Minority Consumers Research Articles

Pride or Rainbow-Washing? Exploring LGBTQ+ Advertising from the Vested Stakeholder Perspective

Brands increasingly address social inequalities by means of advertising. Inclusive advertising can, however, damage brands if consumers suspect insincere and extrinsic motivations. For instance, many companies that have engaged in identity-targeting advertisements face ‘washing’ accusations, particularly by members of the targeted social group. Still, our understanding of how these vested stakeholders determine whether brands are washing remains superficial. Further, little is known about when perceptions of washing lead to a loss of approval by the targeted community. Analyzing interviews with 24 LGBTQ+ individuals, we found that vested stakeholders construct motivational attributions guided by the salience of their minority identities. Specifically, respondents with highly salient minority identities sourced cues from both the advertisements and the advertisement’s organizational context to inform the attributions on which they base their washing perceptions and the corresponding negotiation of social approval. Thus, we highlight how identity salience influences the evaluation of targeted advertisements and outline which cues minority consumers employ to inform their motivational attributions and washing evaluations. We also discuss when perceived washing can lead to a loss of the target communities’ social license to operate (SLO), thereby engaging in theory building by integrating self-categorization theory (SCT) and attribution theory into the SLO framework.

Contextualizing the “Spanish dream”: using critical HRM to understand immigrant homeownership in Spain, 2000–2009

PurposeA pronounced rise in postpandemic immigration is creating consumption opportunities and challenges for countries worldwide. Past research has shown that immigrant homeownership indicates advanced consumer acculturation. However, critical factors which differentiate immigrant decisions to purchase a home remain underexplored. This study aims to examine the importance of different identity resources in determining homeownership gaps between immigrant groups in Spain during a dynamic decade.Design/methodology/approachA mixed methods research design with triangulation was used. First, the critical “historical research method” is used to empirically assess 15,465 household-level microdata files from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain. Second, the analysis is corroborated through informant interviews, an evaluation of digital news archives and other historical traces such as relevant advertisements in Spain from 2000 to 2009.FindingsResults provided an account of immigrant homeownership whereby foreign-born consumers leveraged resources to promote social identities aligned with an advanced level of acculturation through housing investment during this period. Furthermore, marketing focused on specific targets of ethnic minority consumers coupled with government policies to promote immigrant homeownership reinforced the “Spanish Dream” as a new paradigm for housing market integration.Originality/valueSpain provides an unprecedented historical context to explain marketing-related phenomena due to a perfect storm of immigration, job availability and integration supports. Contrary to popular wisdom, immigrant consumer homeownership gaps are not solely a result of differences in income and economic mobility, but rather an advanced acculturation outcome driven by personal and social investments in resources that lead to consumer identities.

The effects of social capital on cross-cultural eWOM communication in minority-mainstream consumer interactions on social media

PurposeSocial media sites facilitate electronic word of mouth (eWOM) communication among consumers of diverse cultures and ethnicities. Based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), the present research proposes a conceptual framework for minority consumers' engagement in eWOM associated with the mainstream culture. The model incorporates social capital and social interaction as key factors that affect cross-cultural eWOM communication between minority and mainstream consumers. This research also aims to explore the responses of minority consumers to eWOM communications originating with members of the majority group.Design/methodology/approachA structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure was applied to data collected from social media (Facebook) users (N = 539) from two minority communities: Israeli Arab and Israeli Ultra-Orthodox Jewish minorities.FindingsThe findings show that: (a) minority consumers' engagement with eWOM is indirectly related to social capital, (b) this relationship is mediated by minority consumers' attitudes and their subjective norms regarding eWOM engagement with dominant cultural groups, (c) social interaction of minorities with the dominant culture enhances the influence of social capital on eWOM engagement and (d) behavioural engagement with eWOM varies across cultural minorities, depending on the minority group’s unique cultural characteristics.Practical implicationsThe findings have managerial implications for practitioners who use social media in their marketing and business activities, as they demonstrate that the effectiveness of eWOM communication is contingent on the cultural characteristics of the ethnic minority consumer groups being targeted by managers.Originality/valueThe present research contributes to the theory of consumer engagement by demonstrating that engagement is contingent on the intercultural social context in which eWOM is communicated.

