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

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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...