Ethnic Identity's Relationship to Materialism and Consumer Ethnocentrism: Contrasting Consumers in Developed and Emerging Economies

Abstract With the globalization of economies, and the escalating interactions among societies and individuals worldwide, international market segmentation has assumed greater importance. Much more than an economic and geopolitical phenomenon, globalization's effects operate at the societal and cultural levels, thus strongly affecting the individual consumer. As the locus of cultural effects, ethnic identity is a fundamental shaper of individual consumer behavior. The extensive discourse on the topic of globalization, identity and consequent consumer attitudes and behaviors is not backed by empirical research. The corollary is that knowledge of the outcomes of globalization on ethnic identity remains primarily anecdotal and speculative. Some authors contend that cultures are irrevocably converging, implying consumer attitudes, values and behaviors are becoming more homogeneous. Others counter that globalization reactivates ethnic and communal identities, thus entrenching cross-national differences. A third reckoning depicts a more complex outcome; with harmonization and fragmentation simultaneously occurring. Because globalization's effects distort across time and place, the impact is variable across industries, economies, cultures, and individuals. From sociology, world system theory evokes asymmetric flows of influence; specifically favoring the developed economies of the West ('the core') over developing regions ('the periphery'). Thus, a key inquiry concerns the differential impact of globalization on consumers living in developed versus emerging economies. Drawing consumers living in eight countries (Mexico, Chile, India, Hungary, Canada, Sweden, Greece, and South Korea), this research investigates the interrelationships among a set of values corresponding to and emanating from, global and local cultural flows; namely, ethnic identity, consumer ethnocentrism, and materialism. The focus is on identifying similarities and differences, in comparing consumers living in developed vs. emerging economies. In addition, three transnational consumer groups are examined, clustering consumers on the strength of affiliation to their national ethnic group (low, moderate and high). Ethnic identity (EID) is the locus of cultural effects. The extant literature testifies to the fundamental role played by EID in shaping consumer behavior. EID was operationalized as a multidimensional construct, incorporating the following facets: identification with and desire to maintain ethnic culture, interpersonal relationships with fellow ethic members, and local culture language usage. More than ever before, the forces of marketing and media, technology, travel and migration, transcend the borders of nation-states. This, according to many social scientists, presages the emergence worldwide of a materialistic, consumption-based orientation. Materialism (MAT) captures the significance of worldly possessions to the individual. Resistance to globalization should manifest through consumer ethnocentrism (CET). CET represents individuals' biases towards locally-produced products, and against products perceived as foreign/global which are perceived as economic and cultural threats. The antecedent relationships of key demographic segmentation variables (namely, age, education, income, age, sex, and family size) to the psychometric constructs are also assessed, within and between the different groups. To summarize, the main research questions are as follows: 1. Is consumer ethnocentrism a function of the strength of held ethnic identification, and is CET attenuated by higher levels of social affluence?2. Is materialism related to wealth and economic development, and is MAT apt to decrease with higher levels of felt EID?3. Which demographic variables are associated with what psychographic constructs (that is, EID, MAT, CET), and how robust are these relationships across levels of economic development and strength of EID? The study involved surveying consumers within one large urban centre, in each of the eight countries, using a snowball sampling approach. Urban areas are where transnational cultural flows are greatest. There were a total of 1752 usable questionnaires. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed, and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques (using AMOS) were employed to assess the interrelationships of the variables. The country samples were evenly split (4 countries each) into developed and emerging economies, based on socioeconomic indicators. Cluster analysis pinpointed transnational segments related to the strength of EID (i.e., low, moderate, and high). Multigroup SEM confirmed configural invariance as well as partial metric and scalar invariance between developed and emerging consumers' datasets. As expected, mean EID and CET levels were higher among individuals in emerging (vs. developed) economies. Likewise, the cluster analyses revealed that CET scores concomitantly increased alongside EID. However, mean MAT scores were equivalent across all 5 groups. Furthermore, the relationship between EID and MAT differed: being significant and positive for emerging-market consumers, while non-significant for developed-market consumers. The EID and CET relationship was significantly positive for both developed and emerging samples. The antecedent roles of demographics on the three constructs also differed considerably across the developed- and emerging- markets, as well as across the different EID clusters. The findings reported are important for international marketers evaluating global versus local branding and positioning strategies. The insights add significantly to the scarce research on transnational consumer segments; broadening our understanding of consumer behavior in a globalizing world.

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