CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR

Consumer Behaviour

Consumer Behaviour

1. Introduction

Acculturation and ethnicity are some of the concepts that are often used by researchers to explain consumption experiences of ethnic minority consumers. The paper attempts to add a new dimension to the existing literature dealing with acculturation and ethnicity by exploring some of the feelings that are associated with one's sense of belonging to a group. This paper will discuss the concept of 'Acculturation', and how does it help to understand consumer behaviour of ethnic minority consumers.

2. Discussion

There has been a growing interest in ethnic minority markets due to their growing size, purchasing power and geographic concentration. Large ethnic minority subcultures have been created in a number of countries due to worldwide immigration patterns of past many decades. In the UK, the ethnic minority community is forecast to double to 6 million within the next 30 years. In London alone almost 30 per cent of the population is set to come from the ethnic minorities in 15 years' time, making London almost certainly the most ethnically diverse capital in the world. Generally researchers have looked at UK consumption experiences of immigrants, and the impact of migration and resettlement on these experiences. Many of these studies have identified a trend (mainly in the UK towards ethnic awareness and expression of ethnic identity through buying behaviour among the immigrants. Such a trend warrants research on distinctive shopping characteristics of ethnic minority groups.

Furthermore, empirical evidence indicates that ethnicity and various levels of acculturation influence the shopping behaviour of ethnic minority groups. No wonder then ethnicity and acculturation emerge as important constructs in the study of consumer behaviour. Acculturation of ethnic minority groups, however, 'does not take place in a social vacuum; it occurs and unfolds itself within the context of intra-group and intergroup relations'. It thus becomes important to explore the way ethnicity is understood by the ethnic minorities themselves in relation to their interaction with the majority population. In other words how it feels to be a part of an ethnic minority group in a Western society and how such feelings affect day to day consumption choices of consumers belonging to the ethnic minorities.

Ethnicity implies many dimensions including 'a sense of common customs, language, religion, values, morality, and etiquette'. In simple terms ethnicity can be viewed as a characteristic of racial group membership on the basis of some commonly shared features. However, many argue that ethnicity is also a process of self-identification whereby individuals define themselves and others into specific groups using ethnic labels. At individual level, the process of self-identification or ethnic identity is part of one's self concept which is based on his or her knowledge of membership in a social group(s) together with emotional significance and value that is attached to that membership. In other words a person's ethnic identity involves one's sense of belonging to a group as well as the feelings that goes with being part of that group. In this sense, ethnic identity could be viewed as a complex psychological process that involves ...