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Purpose – A study of amateur gourmet chefs was conducted in order to expand our understanding of consumer resistance, and to theorize the relationship between culture, consumer culture, and material culture.

Methodology/approach – A semi-structured long interview approach was employed, so that the interviewees could relate their experience of cooking in their own terms. The methodology was inspired by the existential–phenomenological tradition in consumer research.

Findings – All eschewed participation in the market for cookware. They contend that “real” cooks value utility over all, and question the aestheticization, fetishization, and mass marketing of cookware to a general audience. Their responses reveal the role of culture, knowledge, information, socialization, and market structure on consumer values and beliefs, thereby bringing into question the concept of consumer agency.

Research limitations/implications – The interviews were conducted in only one geographic location and cultural milieu. Future research should examine these concepts in additional contexts.

Practical implications – The analysis reveals the basis of effective consumer resistance. In order to resist, consumers must reject citizenship in consumer culture and reconceive their political subjectivity. That said, such an approach only has emancipatory potential at the level of the individual. The interviews underscore the need for a continued critique of the operation of power in the market.

Originality/value of paper – Most of the extant literature focuses on cultural practices that have formed in response to practices within mainstream consumer culture. The cooks interviewed argued that their practice is rooted in traditions that precede consumer culture.

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.

Data were collected through focus group interviews with 20 Muslim respondents in Indonesia.

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.

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.

Although firm growth through the acquisition of independent players is at a record high, market reports reveal a parallel increase in independent firms that enjoy noticeable consumer support across industries and threaten MNC-owned brands in several countries. Despite this evident contrast, no research has investigated how independent firms stack up against their non-independent counterparts from a consumer perspective. This study examines this standoff and proposes that independent firms outperform their non-independent contenders in fostering perceptions of product craftmanship and warmth in specific product categories and cultures.

Three experimental studies were conducted across five countries (Study 1: N = 360; USA and China – Study 2: N = 487; UK and India – Study 3: N = 323; Italy). Data were analysed using experimental techniques (Analysis of Variance) and conditional process analyses (Moderated Mediation) using PROCESS.

The findings suggest that (1) firm independence fosters perceptions of product craftmanship and warmth in individualistic cultures, (2) consumers view products sold by independent firms as warmer and more authentic than products sold by non-independent firms in hedonic but not in utilitarian product categories, (3) the positive effects of firm independence on product craftmanship and warmth are neutralized for vertically collectivist cultures (India) and reversed in horizontally collectivist cultures (China), (4) loss of firm independence leads to higher drops in perceived craftmanship and product preference when it is caused by a takeover from a foreign multinational (compared to a domestic corporation).

This research provides a first account of how perceptions of firm independence drive assessments of product craftmanship and authenticity, elicit feelings of warmth and build product preference. The findings inform decisions of multinational corporations regarding (1) how to communicate the acquisition of independent firms in local markets, (2) how to balance an international brand portfolio in culturally diverging markets and different product industries, (3) how to optimize brand architecture through the relative exposure of the corporate brand image vis-à-vis the image of standalone brands owned by the corporation and (4) offer smaller independent players an alternative positioning strategy to differentiate from global competitors enjoying the resources or support of bigger corporations.

The world economy is becoming increasingly cross‐cultural. During the next decades, as marketers enter new international markets, an understanding of how culture influences consumer behavior will be crucial for both managers and consumer researchers. This article presents a framework that integrates and reinterprets current research in cross‐cultural consumer behavior. The framework also serves to identify areas that need further research and can be used as a template for marketers seeking to understand their foreign consumers. The article also attempts to integrate from an applied perspective two distinct traditions in the study of culture and consumer behavior: the anthropological approach and the cross‐cultural psychology tradition.

Given the ongoing globalization debate and lack of agreement about whether consumer cultures are predominantly globalizing, glocalizing, or localizing, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework designed to help clarify discussion and facilitate theoretical progress.

By integrating Rosch's categorization theory into the discussion of whether consumer cultures globalize, glocalize, or localize, several propositions can be formulated that help structure this discussion systematically.

It is demonstrated that arguments for global consumer culture (GCC) are most easily made at the superordinate level. However, their strength (versus glocal and local consumer culture) at the basic and subordinate levels is moderated by whether meanings associated with the consumption factor are primarily functional or symbolic.

Future research should empirically validate this initial effort. In addition, scholars should examine from a non‐western centric perspective whether GCC is emerging across the different category levels and meaning systems. Furthermore, emic research is needed to examine the emic meanings of the categories herein.

This proposed framework is also designed for marketing managers as a new tool to facilitate their global strategic planning.

This paper moves the GCC culture debate forward by integrating, for the first time, categorization theory into the discussion. This is of value for both academics and practitioners.

While the literature on migration highlights the reshaping of host and immigrant population in countries, there is a paucity of research in marketing investigating the evolving dynamics for acculturation. The purpose of this study is to further the understanding of the emerging phenomenon of acculturation and identity negotiation.

Three experiments examined situational ethnicity, self-construal and identity negotiation in home and host culture work and social settings. Study 1 and Study 2 were conducted in the United Kingdom (UK), where the host country is the majority population. Study 3 was conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where the host country is the minority population. Study 4 utilized qualitative interviews in both countries.

Results from all four studies show that ethnic consumers deploy “indifference” as an identity negotiation mechanism when the host society is the majority population (UK) and when the host society has the minority population (UAE).

The authors offer new insights into identity negotiation by ethnic consumers when the host society is the majority population as well as the minority population. “Indifference”, i.e. preferring to neither fit in nor stand out as an identity negotiation mechanism, is deployed in work and social settings of home and host societies. The authors also advance the existing literature on acculturation by examining whether independent and interdependent self-construal influence identity negotiation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of American culture-oriented values, Chinese culture-oriented values and self-improvement values on luxury value perception through acculturation by examining an acculturated sample (Chinese living in the USA), a host cultural sample (Caucasian-American) and a home cultural sample (Mainland Chinese).

In order to examine the acculturative changes of Chinese living in the USA in terms of the influence of American and Chinese culture-oriented values and self-improvement values on their luxury value perception, data were collected via three online samples: host (American), home cultural (Chinese) and acculturated (Chinese living in the USA). Effects of acculturation were tested via comparisons between acculturated to host and home cultural samples.

Compared to that of Mainland Chinese and Caucasian-Americans, luxury value perception of Chinese living in the USA is jointly influenced by both American and Chinese culture-oriented values. The influence of cultural values on luxury value perception of Chinese living in the USA is not strengthened by their wish to integrate into the American culture or to maintain their Chinese culture. Nevertheless, Chinese living in the USA show more significant self-improvement (standing out) and conformity (fitting in) motives in luxury value perception when they wish to integrate into the mainstream culture.

The authors surveyed acculturated sample, host and home cultural samples to test the bidimensional acculturation model (Berry, 1997) in the context of luxury consumption. Although the conceptual model is not fully supported, this research broadens current understanding of the effect of acculturation on luxury value perception.