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The notion of “boundary” is central in both consumer acculturation research and migrants’ daily experience within and beyond the market. Yet, scholars have rarely questioned this concept and thus made it a taken for granted that conceals more than it reveals. Our study aims at moving from the etic notion of boundary we use as consumer acculturation scholars to an emic notion of boundaries, here grounded on an ethnographic inquiry of Moroccan mothers and daughters in France. This chapter shows that (1) the notion of boundary is much more articulated than expected, since migrants may use up to five different typologies of boundaries (national, ethnic, religious, biographical, and generational) in order to organize their experience; (2) first and second generations tend to attribute different meanings to these boundaries; and (3) boundaries represent problematic conceptual references in migrants’ life, which ask for specific coping strategies (crossing the borders, melting the borders, and pushing the borders). Overall, this chapter provides a more sensitive, blurred, and critical representation of boundaries, which – we hope – will stimulate sounder acculturation research. With reference to the limitations of our work, while we identify the variety and interpretive heterogeneity of boundaries migrants use to frame their experience, we limitedly address how such boundaries are performed.

The previous literature has often focussed on Asian migrants’ acculturation to western cultures with data collected in the western contexts. The purpose of this paper is to explore western consumers’ acculturation to East Asian cultures and their consumption behaviour, which fulfils the research scarcity in this area.

This study was conducted via carrying out in-depth interviews with 18 British sojourners in China, exploring how they acculturated to Chinese culture, with a particular focus on their food and media consumption choices. This study applied inductive qualitative data analysis to build on but explore beyond existing theory.

The findings show that British consumers display a diversified acculturation strategy towards different products. They present an integrative approach to food consumption with a negotiable identity to host culture value whilst they adopt a separated approach relating to traditional media consumption, showing a non-negotiable consumption stance. They apply an assimilated approach for pragmatic reasons in terms of social media adoption.

British sojourners in China hold a different cultural stance in different areas of consumption. The study contributes to existing theory by arguing the complexity of a continuous negotiation process between different value systems in sojourning consumers’ consumption choices, which existing acculturation models have not yet examined. By emphasising the context speciality, the findings give marketers clear marketing implications when targeting sojourning consumers who declare their value stance via consumption practice.

The purpose of this study is to assess differences between the guidance offered by cultural studies in the services literature and the retailing literature for emerging markets. To research these differences, the role that the contact person has towards South African township residents' willingness to buy is to be assessed.

A services quality survey of black (ethnic Xhosa) township residents was performed for two different retail types: new, small, independently owned grocery retailers located within the townships, and established, large, national chains located within the city centres. The influence of these services quality measures on willingness to buy was assessed using the partial least squares method for each of the two retail types. Differences between the model parameters for these two retail types were assessed using ANOVA.

The results show that, consistent with the retailing literature, the contact people in these new, small, local and independently owned retailers focus extensively on empathy to influence willingness to buy, while the contact people in the large, traditionally white‐owned national retailers jointly focus on assurance and responsiveness to influence willingness to buy, and spend very little effort on empathy.

Research implications are based on the usefulness of supporting theory, namely that the guidance offered by the cultural studies in the retailing literature is more predictive than that in the services literature for the emerging South African retailing market.

It is found that core elements in relationship marketing are well ingrained in collectivist Xhosa cultural norms. The results suggest that these cultural norms can, and should, be leveraged by the new independently owned grocery retailers.

The research addresses a key concern within emerging markets and offers practical help for retail development within this dynamic economic setting.

Purpose – In the context of international human mobility and common personal life transformations, this article focuses on the impact of such transformations on emotional attachment to places of origin.

Design/methodology/approach – A combination of phenomenological interviews with 13 Latin American migrants living in Belgium, and poetry composition by the author.

Findings – Drawing on this empirical work, the article illustrates (i) how, after many years of successful international mobility, some migrants still experience, occasionally and with different intensities, a desire to return home – homecoming tendencies; and (ii) how consumption-related activities support consumers in nourishing these personal returning tendencies, therefore enabling them to avoid disappearing from view in the territories from which they departed.

