Adapting to consumers from another culture is a quintessential task for marketers in the global marketplace. This research investigates marketers’ processes of multicultural learning and adaptation using ethnographic methods in a longitudinal study of an ethnic marketplace in the United States. The authors derive an empirical model of individual marketer acculturation that consists of learning and translation processes, adaptation strategies, and their outcomes. The findings indicate that marketers serve as bicultural mediators, both accommodating their consumers and working to alter their consumption patterns to bring them into line with their own ethnic and larger U.S. national market customs. Marketers’ adaptation to the cultural characteristics and needs of their clientele results in changes to themselves, their firms, consumers, and, ultimately, the marketplace. The authors contribute to a theoretical understanding of the complex dialectical relationships between marketers and consumers, which together constitute culture in the contemporary marketplace.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AcuñaRodolfo (1988), Occupied America: The Conquest and Colonization of the U.S. Southwest.New York: Harper Collins.
2.
AcuñaRodolfo (1996), “The Fight over Olvera Street,” in Anything but Mexican.London: Verso, 23–31.
3.
AppaduraiArjun (1996), Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization.Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
4.
ArnouldEric and PriceLinda (1993), “River Magic: Extraordinary Experience and the Extended Service Encounter,” Journal of Consumer Research, 20 (June), 24–45.
5.
BarberBenjamin (1996), Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World.New York: Ballantine Books.
6.
BarthFrederic, ed. (1969), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organization of Cultural Difference.Boston, MA: Little and Brown.
7.
BaudrillardJean (1988), Selected Writings.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
8.
BelkRussell W. (1993), “Third World Tourism: Panacea or Poison? The Case of Nepal,” Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 5 (2), 27–68.
9.
BelkRussell W. and WatsonJoel (1998), “Material Culture and the Extended or Unextended Self in our University Offices,” in Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 25, AlbaJoseph W. and HutchinsonJ. Wesley, eds. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 305–310.
10.
BhabhaHomi (1994), The Location of Culture.London: Routledge.
11.
BoddewynJean (1981), “Comparative Marketing: The First Twenty-Five Years,” Journal of International Business Studies, 12 (1), 61–79.
12.
BorjasGeorge (1986), “The Self-Employment Practices of Immigrants,” Journal of Human Resources, 21 (4), 487–506.
13.
BouchetDominque (1995), “Marketing and the Redefinition of Ethnicity,” in Marketing in a Multicultural World, CostaJaneen and BamosseyGary, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 68–104.
14.
BristorJulia and FischerEileen (1993), “Feminist Thought: Implications for Consumer Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (March), 518–36.
15.
CampanelliMelissa (1991), “The African-American Market: Community, Growth and Change,” Sales and Marketing Management, 143 (May), 75–81.
16.
CampbellNigel, GrahamJohn, JolibertAlain, and MeissnerHans Gunther (1988), “Marketing Negotiations in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States,” Journal of Marketing, 52 (April), 49–62.
17.
CliffordJames (1988), The Predicament of Culture: Twentieth Century Ethnography, Literature and Art.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
18.
CliffordJames and MarcusGeorge, eds. (1986), Writing Culture: The Politics and Poetics of Ethnography.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
19.
CohnMichael (1996), Jewish Bridges: East to West.Westport, CT: Praeger.
20.
CorchadoAlfredo and TrejoFrank (1997), “U.S. Hispanics Jockey to Be Transnational Power Brokers,” Denver Post, (October 11), 21A.
21.
CorneliusWayne A., MartinPhilip L., and HollifieldJames F. (1994), Controlling Immigration: A Global Perspective.Stanford, CA: Stanford Universtiy Press.
22.
CorneliusWayne A., OrozcoManuel, and BaraonaMiguel (1997), “Binational Impact of Latino Remittances,” policy brief. Claremont, CA: The Tomás Rivera Policy Institute.
23.
CostaJaneen and BamosseyGary, eds. (1995), Marketing in a Multicultural World.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
24.
DayGeorge S. (1994), “Continuous Learning About Markets,” California Management Review, 36 (Summer), 9–31.
