Immigrants’ Approaches to Shopping: The Role of Acculturation in Determining Hispanics’ Consumer Decision Making Styles (CDMS)

Abstract

Consumer Decision-Making Styles (CDMS) refers to consumers’ mental orientations when making purchase choices (Sproles & Kendall 1986). Viewed as consistent patterns of cognitive and affective responses, CDMS was explored across countries (e.g. Hafstrom et al. 1992; Leng and Botelho 2010; Lysonski et al 1996) as well as among sub-groups within a single country (e.g., Ownbey and Horridge 1997; Shim and Gehrt 1996). However, it remains an under-researched domain in the intra-cultural context, specifically regarding the ways in which immigrants’ cultural adaptation processes (acculturation) affect these predispositions. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of two acculturation modes (Host Culture dominant vs. Original Culture dominant) on Hispanics’ CDMS, viewing acculturation as an antecedent that determines these unique behaviors.