Ethnic Market Research Articles

A text mining and topic modelling perspective of ethnic marketing research

This study presents an enhanced automated approach based on literature analysis and synthesis for establishing the dimensions of the ethnic marketing literature, covering a set of 239 journal articles published by nine major publishers. The approach reported is enhanced by two novel procedures to address previously identified limitations, namely: definition of a relevant dictionary based on both a sufficient lexicon extracted from a definition of the core theme and a conditional dictionary, with related but non-core terms; and a visually appealing pictorial representation to summarize the discovered topics. The application of the method to ethnic marketing indicates that ethnic marketing research is characterized by high conceptual heterogeneity, although a clear definition of “ethnic marketing” is imperative for research development. Overall, the paper advances an approach with considerable scalability advantages when compared with extant approaches, an important issue to consider when textual sources become big data.

How the Opioid Addiction Crisis Was Rendered ‘White’

The opioid crisis and its effect on suburban and rural white populations has focused attention on socioeconomic factors. Yet the fastest rising rate of opioid deaths is in African-American communities where the response to addiction has largely been punitive.

Ethnic economies in the age of retail chains: comparing the presence of chain-affiliated and independently owned ethnic restaurants in ethnic neighbourhoods

ABSTRACTMany entrepreneurs in ethnic economies start out by serving fellow community members in their local ethnic neighbourhood. Large corporations, however, are creating retail chains that target the ethnic market and expand into ethnic neighbourhoods. Little research has determined the extent to which chain retailers are co-existing or overtaking independently owned businesses in such places. This paper uses negative binomial regressions on over 50,000 ethnic restaurants in the New York metropolitan area taken from Yelp.com in 2015 to demonstrate the pervasiveness of the ethnic chain restaurant industry in ethnic neighbourhoods. For ethnic populations whose cuisines are very popular with mainstream consumers, such as Italians, Chinese, and Mexicans, results follow the traditional theory in which chains are more likely to locate away from ethnic neighbourhoods. For groups whose cuisines are less popular, such as Caribbeans, Indians, and Koreans, however, a new pattern emerges in which chains exist alongside independent businesses in ethnic neighbourhoods. In some cases, chains are more likely than independently owned restaurants to locate in ethnic areas, which may complicate the ability of local communities to form ethnic economies and confound the ways in which ethnic economies can help immigrants achieve socioeconomic mobility.

Years of Since Migration: On the Motivation to Reexamine the Role of Immigrant Selectivity in Black Ethnic Labor Market Disparities

This comment is a response to Model's () critique of my article, “Labor Market Disparities” (Ifatunji ).

Race and Retail: Consumption Across The Color Line eds. by Mia Bay and Ann Fabian