25.
DebordGuy (1977), Society of the Spectacle.Detroit, MI: Black and Red.
26.
DeshpandéRohit, FarleyJohn U., and WebsterFrederick E.Jr. (1993), “Corporate Culture, Customer Orientation, and Innovativeness in Japanese Firms: A Quadrad Analysis,” Journal of Marketing, 57 (January), 23–37,
27.
DrozdiakWilliam (1997), “Germany Split over Citizenship for Turks,” Denver Post, (November 9), A19.
28.
EdmonsonBrad (1997), “Hispanic Americans in 2001,” American Demographics, 19 (January), 16–17.
29.
FairlieRobert and MeyerBruce (1996), “Ethnic and Racial Self-Employment Differences and Possible Explanations,” Journal of Human Resources, 31 (4), 757–93.
30.
FiratFuat and VenkateshAlladi (1995), “Liberatory Postmodernism and the Reenchantment of Consumption,” Journal of Consumer Research, 22 (December), 239–67.
FrenzenJonathan and DavisHarry L. (1990), “Purchasing Power in Embedded Markets,” Journal of Consumer Research, 17 (June), 1–12.
33.
FriedmanJonathan (1994), Cultural Identity and Global Processes.London: Sage Publications.
34.
GarvinDavid A. (1993), “Building a Learning Organization,” Harvard Business Review, 71 (July/August), 78–91.
35.
GrønhaugKjell, GillyMary, and PeñalozaLisa (1992), “Barriers and Incentives in Consumer Acculturation,” in 1992 Association for Consumer Research European Summer Conference Proceedings, BamossyGary J. and van RaaijW. Fred, eds. Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Association for Consumer Research, 278–86.
36.
HallEdward T. (1973), The Silent Culture.New York: Anchor Press.
37.
Heritage County (1986), Downtown San Pueblo Historic District Walking Tour.San Pueblo, CA: Heritage County Foundation.
38.
HernandezSigfredo A. and KaufmanCarol J. (1991), “Measuring the Level of Acculturation: Coupon Usage Among ‘Barrio’ Hispanics,” Research in Consumer Behavior, 5, 61–82.
39.
HuntDarnel (1996), Screening the LA Riots: Race, Seeing and Resistance.Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
40.
JaworskiBernard J. and KohliAjay K. (1993), “Market Orientation: Antecedents and Consequences,” Journal of Marketing, 57 (July), 53–70.
41.
JenkinsRichard (1997), Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations.London: Sage Publications.
42.
JoyAnnamma, HuiMichael, KimChankon, and LarocheMichel (1995), “The Cultural Past in the Present: The Meaning of Home and Objects in the Homes of Working-Class Italian Immigrants in Montreal,” in Marketing in a Multicultural World, CostaJaneen and BamosseyGary, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 145–79.
43.
KaufmanCarol and HernandezSigfredo (1990), “Barriers to Coupon Use: A View from the Bodega,” Journal of Advertising Research, 30 (October/November), 18–25.
44.
KaufmanCarol and HernandezSigfredo (1991), “The Role of the Bodega in a U.S. Puerto Rican Community,” Journal of Retailing, 67 (Winter), 375–96.
45.
KayalPhilip M. and KayalJoseph M. (1975), The Syrian-Lebanese in America: A Study in Religion and Assimilation.New York: Twayne Publishers.
46.
Keoman (1982), cartoon, Industry Week, (January 25), 30.
47.
KizilbashA.H. and GarmanE.T. (1975–76), “Grocery Retailing in Spanish Neighborhoods,” Journal of Retailing, 51 (Winter), 15–21, 86.
48.
LamphereLouise, ed. (1992), Structuring Diversity: Ethnographic Perspectives on the New Immigration.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
49.
LarsenAnne and WilhelmAnthony (1994), “Latinos and the Information Superhighway,” policy brief. Claremont, CA: The Tomás Rivera Center.
50.
LeeMartyn J. (1993), Consumer Culture Reborn: The Cultural Politics of Consumption.London: Routledge.