Ethnic segregation of consumption in Estonia: mythologies and practices

ABSTRACT The segregation of consumption between the Russian- and Estonian-speaking populations residing in Estonia has been common knowledge in the popular imagination, mass media publications, and academic papers. Rather than undertaking an impossible mission to identify whether these narratives are true, in this article, I show how this repertoire of stories has fostered special marketing strategies and document the emergence of a special marketing niche of companies promising to teach how to market products to mainstream or minority consumers based on their presumed mental differences. Deriving from ethnographic fieldwork, I demonstrate how mythologies about ethnic segregation in consumption paradoxically result in integration.

Improving Medication Safety in Cancer Services for Ethnic Minority Consumers: Protocol for a Pilot Feasibility and Acceptability Study of a Co-Designed Consumer Engagement Intervention.

People from ethnic minorities are often exposed to unsafe care contributing to poorer health care outcomes. Medication safety is a high-risk area requiring intervention to improve care outcomes. Using an adapted, experience-based co-design process with cancer service staff and patients from ethnic minorities, a medication communication tool was created: Making it Meaningful (MiM). We aim to test whether the MiM tool is feasible and acceptable for use with ethnic minority consumers in cancer services in Australia. A single site, controlled before and after this pilot study, will be used. Patients from Mandarin- and Russian-speaking backgrounds are eligible for inclusion. In total, 40 patients from these cultural backgrounds will be recruited and stratified by language to the intervention and control groups, with 20 participants in the intervention and 20 in the control group. Further, 4 health practitioners will be recruited and trained to use the MiM. Clinicians providing care for patients in the intervention will use the MiM during their usual appointment while providing medication communication using standard care processes for the control group. Telephone surveys will be conducted with participants at 3 time points, T1 before the intervention, T2 1 week post intervention, and T3 1 month post intervention, to assess knowledge and self-efficacy in medication management, perceived usability, and acceptability of the MiM. Qualitative interviews with clinicians who have used the MiM will be conducted 1 month postintervention to explore their perceptions of MiM feasibility and acceptability. Ethical approval for this research has been provided by the South Eastern Sydney Area Health Human Research Ethics Committee (HRECXXX). Bilingual field-workers, 1 Mandarin-speaking and 1 Russian-speaking, are contacting eligible patients to enroll. It is anticipated that recruitment will be completed by October 2023, with data collection completed by December 2023. Using experience-based co-design, we identified communication about medication, particularly between appointments, as a key issue impacting the safety of care for patients from ethnic minorities accessing cancer services. Increasing consumer engagement in medication management was identified as a strategy to reduce medication safety problems in cancer care; the MiM strategy was developed to address this issue. It is anticipated that by using the MiM, patient knowledge about prescribed medications and confidence in medication management will increase. Evidence from the pilot study will be used to inform a full-scale trial of the MiM tool with a range of ethnic minority communities accessing cancer services. A full-scale trial will seek to determine whether the MiM intervention is effective in knowledge and confidence about medication management, but also whether this improves patient outcomes in cancer care. Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials ACTRN12622001260718p; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=384658&isReview=true. DERR1-10.2196/49902.

White Immigrant Merchants, the U.S. Mexican Population, and Middleman Entrepreneurship in the Early Twentieth-Century American West

ABSTRACT Studies applying middleman minority theory to white immigrants’ retail enterprise in the United States overlook the possibility that, in the early twentieth-century American West, white immigrants were attracted into merchandizing by opportunities to exploit a sizable and colonized Mexican population. The present study investigates this possibility. Regression analyses of 1930 Census data show that foreign-born whites were most likely to become merchants in those western locations that once belonged to Mexico and had the largest Mexican populations, consistent with the proposition that white immigrants’ middleman retail entrepreneurship was supported by the U.S. Mexican population’s size and colonized status. The results extend internal colonization scholarship by inferring that Mexican populations in the West, similar to black populations in non-western cities, provided white immigrants with a minority consumer market that was leveraged into retail enterprise in the early twentieth century. Thus, white immigrants, like native “Anglos,” benefited from the Mexican population’s subordination.

