A Multi-Country Study Exploring Relationships of Lifestyles to Ethnocentrism

Abstract

In this article, we study consumer market segments in four Latin American countries and one U.S. territory by using lifestyle patterns and ethnocentrism. We partition consumer ethnocentrism into low, medium, and high levels, and then investigate the relationship between each level of consumer ethnocentrism and lifestyles. Furthermore, the impacts of gender, age, and marital status on the relationship between ethnocentrism and lifestyle are explored. Data for the study were collected through self-survey in major cities in these countries. The results reveal very different ethnocentrism-lifestyle relationship patterns at different levels of consumer ethnocentrism among the five Latin American regions. Especially, at the high ethnocentrism level, consumer lifestyles have significant influence on the consumers' ethnocentric tendencies. In addition, we found that the older consumers at the high ethnocentrism level exhibit significant relationship to their lifestyle. However, we did not find any significant impact of gender and marital status on the ethnocentrism-lifestyle relationship. These findings have considerable implications for marketers who currently operate in or are planning to enter these markets in the near future.