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“Multiculturalism” is a troubled concept, in a political as well as in a scholarly sense. What has triggered this paper is the authors’ experience of the hardships involved in understanding the power structures embedded in societies termed “multicultural”; we find ourselves equipped with a set of conceptual tools that are confusing, and with policy makers that compound that confusion. This presentation takes as its point of departure the tension engendered at the interface between popular democracy ground rules and minority rights, and turns in its second part to current political vocabulary in Norway. Thematically, the discussion moves from the intricacies of “cultural rights” to a closer look at the bias implicit in the benevolent phrase “fair terms of integration.” The suggestion is that hidden underneath the niceties, we find the unavoidable and seemingly unspeakable dilemmas of a welfare state confronted with non-economic, humanitarian principles. Let us be clear about one thing, however; the aim of this presentation is not to solve problems, but to face them.

Social media sites facilitate electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communication among consumers of diverse cultures and ethnicities. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the present research proposes a conceptual framework for minority consumers' engagement in eWOM associated with the mainstream culture. The model incorporates social capital and social interaction as key factors that affect cross-cultural eWOM communication between minority and mainstream consumers. This research also aims to explore the responses of minority consumers to eWOM communications originating with members of the majority group.

A structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure was applied to data collected from social media (Facebook) users (N = 539) from two minority communities: Israeli Arab and Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Jewish minorities.

The findings show that: (a) minority consumers' engagement with eWOM is indirectly related to social capital, (b) this relationship is mediated by minority consumers' attitudes and their subjective norms regarding eWOM engagement with dominant cultural groups, (c) social interaction of minorities with the dominant culture enhances the influence of social capital on eWOM engagement and (d) behavioural engagement with eWOM varies across cultural minorities, depending on the minority group’s unique cultural characteristics.

The findings have managerial implications for practitioners who use social media in their marketing and business activities, as they demonstrate that the effectiveness of eWOM communication is contingent on the cultural characteristics of the ethnic minority consumer groups being targeted by managers.

The present research contributes to the theory of consumer engagement by demonstrating that engagement is contingent on the intercultural social context in which eWOM is communicated.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of online identity orientation and online friendship homophily on online socializing, online information search and ethnic guests’ hospitality experiences.

The study uses structural equation modeling to test a conceptual model developed after reviewing hospitality literature. Data is collected from a sample of 514 Turkish-Dutch ethnic guests living in the Netherlands using a self-administered questionnaire.

The results show that online identity orientations aligned with minority and majority cultures impact online friendship homophily and online socializing, which subsequently impact online information search and hospitality experiences of ethnic guests.

On the whole, ethnic communities have considerable spending power. The findings point to heritage and mainstream cultural socialization accounting for travel and hospitality experiences within an ethnic minority group. The findings supply relevant information for hospitality sectors on services to endorse or promote to guests from ethnic communities.

The study examines the simultaneous effects of online identity orientations and online friendship homophily on online socialization and hospitality experiences of ethnic guests. It highlights the role of culture in explaining the use of social networking sites and its potential impact on hospitality-related behaviors and experiences of ethnic guest consumers.

Minority areas, with their cultural distinctiveness and a strong tendency to cultivate and preserve cultural identities, can offer guests special added value as tourist destinations. This study seeks to address whether and to what extent locals and guests of tourist areas populated by minority populations perceive and are aware of the uniqueness, variety and potential of the minority in a region.

Research has already been developed that analyses the inter‐relations between the local population and tourism, but is scarce regarding national minorities and tourism. This paper pursues a new research field focusing on the potential of tourist destinations that offer specialised characteristics due to their cultural, ethnic or minority populations. The authors carried out an empirical study using quantitative, standardised questionnaires in 2008 in two minority areas: South Tyrol, Italy (which has a Ladin minority population) as well as Transylvania, Romania (which has a German and Hungarian minority population). The South Tyrol situation is doubly unusual, because the Ladin minority population is a minority within the German minority region in Italy.

The study shows that ethnic minority populations can definitely offer added value for holidaymakers in tourist destinations. The special interest and attraction of these types of holiday stay for guests is explained, above all, by the varied cuisine and the locals' proficiency in languages (South Tyrol) as well as the specific architecture and the more extensive cultural offerings (Transylvania). In Transylvania no significant differences and in South Tyrol significant differences in the perception of the special cultural situation by locals and guests have been observed.

This study was confined to 250 interviewees per group and study region, due to budget restrictions. Compared to the volume of research on native population and tourism, research on minorities and tourist activities is quite new. Therefore this research paper provides only an exploratory study and could be developed further.

The paper shows that ethnic minorities, with their customs and traditions, languages and architectural styles, can definitely offer added value for holidaymakers.

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 experimental and potentially conflictual nature of diversity training is explained as integral to creation of effective organizational discourse and change in diversity. More effective understanding and management of these conflicts is needed. To explore how conflicts can be better understood and managed, explains patterns of US minority and majority ethnic identity developments; presents three hypothetical combinations of identity development paths across ethnic group members in multi‐cultural training; discusses potential problems, change issues and training needs.

This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent.

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low).

When such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider.

The findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality.

The study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies.

This research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.

Library services to meet the needs of ethnic minority groups are described, along with the guidelines within which librarians operate in the development of multicultural library services. The needs of ethnic minority groups are identified and the ways in which these needs can be met by the public library are demonstrated.