Full throttle! Engaging Ethnic Minority and Majority Consumers in Car Sharing

The world is affected by environmental and social challenges, resulting in calls for engaging consumers with initiatives focused on sharing underutilized resources in Western countries. Meanwhile, these countries are characterized by migration and ethnic diversity, giving rise to ethnic minority consumers. Although ethnicity is a driver of consumer engagement, little is known about the influence of ethnicity on consumer engagement with sharing initiatives in Western countries. To address this gap, we examine the role of perceived value and perceived trust for engaging ethnic minority (vs. majority) consumers with sharing initiatives by relying on survey data gathered in the Belgian car sharing context. The results suggest that ethnic minority consumers perceive more environmental value of car sharing and less trust in car sharing. Moreover, perceived value and perceived trust act as important mediating mechanisms for non-behavioral manifestations of consumer engagement but even more for behavioral manifestations of consumer engagement.

Engaging with ethnic minority consumers to improve safety in cancer services: A national stakeholder analysis

ObjectiveEthnic minority populations are often exposed to healthcare-associated harm. There is little evidence about whether current patient engagement interventions are relevant. We conducted a national analysis of existing approaches amongst stakeholders in cancer care. MethodsFive online focus groups were conducted with 24 participants from consumer and health organisations across the Australian cancer system. Case studies depicting common methods of healthcare engagement to improve patient safety were developed and used to explore the suitability of current methods. Data were analysed thematically using the framework method. ResultsThree themes were identified: 1) sociocultural foundations of consumer engagement; 2) principles for adaptation; and 3) integration and implementation into cancer services. Sociocultural beliefs about cancer were considered to influence suitability. Adaptation may include multichannel methods, visual modalities and culturally specific content. Health system capacity, cultural competence of health service providers and consumer-led co-development were identified as critical to successful implementation. ConclusionsExisting engagement strategies are not completely suitable for ethnic minority populations nor feasible for implementation within cancer services. Practice ImplicationsHealthcare services must work with ethnic minority populations to understand if and how underpinning beliefs influence engagement with cancer services. A range of tangible techniques may enhance the suitability of existing interventions.

Multiple mental categorizations of culture-laden website design

We advance the argument that a culture-laden retail website design elicits multiple mental categorizations in consumers: categorizations in relation to the consumers’ own culture and categorizations in relation to the product category. We study interactions of these mental categorizations and examine which of the two types dominates the other in terms of the strength of its impact on attitude toward the website and purchasing intentions. Further, we challenge the relevance of the well-known “identity accessibility effect” as we demonstrate that successful activation of a chronic cultural identity through exposure to a culture-laden website design is contingent on the suitability of the product category to accommodate cues of that culture. The tests of the study’s hypotheses rely on data from an initial thought listing test, and a subsequent experiment using data gathered from French mainstream and Maghrebian minority consumers living in France.

Engagement of Ethnic-Minority Consumers with Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM) on Social Media: The Pivotal Role of Intercultural Factors

Social network sites (SNS) facilitate eWOM communication among consumers of different cultures. Building on contact theory and the theory of planned behavior, we propose a conceptual framework that integrates intercultural factors as predictors of minority consumers’ engagement with eWOM communicated by and to individuals of the dominant culture on social media. A partial least squares (PLS) analysis on data collected from the Israeli-Arab minority shows that intercultural factors (i.e., acculturation, social interaction, and language proficiency) are antecedents of minority consumer engagement with eWOM. However, this relationship is mediated by consumer beliefs (attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control) concerning this behavior, and moderated by the cultural distance between minority and dominant culture consumers. The findings help marketers plan marketing communications that engage audiences meaningfully and generate positive eWOM when targeting ethnic-cultural minorities. The current study contributes to our understanding of minority consumers’ engagement with eWOM communicated by and to members of the hegemonic culture. It further contributes to consumer engagement theory and acculturation research by supporting the post-assimilationist view. The proposed model is highly valuable in light of the importance of the concept of consumer engagement in marketing research.

Accommodating ethnic minority consumers during service encounters: the fine line

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent.Design/methodology/approachA 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low).FindingsWhen such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality.Practical implicationsThe study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies.Originality/valueThis research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.