Originality/value – The notion of homecoming tendencies contrasts with that of home maintenance, by demonstrating how preserving one's home in departure lands is also a matter of caring, commitment, and contributing back home. Such gestures are inextricably linked with consumption-related activities such as housing decisions, the adoption and export of cultural ideas, traveling, working, celebrating, all in departure contexts. These activities often involve current inhabitants of those territories, such as local designers, constructors, tourism services providers, colleagues, students, and family members.

India has an over-180-million Muslim population, which makes it an ideal marketplace for halal products. However, not much research has been done to understand the opportunities and challenges pertaining to halal business in India. The purpose of this study is to explore and examine how halal products are perceived by the Indian consumer and how these products are creating values for a larger consumer base.

The paper opted for an exploratory study using an inductive approach. To understand the peculiarities of the issue, the authors also used the case-research approach to develop a broader understanding of the topic.

Findings of this study show that the market and consumers are increasingly becoming more aware of halal products in India. Further, the demand for such products is no longer limited to Muslims. Halal products have also become an attractive option for consumers, as they are also addressing safety and environmental concerns. This is an essential factor for a flourishing certification business in India.

A limitation of this study is a quantitative study which could have been conducted to confirm the findings of this research. Further, the sample was limited to participants in the age group of 21-30 years. Older people might share a different perspective on halal products because they are believed to be more experienced and socially conscious. Further, our cases were limited to a certifying agency and cosmetics agencies.

One important implication of this study is that it reaffirms the success of Islamic branding in the India context. Though this research was carried out on a limited scale, it opens up opportunities to examine the halal phenomenon in more detail. Acceptability of halal products among non-Muslims is a sign of growing tolerance among different communities to accept and adopt culture and practices of a different religion in their daily living.

The authors have observed that halal products and Islamic branding as a whole can positively help in reshaping the image of Islam across the globe. Observations such as identifying halal products being eco-friendly reflects the increased sensitivity among the consumers in the developing nations, which were earlier a behavior common among the Westerners.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no other study has been done to explore the halal product market and consumers’ perception in the Indian context. This is particularly an important contribution because India is a home for over 180 million Muslims and a marketplace worth trillions of dollars. Further, past research in the area of religious marketing was limited to conceptual papers. This paper is an attempt to re-initiate discussion through empirical studies on Islamic branding in the emerging economies context.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the impact of halal logo as an extrinsic food packaging cue on perceived food quality moderated by the role of consumer knowledge.

An exhaustive literature review has been undertaken for the conceptual development. The nexus between halal logo and perceived food quality has been developed which provides a foundation for the further research.

The findings of this paper indicate that the halal-labelled products create a psychological impact about the quality of the food product.

This paper presents a brief overview of the lucrative opportunities in halal business for Pakistan. The findings of this paper can be adopted by the marketers for the development of proper marketing strategies. The empirical investigations of this paper could offer the base to the marketers to invest in favorable product packaging cues. The role halal logo as a food quality indicator has previously been overlooked in the literature. The impact of halal logo on food quality perception is emergent with avenues for study across various cultures and religions.

This is a useful paper which proposes a useful testable model for study in Pakistani consumer market to fill the gaps of Islamic consumer behavior literature.

The purpose of this paper is to present an exploration of the leadership competencies developed by UK GPs through having undertaken international work and the ability to transfer these competencies back to the UK.

The approach taken is a cross-sectional survey.

