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The purpose of this paper is to bring international marketing and consumer research attention to multicultural marketplaces as a new focal research lens. It develops a conceptualisation of multicultural marketplaces, demonstrating why they constitute new conceptual territory, before specifying five key areas for research development.

The paper draws from seminal international marketing literature and other fields to propose perspective shifts, and suggest theories and frameworks of potential usefulness to the five research areas.

The paper conceptualises multicultural marketplaces as place-centred environments (physical or virtual) where the marketers, consumers, brands, ideologies and institutions of multiple cultures converge at one point of concurrent interaction, while also being potentially connected to multiple cultures in other localities. Five key areas for research development are specified, each with a different conceptual focus: increasing complexity of cultural identities (identity), differentiation of national political contexts (national integration policies), intergroup conviviality practices and conflictual relationships (intergroup relations), interconnectedness of transnational networks (networks), and cultural dynamics requiring multicultural adaptiveness (competences).

For each research area, a number of research avenues and theories and frameworks of potential interest are proposed.

The paper demonstrates why multicultural marketplaces constitute new conceptual territory for international marketing and consumer research; it provides a conceptualisation of these marketplaces and a comprehensive research agenda.

Cross-cultural influences are important considerations in the international marketing of luxury brands. These influences have predominantly been understood through cross-national approaches and the lens of glocalisation. The purpose of this paper is to study augments these paradigms by advancing the view of luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs.

A hermeneutic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews was conducted with luxury brand consumers in New Zealand.

The findings describe two cultural beliefs that convey divergent meanings and shape luxury brand consumption styles in a multicultural marketplace. More specifically, the authors illustrate that consumers can be influenced by and shift between both local and foreign cultural beliefs in a single national market.

The study offers a situated account of the New Zealand luxury market. Other cultural beliefs may be in operation in different national markets.

This paper makes three contributions to the international marketing of and cross-cultural considerations for luxury brands. First, the authors illustrate that cultural diversity must be considered not only at the cross-national level, but also at the intra-national level. In particular, the authors show that the global-local dichotomy in cross-cultural luxury branding needs to be augmented with the local-foreign dimension. Second, this is the first study in this area to empirically demonstrate the impact of multicultural marketplaces on luxury brands, where consumers emerge as contextual cultural shifters. Third, the authors advocate a shift from the prevailing glocal approach to a new multicultural approach in luxury branding.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a more thorough understanding of cognitive social capital (shared representations) building in a multicultural marketing context.

An ethnographic study with in-depth interviews and observations are used to explore how Chinese entrepreneurs utilize cultural metaphors to build their cognitive social capital in the USA. Both Chinese entrepreneurs and their American stakeholders (consumers and business associates) are interviewed.

The three themes from the findings are cultural conceptual blending, frame shifting with stereotype dilution and metaphor conversion. These form the sub-processes of an overall process the authors name “cross-cultural shifting.” The use of visual and verbal cultural metaphors by the Chinese entrepreneurs leads to conceptual blending, a process of blending of elements and relations from various scenarios in the mind. A frame shifting and stereotype dilution follows, culminating in the conversion of the cultural metaphors into the deep (universally recognized) metaphors of resource and connection.

Given that metaphors are one manifestations of culture and also effective for communicating universally, they play a role in cognitive social capital building in a multicultural context. This exposition calls for further research the utilization of cultural metaphors in international marketing.

The variability in communication and comprehension of business stakeholders from different cultures influence their cognitive social capital building (cooperative behavior to exchange resources). This makes it imperative for multicultural marketers to understand the use of cultural metaphors to enhance cognitive social capital in a multicultural context.

This exposition on cross-cultural frame shifting will result in improved knowledge of the role of cultural metaphors in enhancing multicultural understanding, shared representations and cognitive social capital in international marketing.

In today’s globalized world, countries are becoming increasingly multiethnic. This raises questions about the different dimensions of consumers’ territorial identities, and how these dimensions are differentiated, interrelated and interlinked. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using qualitative interviews, this paper investigates how (40) respondents from two different ethnic minorities in a country that is not necessarily considered multiethnic perceive these dimensions of territorial identity (ethnic, regional and national) as a constituent element of their own person and of their behavior.

The authors highlight that these three dimensions of territorial identity co-exist as independent entities; they are distinct but interrelated and interconnected. Furthermore, idiosyncrasies in the ethnic sub-samples are investigated and described. These are related to the connection to the country of residence (being born there vs having immigrated there). Finally, avenues for future research, such as expanding the concept of territorial identities and its connection to consumer behavior, are suggested.

The authors extend the bipolarity commonly used in territorial identities (global vs local or ethnic vs national) to three conceptually independent dimensions. The authors explore the relationships between these dimensions of territorial identity and show that they may not conflict but, instead, co-exist.