Ethnicity's effect on social media‐based comment intention: Comparing minority and majority consumers

AbstractSocial media‐based interactions between consumers and firms have received considerable attention in recent years. Despite significant interest in this phenomenon, little is known about how ethnicity impacts consumers' comment intention on social media. This is an important limitation, as ethnicity represents a significant driver of consumer behavior. Addressing this gap, we investigate whether minority (vs. majority) group consumers are more likely to publicly comment on a firm's social media post, when the majority of existing comments is made by ethnically similar consumers. We also explore whether perceived similarity affects these behaviors, and establish the moderating role of ethnic identity, social media usage intensity, and shared content ethnic association (vs. disassociation) in the proposed relationships. To explore these issues, we conduct two survey experiments. The findings reveal ethnicity as an important driver of consumers' intent to comment on firm‐based social media posts. Specifically, compared to ethnic majority (i.e., Caucasian) consumers, ethnic minority (i.e., African American) consumers are more likely to comment on a social media post when most of the post's existing comments are made by ethnically similar consumers, owing to their perceived similarity to existing commenters. Moreover, consumers' ethnic identity, social media usage intensity level, and shared content associations play an important role in these relationships.

Factors contributing to successful employment outcomes for individuals who are hard-of-hearing

BACKGROUND: The State-Federal Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Program provides rehabilitation services to people with disabilities with the intention of assisting them in securing competitive employment. The VR services offer substantial resources to help individuals who are hard-of-hearing to enhance their quality of life and employment opportunities. OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated the impact of demographic variables and the use of VR services on employment outcomes among hard-of-hearing consumers. Specific VR services that lead to successful employment among hard-of-hearing consumers were thoroughly examined. METHODS: Binary logistic regression, Chi-square, and Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detector analyses were used to analyze the data extracted from the 2014 fiscal year US. Department of Education Rehabilitation Service Administration Case Service Report (RSA-911). RESULTS: Logistic regression reveals that VR services such as diagnosis and treatment of impairments (p-value 0.000), counseling, and guidance (p-value 0.000), and rehabilitation technology (p-value 0.000) were influential factors in determining the successful employment outcome among the consumers. The relative importance of the factors based on the mean decrease in accuracy in CHAID identifies rehabilitation technology (0.264), diagnosis and treatment of impairments (0.090), job placement assistance (0.016), transportation (0.016), and secondary disability (0.010) to be among the most contributing factors. CONCLUSION: Overall, rehabilitation technology services were especially beneficial, particularly for minority consumers, in achieving a successful employment outcome.

Transcultural identity development among third generation minority consumers

This study explores how global and local forces influence the processes of consumer re-acculturation amongst third-generation British Sikhs in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Data is collected over a three-year period using multiple methods that focus on the experiential consumption of shaadi.com by third-generation British-born Sikhs. Data is analysed using thematic analysis, and findings reveal three transcultural identity patterns: accommodating, re-acculturating, and resisting Sikh culture. We argue that the emergent identity patterns are fluid, as our participants feel neither wholly British, wholly Sikh, nor wholly British-Sikh, positioning themselves beyond, rather than against, Sikh or British culture. We uncover the connectedness between the traditional cultural practices of arranged marriages and the space of shaadi.com, a matrimonial website. We interpret this website as a medium through which transcultural identities are constructed. We contribute to theory by showing the development of transcultural patterns of consumption and consistent transcultural identity construction in non-migrating ethnic communities.

Artrepreneurship and transmodernity

Transmodernity, fueled by factors such as a heightened sense of ethnic pride among ethnic minority consumers, represents a significant marketing opportunity. We advance new perspectives on culture and the interconnected consumer through analyzing visual metaphors of artrepreneurs (artistic entrepreneurs) who communicate transmodern perspectives. Transmodern artrepreneurship is introduced as a marketing medium that influences consumer experiences in global markets and as a global dialogue of marketing reform that advances multicultural collaborations, combining humanity with business. We employ an ethnographic research method with focus on the Zaltman Metaphors Elicitation Technique (ZMET). In our interviews with Chicano artrepreneurs, three themes emerged: 1) Connection (finding true self); 2) Journey (intimate quest); and 3) Transformation (change of meaning system). Our study contributes to the research by considering transmodern perspectives communicated through visual metaphors to advance transcultural communications, social well-being and public policy regarding new consumption patterns across cultures and to enhance the overall consumer experience.

