Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

This research seeks to determine the extent of differences in consumer preferences between culturally-oriented and host offerings within a minority ethnic community. This study considered 530 Turkish-Dutch consumers. By employing Structural Equations Modelling (SEM), the relationship between ethnic identity, ethnic friendship, enculturation and acculturation on consumption of both heritage and host products was assessed. Both domestic and mainstream culture product consumption are evident. Ethnic identity and ethnic friendship plays a strong and significant antecedent role to heritage culture enculturation, which provides a strong and significant path to domestic consumption. Host culture acculturation is a strong and significant antecedent to mainstream consumption, with limited evidence of crossover relationships between cultural recognition and consumption, suggesting an acculturation ceiling and segmentation within this consumer grouping. The assessed marketplace is relatively uncomplex, with limited segmentation in existence. Marketers are best served by separately promoting culturally-oriented products to consumers with greater Heritage Culture Enculturation and their Mainstream equivalents to those demonstrating greater acculturation to the host Dutch culture. Ethnic communities have collectively big spending power as consumers. The findings point to how separate marketing strategies can account for both heritage and mainstream dimensions of consumer behaviour within a particular cultural group.