Abstract
This work investigates the determinant factors of migrant consumers’ willingness to buy products originate from their home country. The unit of analysis in this study was Malaysian migrants in the UK and the analysis was based on 330 usable data gathered through an online survey. The results indicate that the migrants’ willingness to buy their homeland products was significantly and positively influenced by the migrants’ levels of national identity. This finding suggests that the stronger the migrant consumers’ association to their origin identity, the higher their willingness to purchase homeland products. The study provides a support that the migrant consumers’ positive attitudes towards homeland products were not determined by the migrants’ degree of ethnocentrism. The present study has implications for consumer behavior and marketing in multicultural societies.
Highlights
According to the United Nations (2014a), as at 2013, there were about 232 million of international migrants worldwide, and the number is expected to increase
Their study found the degree of cultural openness to be inversely correlated to consumer ethnocentrism. This is underpinned by Douglas and Nijssen’s (2003) later work which stresses that consumers who are keen on travelling abroad tend to exhibit favorable attitude towards foreign products
Hypothesis 2 is supported as the analysis showed that assimilation has a negative impact on migrants’ willingness to buy home country products
Summary
According to the United Nations (2014a), as at 2013, there were about 232 million of international migrants worldwide, and the number is expected to increase. Asians represented the largest diaspora group living outside of their region of birth and they accounted for about 19 million foreign-born living in Europe (United Nations, 2014b) Understanding how this migrant group functions as consumers in the host country is important to marketers in order to enhance customers’ satisfaction. Joppke (1999: 632) best illustrates this in the context of the USA, UK and Germany by subtly referring to the relationship with citizenship policies comprising legal status and identity The former denotes formal state membership (nationality) and the latter indicates shared understanding and practices that constitute a political community. The United Nations defines migrants as a collective group of people who live in countries different from the one in which they were born This group of transient migrants, though the length of residence is temporarily in nature is still engaging in acculturation process. This paper brings together different theories and methodologies to facilitate understanding of migrant consumers’ attitude towards products originated from their homeland in the context of multicultural societies
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