Reviewed by: Race and Retail: Consumption Across The Color Line eds. by Mia Bay and Ann Fabian E. James West RACE AND RETAIL: Consumption Across The Color Line. Edited by Mia Bay and Ann Fabian. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press. 2015. Over recent years, the phrase "shopping while black" has entered common parlance to describe the experience of being denied service, being given poor service, or being racially profiled in a retail setting. Indeed, the prevalence of misplaced accusations of theft by department store officials against black customers prompted a number of prominent retailers such as Bloomingdale's and Macy's to introduce a "Customer Bill of Rights" in 2013. The Bill outlined a commitment to "ensuring that all shoppers, guests, and employees are treated with respect and dignity and are free from unreasonable searches, profiling, and discrimination of any kind in our store." While this initiative has been dismissed by detractors as a marketing ploy that merely pays lip service to racial equality, its introduction is a reminder that ongoing retail discrimination against people of color "has deep roots in the social and economic divisions that structure American society" (2). It is these roots which Mia Bay and Ann Fabian seek to examine in this welcome addition to the rapidly expanding literature on race, consumer activism, and the retail sector. Bay, a Professor of History and Director of the Center for Race and Ethnicity at Rutgers, and Fabian, a Professor Emeritus of History and American Studies at the same institution, have assembled a diverse cast of contributors whose work reaffirms the historical significance and continuing salience of race and ethnicity in shaping everyday shopping experiences and interactions. Given the scope and complexity of the subject at hand, it is unsurprising that this collection stretches across a number of geographical, chronological and disciplinary boundaries. To help organize the work, its editors have divided the book into three broad sections: "Race, Place and Retail Spaces", "Race, Retail and Communities", and "The Inner Landscapes of Racialized Consumption." The first of these sections, "Race, Place and Retail Spaces", provides a selection of historically focused case studies which range from urban centers in the northern "ghetto belt" and the Mexican borderlands in the South to retail spaces in South Africa. Mia Bay, Naa Oyo Kwate and Traci Parker's essays provide new insights into the well-trodden terrain of African American retail activism, while Geraldo Cadava and Bridget Kenny offer a transnational perspective on the complex intersections of labor, consumption, and ethnic market segmentation. Part II, "Race, Retail and Communities," explores the impact of race and ethnicity in configuring the marketplace experiences of particular communities. Perhaps the most valuable contribution is John W. Heaton's essay on subsistence shopping in Interior Alaska, which pushes back against scholarship focusing on native appropriation and resource loss to argue that market engagement helped Alaskan Athabascans "preserve rather than destroy their distinct cultural identity" (124). Ellen Wu's chapter also makes a strong case for how the commercialization of Chinatown played a critical role in the "extraordinary racial makeover" of Asian Americans from insidious Orientals to a "model minority" (141). The final part of the book, cryptically titled "The Inner Landscapes of Racialized Consumption", appears to contain contributions which did not fit neatly into the first two sections. This is not necessarily a criticism, as there are a number of valuable essays to be found here, ranging from Melissa Cooper's discussion of "selling voodoo" in American cities during the early twentieth century, to more theoretical discussions into the relationship between retail access and public health. While readers will be able to find weaknesses in this collection, it would be unfair to apportion much blame for this to the book's editors. Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to find a more accomplished duo than Bay and Fabian to pilot this project. Instead, they speak to the size and scope of their efforts to document the "myriad intersections between [End Page 126] race and retail and open up still more avenues for investigation" (10). As with all edited collections, the individual essays here vary in quality with regards to argument, archival engagement and originality. However, when taken as...

Ethnic marketing practice and research at the intersection of market and social development: A macro study of the past and present, with a look to the future

This paper utilizes historical and ethnographic research methods in formulating a framework that tracks ethnic minority marketing pertaining to Latinos/as in the U.S. as it has developed in response to changing social relations over time. Discussion then develops a series of propositions regarding the distinct effects in ethnic marketing in enabling and validating ethnic minority consumers' production of identity and community, decentering and destabilizing ethnic majority people, and contributing to social fragmentation and multiculturalization. Theoretical contributions update the definitions of ethnic marketing and ethnic marketing research to be consistent with the framework. The paper closes with recommendations for practitioners, limitations of the present work, and suggestions for future research. By situating ethnic minority marketing in relation to changing social relations, practitioners and researchers are better able to develop effective strategy and enhance firms' relations to ethnic minority and majority consumers.

Investigating links between cultural orientation and culture outcomes: Immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel and Germany

Marketers are justifiably interested in ethnic consumers; formulating effective ethnic marketing strategies requires insights into these consumers' attitudes and behaviors. However, prior research provides few insights into how different cultural environments might shape the consumption behavior of consumers with the same cultural heritage. To address this knowledge gap, the present study examines the cultural orientation and relevant consumer outcomes (i.e., desire for unique products and fashion consciousness) of immigrants from the former Soviet Union who move to Israel and Germany. The results reveal differences in the cultural orientations of immigrants to Israel versus Germany, as well as different relational patterns between cultural orientation and the proposed consumer outcomes. These findings provide both theoretical and managerial implications.