Minority students corporate engagement programs: Addressing the ad industry’s problem with minorities

Firms often make marketing missteps that offend minority consumers. Such missteps are attributed to the lack of diversity within the marketing field. This paper presents a corporate engagement program that partners minority students with a national company as an innovative approach to this problem. Leveraging both passive and active learning, students attend classes and work on original marketing plans for the company. Feedback from both students and the company suggests that both parties learned from each other, adding to the pipeline of future minority marketers while leading to a better understanding of minority consumers. The latter holds promise for the creation of effective communications that resonate with minority consumers.

Negotiating liminality following life transitions: reflexive bricolage and liminal hotspots

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how consumption linked with life transitions can differ in its potential to bring about ongoing liminality. By examining how consumers can draw on overlapping systems of resources, different ways in which consumers negotiate ongoing liminality following the transition to motherhood are identified. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted an interpretive, exploratory study using in-depth phenomenological interviews with 23 South Asian mothers living in the UK. The sample consisted of mothers at different stages of motherhood. Findings Following life transitions, consumers may encounter liminal hotspots at the intersection of overlapping systems of resources. The findings examine two liminal hotspots with differing potential to produce ongoing liminality. The study shows how consumers navigate these liminal hotspots in different ways, by accepting, rejecting and amalgamating the resources at hand. Research limitations/implications The research sample could have been more diverse; future research could examine liminal hotspots relating to different minority groups and life transitions. Practical implications Marketers need to examine the different ways in which consumers draw on different systems of resources following life transitions. The paper includes implications for how marketers segment, target and market to ethnic minority consumers. Originality/value Due to increasingly fluid social conditions, there are likely to be growing numbers of consumers who experience ongoing liminality following life transitions. A preliminary framework is presented outlining different ways that consumers negotiate ongoing liminality by drawing on overlapping systems of resources, broadening the understanding of the role that marketplace resources play beyond life transitions.

미성년소비자의 계약해소권에 관한 연구- 취소권과 청약철회권을 중심으로 -

사업자와 소비자간 관계에서 실질적 평등을 실현하기 위해 다양한 소비자보호에 관한 법을 제정하고 있다. 그러나 모든 소비자가 동등한 것은 아니며, 한 차원 더 보호가 필요한 소비자 계층이 존재한다. 이러한 소비자를 취약계층 소비자라고 하며, 이에 해당하는 대표적인 자가 민법상 제한능력자이다. 방문판매법과 전자상거래법에서는 제한능력자 중 미성년소비자를 보호하기 위해 미성년소비자에게 취소권에 관한 정보를 제공할 의무를 사업자에게 부과하고 있다. 즉, 미성년소비자가 법정대리인의 동의없이 사업자와 계약을 체결한 경우에 취소권을 행사할 수 있다는 정보를 제공하도록 한 것이다. 물론 미성년소비자는 사업자의 정보제공 여부와 관계없이 민법상 취소권을 행사할 수 있다. 이와 더불어 미성년소비자는 할부거래법 등에서 규정하고 있는 청약철회권도 행사할 수 있다. 이경우에 취소권과 청약철회권은 상호 배타적이지 않기 때문에 미성년소비자는 취소권 또는 청약철회권 중 하나 또는 양자 모두를 행사하여 그 계약을 간편하게 해소할 수 있다. 다만, 양자를 비교할 때, 행사기간 및 반환범위 등에 있어 민법상 취소권의 행사가 미성년소비자에게 더 유리하다. 이와 관련하여 논란이 제기되는 것은 방문판매법과 전자상거래법에서 규정하고 있는 미성년소비자에 대한 취소권에 관한 정보제공의무이다. 이 규정에 대해 미성년소비자에게 별도의 취소권을 부여한 것인지 아니면 단지 민법상 미성년자의 취소권에 관한 정보를 제공할 의무를 부과한 것인지에 대한 문제가 발생한다. 이러한 문제가 발생하게 된 원인은 미성년소비자의 취소권에 대한 근거를 명확히 제시하고 있지 않으며, 민법의 내용과 전면적으로 일치하지 않기 때문이다. 그러나 취소권은 법률의 규정에 의해 발생하며, 방문판매법 및 전자상거래법의 규정은 정보제공에 국한되기 때문에 취소권 발생의 근거로 보기는 곤란하다. 따라서 양법상 미성년소비자의 취소권은 민법상 취소권을 의미한다고 할 것이다. 다만, 이에 관한 규정이 불명확하기 때문에 미성년소비자 및 사업자 모두에게 혼란을 야기할 수 있으며, 이로 인해 소비자분쟁이 발생할 여지가 있다. 따라서 이를 보다 명확하게 규정하여 이로 인한 혼란의 야기를 방지할 필요가 있다.

