Cultural vacillation between Anatolia and Europe: Acculturation and sustainable consumption pattern in the Turkish community in Germany

Abstract

While the literature acknowledges that culture is a determinant of sustainable consumption behaviour, dynamics of cultural interaction between diverse cultural contexts remain insufficiently explored. In particular, little is known about how immigrant communities’ engagement with both their dominant and heritage cultural aspects shapes their everyday sustainable practices. Therefore, this research aims first to examine the impact of the acculturation experiences of the Turkish community residing in Germany on sustainable consumption behaviors. Second, the research examines how motivations and barriers in diverse cultural contexts shape Turkish immigrants’ selective adoption of sustainable consumption practices. The research employs a qualitative methodology in two densely populated neighbourhoods in Berlin and Cologne, Germany, where sizeable Turkish communities reside. The data collected during the fieldwork were based on unstructured interviews, semi-structured interviews, and researcher notes. The research findings show that consumers actively negotiate their sustainable consumption behaviours in a hybrid environment where acculturation barriers such as turtle reflex, the context of environmental concern, conflict of diverse cultural aspects and acculturation motivations such as adaptation to new norms, availability of sustainable options, institutional context interact. The findings indicate that acculturation in sustainable consumption behaviours is selective, contextual, and negotiated.