Role of a Japanese Market for New Japanese Migrants in the United States

<p><em>This research paper seeks to provide a clearer understanding of contemporary Japanese migration to the United States through a case study examining the role of one Japanese market, Nijiya Market, in Sawtelle, Los Angeles. This study identifies the main roles that this particular market serves, as evidenced by oral interviews and intensive site observation fieldwork. The findings reveal that the ethnic market is very important to the creation and maintenance of ethnic identity across multiple generations of new Japanese immigrants and migrants living in the United States. Furthermore, as a main component of many Japanese communities, the ethnic market enables Japanese to maintain aspects of their homeland lifestyle and culture, even while living abroad. Perhaps most importantly, they provide these Japanese with a way to extend a bridge between their lives in the United States and their lives in Japan. </em><em></em></p>

Impacting ethnic marketing practices in the pharmaceutical industry: A qualitative study of transformative African American women leaders

The pharmaceutical industry reports itself to be in need of transformation in light of its maturity and complexity. Additionally, marketing practices within healthcare have shifted from mass market approaches to approaches that recognise the value of targeted markets, inclusive of ethnic markets such as the African American market. This qualitative study includes semi-structured interviews with eight African American women mid-level and senior-level leaders in three global pharmaceutical companies. Their experiences are reviewed in the context of the seven tenets that comprise the transformative leadership model, and examples of their impact on ethnic marketing practices within the industry are discussed. Marketing-related activities specifically mentioned include clinical trial recruitment, targeted promotional activities and sales team diversity. This research adds to the body of knowledge relative to ethnic marketing considerations for the pharmaceutical industry and has implications for both scholars and practitioners regarding the importance of diverse and transformative leadership, and marketing practices within the pharmaceutical industry.

‘“La Choy Chinese Food Swings American?:”’ Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurship and American Orientalism Before World War II

This article traces the early years of La Choy Food Products, a company that pioneered the mass production of Chinese food for home consumption in the early part of the twentieth century in the USA. In particular, this article focuses on how Ilhan New, a Korean immigrant entrepreneur negotiated American Orientalism to carve out an economic niche in the American ethnic food market. Importantly, the story of Ilhan New and the rise of La Choy and its role in assimilating Chinese food for American consumers, demonstrates how Asian immigrants understood and utilized Orientalist discourse to negotiate a "space" that benefited their material experiences. It also reveals how racial understandings structured the economic opportunities of Asian immigrants in the USA before World War II.

Ethnic Markets in post-Soviet Transitional Space: Their Role in Society and the Research Area

Open-air have become an essential element of the post-socialist transitional space. They appear over vast area from China to Poland and Germany. Coupled with the huge scale and meaningful trading, they formed new phenomenon in the economic, social, political and cultural life. Markets have become mechanism of economic survival for the vast number of people who have lost their former status and sources of income; they created the launching pad for the formation of small and medium-sized businesses. For some time they have been key element of the supply of goods and wage, especially for low-income strata. As the first and final points of shuttle trading system, have integrated into the global system of relationships, not only trade ones, but socio-cultural as well. Open-air have become an important area of economic activity for the cross-border migrant workers, facilitating their economic and cultural integration. In conjunction with their huge role in promoting Chinese and Turkish goods into the emerging markets, the have been treated in urban communities as markets, namely Chinese, Kyrgyz and Caucasian. As such, they quickly outgrew usual marketplaces and turned into sophisticated and self-developing social organisms, clumps of social connections, networks, conflict places, power and control mechanisms. In many Russian cities the largest and migrant clusters formed around these markets. They became a meeting and place of daily mass contacts, cooperation and conflicts; representatives of different languages, cultures and traditions. Markets have gained tremendous symbolic importance, commonly representing lot of new forms of life, economic and cultural practices, ways of social contacts and relationships. The end of the post-socialist era drew line under this very role of markets. They have not disappeared completely, but changed themselves and change their function and place in the community. Many of the have been closed, the remaining ones have been marginalized and relegated to the outskirts of cities and in the periphery of economic life. They are changing their format; and on the site of the former wholesale and retail in the open air now there are hypermarkets, malls, etc. This does not mean the end of ethnic business; it is also being rebuilt and efficiently developing new formats and new rules of the game. Great importance of in the era of post-socialist transitional space is paradoxically combined with weak public attention and little research. Political turmoil and social upheavals overshadowed this problem in the minds of people and in the views of researchers. The purpose of this text is to classify and organize what we know (and what we presumably do not know) about the open-air ethnic markets in the post-Soviet era. Perhaps this work will formulate an agenda for future research.

A Paradox of Economic Prosperity and Social Integration?