Redliking: When Redlining Goes Online

Airbnb’s structure, design, and algorithm create a website architecture that allows user discrimination to prevent minority hosts from realizing the same economic benefits from short-term rental platforms as white hosts, a phenomenon this Article refers to as ‘redliking.’ For hosts with an extra couch, spare room, or unused home, Airbnb provides an opportunity to create new income streams and increase wealth. Airbnb encourages prospective guests to view host photographs and personal information when considering potential accommodations, thereby inviting bias, both implicit and overt, to permeate transactions. This bias has financial consequences. Empirical research on host earning rates found that white hosts earn significantly more than their minority counterparts, even when controlling for location, size, and amenities. Airbnb’s algorithm augments the effects and propensity of individual user bias, creating a system wherein race neutral variables serve as proxies for discrimination. Contemporary redliking parallels historic inequality related to housing wealth. In the early twentieth century, redlining maps were used to justify withholding investments from Black communities. Today, redliking continues the practice of directing wealth to white communities, reinforces systemic real property barriers by depriving minority hosts of important revenue streams, and exacerbates the racial wealth gap. This Article examines the liability of websites like Airbnb for discrimination experienced by minority short-term rental hosts. The ability of anti-discrimination laws originally enacted to abolish redlining and protect minority consumers to combat redliking is complicated by the fact that sites like Airbnb serve multiple purposes; while guests use the platform to identify and book lodging, hosts use the site to advertise available accommodations. Looking to judicial interpretation of online speech and platform operator liability, this Article proposes two approaches – a general function test and a fragmented function test – to determine website liability for discrimination against short-term rental hosts. Noting the limitations of the existing anti-discrimination legal framework, this Article argues that eradicating redliking requires incorporating lessons on platform design from behavioral economics as well as eliminating opportunities for website algorithms to amplify and operationalize user discrimination.

What is the role of cultural competence in ethnic minority consumer engagement? An analysis in community healthcare

BackgroundEffective patient engagement has been associated with high quality health care. There is a dearth of evidence around effective engagement with consumers from ethnic minority backgrounds; specifically in relation to the role of cultural competence amongst healthcare professionals in effective engagement with consumers from ethnic minority backgrounds. To address this knowledge gap, we analysed the role of cultural competence in the consumer engagement approaches taken by community healthcare professionals working with consumers from ethnic minority backgrounds.MethodsSemi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 21 healthcare professionals employed across four community healthcare and affiliated services in four local government areas in Australia.ResultsAdopting patient-centric approaches (that seek to understand and be responsive to the patient as an individual) featured as an underpinning theme that transcended other emerging themes. Recognition of diversity within communities and individuals in those communities, all with their own story, was described as pivotal to effective engagement. This was encapsulated in the theme of Cultural standpoints and personal context that contained four further themes of: (1) Build foundations of trust and respect; (2) Diversify communication channels; (3) Generate system, service and community partnerships; (4) Take the time.ConclusionOur findings indicate that cultural competence and effective consumer engagement are closely linked in ethnic minority populations. Embedding cultural competence as a health system, service and professional capability is therefore critical to ensure equitable healthcare quality for consumers from all ethnic backgrounds.