There is increasing recognition that a marketing, customer-based perspective in merger and acquisition (M&A) processes is needed. However, there is still limited information about how customers experience an acquisition and whether merging firms perceive their customers as assets to trade or as stakeholders to engage. In this chapter, the authors aim to contribute to this knowledge gap by developing a research agenda that incorporates a customer-based perspective in the investigation of M&A. The authors achieve this aim by reviewing 40 articles published in economic, marketing and management journals that examine customer and marketing issues in M&As. By engaging with existing studies and their hidden assumptions and drawing inspiration from current trends in the analysis of consumer behavior, the authors suggest four research avenues to inform future studies and to increase our understanding of M&As from the customer perspective.

Studying the cultural dynamics of expatriate amateur theater in Brussels, the purpose of this paper is to investigate multicultural marketplace development in global cities.

The paper performs an interpretive analysis of the expatriate amateur scene from an ethnographic perspective, combining observations of rehearsals and performances, in-depth interviews with actors, directors and audience, and secondary data.

The fluidity of global cities allows their inhabitants to engage in creative processes of cultural experimentation, performing a continuous back-and-forth movement between hybridization and pluralization. The former creates enough homogeneity for the expatriates to feel targeted; the latter ensures a level of cultural diversity necessary to satisfy their cosmopolitan aspirations.

The paper points to the important role of global cities for cultural experimentation. Such cities are not only an interesting market for culturally diverse products, but also experimental hubs. Managers willing to address multicultural marketplaces might target these markets with dynamic cultural offers that ensure a balance between rendering a product globally appreciated and recognizable, and maintaining a cosmopolitan appeal for consumers in search of diversity.

Drawing on global cities as markets in continuous reconstruction and subject to cultural experimentation, the paper turns the attention of the research community to the collective, reflexive, and experimental aspects of symbolic consumption. It shows how arts and cultural products represent valuable contexts for international marketing research, providing original insights into market dynamics and cultural experimentation.

This paper aims to understand the social dynamics surrounding the consumption of non-native, ethnic cuisines in the multicultural context of an Asian city.

Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 21 culturally diverse residents of Dubai. Data were analysed inductively, leading to the emergence of three themes characterising social dynamics underpinning the consumption of non-native cuisines in an Asian multicultural environment.

Three types of social dynamics were identified: instrumental uses, expressive uses and conviviality considerations.

The study suggests that the different types of cultural dynamics at play have different roles; some act as influencing or constraining factors in the everyday practice of multicultural consumption, whereas others are used more proactively as enablers.

This paper contributes to the authors’ understanding of how people “practice conviviality” in multicultural marketplaces, providing insights into the complex social dynamics, underpinning the consumption of non-native cuisines in multicultural marketplaces. Although the consumer literature on food and cuisines has acknowledged the social influences surrounding cuisines and food consumption, these have typically been viewed in a single block. This study shows the importance of conviviality considerations in non-native cuisine consumption. Further, the paper shows that the consumption of non-native cuisines is an everyday practice in a multicultural context, which is used with varying degrees of proactiveness for social lubrication and multicultural socialisation.

While researchers have argued that multicultural marketplaces are conceptually different from other types of marketplaces, the marketing literature has only recently begun to develop multicultural perspective studies, and very little research has been done to examine intergroup complexities in consumption contexts (Demangeot et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to fill this research gap by developing and empirically testing a research model to examine the effects of socio-political constructs and intergroup-based emotional variables on consumer decisions to consume cross-ethnic products.

A questionnaire designed to assess the effects of socio-political constructs and intergroup-based emotional variables on consumer decisions to consume cross-ethnic products was developed and administered to 294 students at a Midwestern US university. The data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) techniques.

Results indicate that all path coefficients are significant. Social dominance, intergroup anxiety and intergroup experience were found to be important predictors of intergroup tolerance and, importantly, intergroup tolerance was found to significantly affect consumer attitude toward cross-ethnic products.

In terms of limitations and future research implications, this research suffers from inherent limitations associated with self-reported survey research in a limited geographic region. Accordingly, study respondents may not be representative of consumers across the nation or the world, the respondents may not have understood the questions in the intended manner, and reported intentions may not reflect actual behaviour. This study was conducted among college students, but other target segments may have different intergroup experiences and perceptions of ethnic products.

Findings from this research suggest that firms offering ethnic products can increase crossover consumption appeal by implementing marketing communication programmes that integrate cultural forums and event tactics to promote positive intergroup experiences and tolerance among their multicultural customers.

Regarding policy implications, public policymakers and social thinkers may use the findings of this study as a prism to better explicate intercultural dealings among multicultural consumers. The contention of this study about public policy implications is supported by Neal et al.’s (2013) perspectives on how consumption situations can serve as a lens for explicating intergroup emotions in multicultural marketplaces.

This is one of only a few studies in marketing to assess the effects of socio-political constructs in a consumption context. This is the first known study to underscore the importance of intranational ethnic differences and assess the effects of socio-political and intergroup-based emotional variables on attitude to consume ethnic products, specifically.