51.
LightIvan (1972), Ethnic Enterprise in America: Business and Welfare Among Chinese, Japanese and Blacks.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
52.
McCrackenGrant (1988), Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities.Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
53.
MillerDaniel (1997), Capitalism: An Ethnographic Approach.Oxford: Berg.
54.
MinPyong Gap (1996), Caught in the Middle: Korean Merchants in America's Multiethnic Cities.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
55.
O'GuinnThomas and MeyerTimothy (1984), “Segmenting the Hispanic Market: The Use of Spanish Language Radio,” Journal of Advertising Research, 23 (December), 9–16.
56.
OzanneJulie and MurrayJeff B. (1991), “The Critical Imagination: Emancipatory Interests in Consumer Research,” Journal of Consumer Research, 18 (September), 129–44.
57.
PadillaAmado, ed. (1980), Acculturation: Theory, Models and Some New Findings.Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
58.
PeñalozaLisa (1994), “Atravesando Fronteras/Border Crossings: A Critical Ethnographic Exploration of the Consumer Acculturation of Mexican Immigrants,” Journal of Consumer Research, 21 (1), 32–54.
59.
PeñalozaLisa (1995), “Immigrant Consumers: Marketing and Public Policy Implications,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 14 (Spring), 83–94.
60.
PortesAlejandro and BachRobert L. (1985), Latin Journey: Cuban and Mexican Immigrants in the United States.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
61.
PriceLinda L., ArnouldEric J., and TierneyPatrick (1995), “Going to Extremes: Managing Service Encounters and Assessing Provider Performance,” Journal of Marketing, 59 (April), 83–97.
62.
RabinowPaul and SullivanWilliam M., eds. (1987), Interpretive Social Science: A Second Look.Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
63.
RoosensEugeen (1995), “Interest Groups with a Noble Face,” in Marketing in a Multicultural World, CostaJaneen and BamosseyGary, eds. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 126–44.
64.
SchmittBernd H., PanYigang, and TavassoliNader (1994), “Language and Consumer Memory: The Impact of Linguistic Differences Between Chinese and English,” Journal of Consumer Research, 21 (December), 419–31.
65.
ShapiroBenson P. (1988), “What the Hell is ‘Market Oriented'?” Harvard Business Review, 66 (November/December), 119–25.
66.
SherryJohn, ed. (1995), Contemporary Marketing and Consumer Behavior: An Anthropological Sourcebook.Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
67.
SlaterStanley F. and NarverJohn C. (1994), “Does Competitive Environment Moderate the Market Orientation–Performance Relationship?” Journal of Marketing, 58 (January), 46–55.
68.
SlaterStanley F. and NarverJohn C. (1995), “Market Orientation and the Learning Organization,” Journal of Marketing, 59 (July), 63–74.
69.
SlaterStanley F. and NarverJohn C. (1997), “Information Search Style and Business Performance in Dynamic and Stable Environments: An Exploratory Study,” Marketing Science Institute Report No. 97-104.Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.
70.
ResearchStrategy (1998), 1998 U.S. Hispanic Market.Miami, FL: Strategy Research Corporation.
71.
TseDavid, LeeKam-Hon, VertinskyIlan, and WehrungDonald A. (1988), “Does Culture Matter? A Cross-Cultural Study of Executives’ Choice, Decisiveness, and Risk Adjustment in International Marketing,” Journal of Marketing, 52 (October), 81–95.
72.
United Nations (1990), International Trade Statistics Yearbook 1.New York: United Nations.
73.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1992a), “Resident Population, by Race and Hispanic Origin: 1980 and 1990,” Statistical Abstract of the U.S., Vol. 17. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
74.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1992b), 1990 Census of Population and Housing, U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
75.
U.S. Bureau of the Census (1996), Statistical Abstract of the U.S., 116th ed. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, Table 839.
76.
ZaldivarR.A. (1997), “American Dream Eluding Hispanics Census Shows,” Denver Post, (October 12), 7A.