A total of 439 UK-based, ranging from GP specialty trainees to retired GPs who had worked overseas, responded to an online survey of UK general practice and international work. Doctors were asked to report competency development through international work using the domains of the Medical Leadership Competency Framework (MLCF). The most common competencies developed, to a “moderate or significant” degree, related to “personal qualities” (89 per cent) and “working in teams” (87 per cent). To a lesser extent Doctors developed competencies in “setting direction” (60 per cent), “managing services” (59 per cent), and “service improvement” (56 per cent), and found these competencies harder to transfer back to the UK. A common reason for limited transfer of competency was the lack of leadership opportunities for Doctors when returning to UK locum roles. Overseas posts were more common in low/middle income countries, and these Doctors reported a greater range of leadership roles, including in health policy, management and teaching, compared to high-income countries. Most doctors felt that they were able to develop their clinical skills overseas whilst relatively few Doctors performed research, especially in high-income countries.

To the authors' knowledge this is the first cross-sectional survey exploring the international work of UK GPs and leadership development using the MLCF domains.

The aim of this paper is to address intertype cross-shopping behavior – that is, the behavior that characterizes consumers who divide their grocery shopping between two or more different food formats. In particular, the study attempts to shed light on the cross-shopping phenomenon by employing a new research approach that examines format-selective use. Thus, the study examines how various factors, especially way of life aspects typically associated with food consumption, drive consumers to cross-shop between different food formats.

The study employs data collected from two surveys involving 637 Israeli Jewish and Arab consumers. The conceptual framework and hypothesis are tested using multiple regression analyses.

The empirical results support our claim that the research approach applied in this study better explains the cross-shopping phenomenon. Specifically, the analysis provides strong support for the effect of consumers' way of life on cross-shopping behavior.

The paper provides managerial and planning implications to modern retailers and managers of international retail firms that operate in or plan to enter non-Western markets.

This paper contributes to the available literature in several ways. In particular, the paper suggests a systematic and comprehensive conceptual framework that identifies the key determinants of cross-shopping decisions and the relations between these and supermarkets' market share growth.

This paper aims to deal with the issue of researchers’ responsibility for the dissemination of ideologies which have led to the cultural marginalisation and categorisation of minority social groups into a dominant/dominated relationship in France. One telling example is the way ethnic segmentation – as now used in marketing – finds its roots in the colonial paradigm.

A critical and analytical review of the literature on ethnic marketing.

The current paradigm which splits the world into centre and periphery or dominant and dominated, in the French context, is not the only existing one. In the framework of postcolonial studies, researchers in marketing now approach the ethnic market by being as close to consumers as possible and by adapting their methodology to the Consumer Culture Theory.

Some researchers have become aware that the feeling of ethnic self-identification would not exist without the involvement of the dominant group who imposes their view on minorities. As to multicultural individuals, minorities have to adjust to a great variety of social situations by drawing from a set of available cultural identities. It is therefore more a question of multiple selves than ethnic identity. Multicultural individuals create their own identity and co-create new social categories from the grey area between dominant and dominated groups. The postcolonial approach raises the question as to whether ethnicity is a mere ideological construct with no underlying reality but the actual domination of minorities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of consumer ethnocentrism and country of origin across different immigrant communities.

A survey was used to collect data from immigrants in the USA and Mexico.

For immigrants with high levels of ethnocentrism, the bias for home and host country products interacts with the country of origin effect and creates multiple scenarios where the two effects move in the same or opposite directions. For immigrants with low levels of ethnocentrism, on the other hand, the country of origin effect alone is salient.

The authors used a modified version of CETSCALE. Future research should revisit the content and dimensionality of consumer ethnocentrism in immigrant and other multicultural settings.

Both scholars and practitioners should exercise caution when working with ethnocentrism and country of origin as today’s societies are increasingly multicultural, which requires major modifications to the theories and tools.

Similar to ways in which the US Census Bureau enabled multicultural consumers to assert their mixed identities, scholarly and business circles should embrace multiculturalism and empower immigrants.

Previous studies of consumer ethnocentrism and country of origin in multicultural contexts have restricted themselves to only one pattern of migration: consumers who move from developing to developed countries. The paper addresses this limitation by investigating various patterns of migration (including lateral, upward and downward) in multiple first-generation immigrant communities in two countries.