This paper investigates the consequences of local labour market conditions on immigrants' social network formation, with an emphasis on the co-ethnic contact and the contact with the natives. A job and residential search model is derived and empirically tested for the case of immigrants in the Netherlands. It is found that a higher job arrival rate, and a larger wage difference between the ethnic labour market and the host labour market, both lead to more co-ethnic network developed, less native network developed, and the choice of more ethnically concentrated areas. A paradox of economic prosperity and social integration has been found in the sense that immigrants spontaneously assimilate less into host society in good times of the economy at the destination country.

Ethnic segmentation in marketing: a tool for social domination in France

Purpose– This paper aims to deal with the issue of researchers’ responsibility for the dissemination of ideologies which have led to the cultural marginalisation and categorisation of minority social groups into a dominant/dominated relationship in France. One telling example is the way ethnic segmentation – as now used in marketing – finds its roots in the colonial paradigm.Design/methodology/approach– A critical and analytical review of the literature on ethnic marketing.Findings– The current paradigm which splits the world into centre and periphery or dominant and dominated, in the French context, is not the only existing one. In the framework of postcolonial studies, researchers in marketing now approach the ethnic market by being as close to consumers as possible and by adapting their methodology to the Consumer Culture Theory.Originality/value– Some researchers have become aware that the feeling of ethnic self-identification would not exist without the involvement of the dominant group who imposes their view on minorities. As to multicultural individuals, minorities have to adjust to a great variety of social situations by drawing from a set of available cultural identities. It is therefore more a question of multiple selves than ethnic identity. Multicultural individuals create their own identity and co-create new social categories from the grey area between dominant and dominated groups. The postcolonial approach raises the question as to whether ethnicity is a mere ideological construct with no underlying reality but the actual domination of minorities.

Proximity, trade and ethnic networks of migrants: case study for France and Egypt

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study how proximity affects the trade-migration link. By focusing on two case studies, France and Egypt, the authors explore if migrants promote and help to deal with market heterogeneity in international markets. Using an ethnic network approach the authors also test for interactions between the characteristics of migrants and proximity issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds on two case studies to illustrate the main working hypotheses. The main framework is that of ethnic networks, proximity ties, and market heterogeneity. Static and dynamic panel data methods are employed when estimating extended gravity trade equations. The authors account for country-pair fixed effects and instrument by lagged stocks of migrants, in order to deal with bilateral commonalities and endogeneity issues in the estimation procedure. Findings – The paper provides evidence on how proximity enhances trade. Additional trade effects are found for countries sharing closer ...

Advertising patriotism: The “Yo Soy El Army” campaign and the politics of visibility for Latina/o youth

Today’s young Latina/os have come of age in a decade marked by war, rising nativism, and economic crisis. As the fastest growing group of young people in the United States, they have been identified by the US military as a primary target of current and future long-term recruitment strategies. In this article, I examine the “Yo Soy El Army” campaign, a Latino-directed recruitment initiative of the US Army (2001–2005), to consider how ethnic marketing shapes, distills, and otherwise reveals important insights about citizenship, nationalism, and patriotism for Latina/o youth in the post-9/11 era.

Humor (re)positioning ethnolinguistic ideologies: “You tink is funny?”

AbstractThis article examines how essentializing ideologies of language and identity in Toronto's Portuguese ethnic market, constructed as monolingual and monocultural within the larger mainstream market of English-speaking Canada, provide the background for humorous sociolinguistic performances that playfully acknowledge, reproduce, and challenge ethnolinguistic stratification. After more than sixty years, the dominant spaces of the local Portuguese market continue to exclude most Portuguese-Canadian youth by rarely legitimizing the use of English, bilingual code-switching, or ‘broken’ or ‘Azorean’ Portuguese. By choosing YouTube as a space in which to engage audiences in ideologies of language and identity through performances of sociolinguistic caricatures, three young Portuguese-Canadian amateur comedians negotiate sociolinguistic boundaries with an ambivalent agency. The mocking performances are legitimized by the performers' in-group status and reveal, among other things, how a stigmatized variety of Azorean Portuguese and certain ethnolinguistic stereotypes can be reappropriated and reinforced relative to sociolinguistic hierarchies. (Language ideologies, ethnic humor, performativity, heteroglossia)*

An Empirical Study to Understand the Consumer Buying Behaviour in Ethnicwear Market in India through the Application of Factor and Cluster Analysis

