during the period 1998 to 2000. Managed care experience was categorized into physician satisfaction; service quality rating; service limitations; difficulties acquiring and maintaining managed care contracts; and financial impact.

Physicians in solo and group practice relied heavily on managed care enrolled patients. Limitations providing care to patients was a more serious problem than for those in staff‐model health maintenance organization and hospital/clinic‐based practices. Physician satisfaction was not significantly related to board certification, practice type, region and managed care participation. However, practice staff participating in managed care had the highest number of board‐certified physicians.

There was a low response rate (37 percent) to data collection using questionnaires.

The paper underlines ethnic minority physicians' capability to get managed care contracts.

This is the first national study of Asian‐Indian physicians and their managed care organization experience. Asian‐Indian physicians are over‐represented in the medical profession and hence the paper will interest those working and dealing with managed care organizations and their patients.

Tests the reliability of an empirical model designed by Szapocznik et al to measure acculturation levels of first‐generation immigrants. Applies model to a demographically diverse sample group of first‐generation Asian‐Indian immigrants in three cities near New York (USA) to establish levels of cultural and behavioural acculturation, and the relevance of demographic variables, such as gender, marital status, religion and occupation. Establishes a series of statistically significant correlations between the variables examined; compares these results with findings of other studies involving different immigrant groups. Asserts that the model provides a reliable basis for assessing acculturation characteristics of immigrants; concludes that the findings of this study provide an objective basis for the development of social and public policy aimed at accommodating acculturation needs of this particular immigrant group.

Purpose – This study examined the impacts of racial discrimination on the self-reported health among Asian Americans.

Methodology/Approach – This study investigated a subsample of 1,090 Asian Americans from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. Three-category measure of self-reported health was constructed ain. Racial discrimination experiences encompassed (1) interpersonal discrimination, (2) institutional racism, and (3) hate crime. Ordered logistic regression models were employed to test the association between self-reported health and experiences of racial discrimination among Asian Americans.

Findings – With respect to ethnic origin, South Asians showed lower levels of self-reported health than East Asians/Asian Indians. Although the baseline effect of each discrimination indicator was insignificant, there was an interactional effect between ethnic origin and racial discrimination, indicating the more interpersonal discriminatory experiences, the worse health status for South Asians.

Research limitations – There remained some limitations including data and the measures of racial discrimination.

Originality/Value of Paper – Despite the limitations, this study revealed that as a risk factor, how experiences of racial discrimination shape health disparities among ethnic groups in the United States, focusing on the heterogeneity within Asian Americans.