In the study the researchers tried to cover up the present scenario of ethnic wear market in India and the consumer behaviorism. Thirty-one variables were selected from the study of (Gurunathan & Krishnakumar, 2013). 10 variables were taken on consumer characteristics, 3 variables on promotional techniques of the brand, 5 on influence of reference group, 5 on product attributes and 8 on store attributes were chosen from the study and Five point Likert Scale for opinion and responses. Exploratory factor analysis was run to understand the consumer buying styles in ethnic wear market and to identify the important indicators behind the purchase decision. Ten components or ten distinct types of customers were extracted through Varimax method and rotated component matrix namely Rational Purchasers, Influenced Shoppers, Quality Gift Purchasers, Promotion Driven Customers, Unplanned Purchasers, Passionate Consumers, Planned Purchasers, Customers looking for Card Facilities, Customers having Brand Knowledge and Brand Aware Customers. Four indicators on the basis of highest factor loading extracted from exploratory factor analysis were chosen for cluster analysis namely parking facilities, brand consciousness, preferences of parents and advertisement. Cluster analysis was done first by hierarchical method to deduce number of clusters which can be formed, and then the data was further processed through Ward Method in K-Means Cluster Method. Four distinct and differentiating segment namely emotional, rational, value driven and traditional modern were concluded with discrete characteristics.

Marketing to multicultural audiences - Ethnic marketing for Turks in the German automotive and telecommunications industries

PurposeThis research paper sheds light on the chances and risks for German enterprises aiming to penetrate the sub-culture of the Turkish population in Germany. Design/methodology/approachThe research paper is based on secondary sources. Both the terminology and the history of ethnic marketing are defined. The potential of Turks in Germany as a target group is analyzed and the best course of action of how to penetrate this group is proposed. Furthermore, the authors give insights into the immigration of Turkish citizens to Germany and the cultural differences resulting from these circumstances. In addition, media use and recommendations for operative marketing and retail practice are given. Outcome and ConclusionsThe conclusions show distinct differences with regard to the Turkish and German target group with a focus on cultural aspects. These differences hold major pitfalls for German enterprises targeting the Turkish citizens using operative marketing tools related to sub-cultural patterns.

Building a Relationship with Ethnic Consumers

In recent decades many Countries have become multicultural societies. Many researchers have stressed the relevance of understanding the ethnic cultures and their impact on consumption behaviors and marketing practices. This is even more true in Countries that only recently are facing the presence of ethnic minorities. This article aims at analyzing the beginning of the relationship between indigenous retailers and immigrants. After a review of relevant literature in the area of ethnic consumer behavior and retailer marketing strategies, this article analyzes a case study, involving an Italian large-scale retailer, and its project aiming at targeting ethnic consumers. Issues and implications are then discussed.

Asian ethnicity in the West: preference for Chinese, Indian and Korean service staff

The emergence of ethnic markets has been rapid following the growing trend of intra-national diversity in developed nations. These new markets have attracted researchers to investigate the role of ethnicity in consumer behaviour; however, to date, literature has focused on the role of the origin of tangible goods/products. In contrast, ethnic marketing for services has gained little attention. This study fills this gap by investigating the effect of ethnicity of service staff on consumers’ preferences for services. These effects are tested for the four service types identified in Lovelock’s service classification scheme. This study examined consumers’ preferences in services based on the ethnicity/racial category of service staff (Caucasian, Chinese, Indian and Korean) and service type (Medical, Education, Financial and Cleaning). A shopping mall intercept survey included a sample of 471. Multivariate analysis of variance was applied to test for significant variances between the mean preferences. Significant differences in preferences for the ethnicity of service staff were empirically established. Consumers, regardless of their ethnicity, prefer service staff of the same ethnicity. This creates a gap between preferences for one’s own ethnicity and preferences for others. This tendency was especially strong in medical services. Consumers’ preferences for service staff ethnicity are explained by the theories of country of origin, animosity, homophily and language. This study encourages service providers to make use of ethnic marketing, since a better match between service staff and customers’ preferences results in less miscommunication and better cultural understanding. Training on cultural sensitivity is also encouraged. This study establishes the important role of the country of origin in services. We name this the ‘country of origin of service staff (COSS)’ effect.