Dissociative fashion practices and identity conflicts: local resistance as a response to clothing acculturation in the context of rural–urban migration

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to examine how local consumers disassociate themselves from migrants' acculturative practices and negotiate their identity through the symbolic consumption of fashion.Design/methodology/approachData for this interpretive study were obtained via phenomenological interviews with locally-born Chinese youth in Guangzhou, China, to examine their acculturative consumption practices as well as their subjective experiences of perceived threats to their lifestyle imposed by the influx of outsiders. Snowballing and purposive sampling methods were adopted in recruiting the research participants.FindingsData analyses revealed that local consumers adopt three dissociative strategies (stigmatization, avoidance and self-assertion) in order to ascribe meanings to their fashion consumption practices as a means of resolving identity conflicts and differentiate themselves from the migrant consumers.Research limitations/implicationsThis research offers a single perspective (i.e. that of local-born young consumers residing in Guangzhou) on the locals' attitudes aimed at distinguishing and negotiating their identities in an intercultural setting via specific fashion-clothing choices. This research has theoretical implications for the consumer acculturation theory and identity negotiation.Practical implicationsFindings yielded by the present study have important implications for commercial companies focusing on fashion consumption, in particular for marketing practices aimed at rural-urban identification and youth market segmentation.Social implicationsThis study contributes to the existing discussion on consumer acculturation by offering an intracultural perspective to the understanding of local consumers' responses to migrants' acculturation. It also provides managerial insights for fashion retailers, prompting them to rethink their market segmentation strategies to address population mobility in the marketplace and better understand how it alters the in-between social relationships that result in different consumption patterns and practices.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing discussion on youth consumer acculturation theories by offering an intercultural perspective to the understanding of local consumers' responses to migrants' acculturation attempts. It also offers managerial insights for fashion retailers, prompting them to rethink their market segmentation strategies to address population mobility and better understand how it alters the social relationships that result in different consumption patterns and practices.

Home culture consumption as ambivalent embodied experience

Purpose The consumer acculturation literature argues that reconstituting familiar embodied practices from the culture of origin leads to a comforting sense of home for consumers who move from one cultural context to another. This paper aims to extend this thesis by examining further dimensions in migrant consumers’ experiences of home culture consumption. Design/methodology/approach This paper analyses data gathered through multi-modal depth interviews with Southeast Asian skilled migrants in New Zealand through the conceptual lens of embodiment. Findings Building on Dion et al.’s (2011) framework of ethnic embodiment, the analysis uncovers home culture consumption as multi-layered experiences of anchoring, de-stabilisation and estrangement, characterised by convergence and divergence between the embodied dimensions of being-in-the-world, being-in-the-world with others and remembering being-in-the-world. Research limitations/implications This paper underscores home culture consumption in migration as an ambivalent embodied experience. Further research should investigate how other types of acculturating consumers experience and negotiate the changing meanings of home. Practical implications Marketers in migrant-receiving and migrant-sending cultural contexts should be sensitised to disjunctures in migrants’ embodied experience of consuming home and their role in heightening or mitigating these disjunctures. Originality/value This paper helps contribute to consumer acculturation theory in two ways. First, the authors show how migrants experience not only comfort and connection but also displacement, in practices of home culture consumption. Second, the authors show how migrant communities do not only encourage cultural maintenance and gatekeeping but also contribute to cultural identity de-stabilisation.

La aculturación del consumidor. Conociendo mercados emergentes. / Consumer acculturation. Knowing emerging markets.

Los inmigrantes se observan como mercados emergentes que impactan en la escena cultural, económica, social y política debido al intercambio de experiencias que ocurre. La aculturación del consumidor se utiliza para comprender y describir la adquisición de habilidades y conocimientos relevantes para asumir o no una nueva cultura. El artículo presenta una revisión de tres modelos de aculturación de los consumidores con el objetivo de entender cómo éstos se comportan en un nuevo mercado. ABSTRACT: Immigrants are considered emerging markets that impact the cultural, economic, social and political scene, due to the exchange of experiences. Consumer Acculturation is used to understand and describe the acquisition of relevant skills and assume or deny a new culture or knowledge. This paper presents a review of three models of acculturation of consumers in order to understand how they behave in a new market.

“One country, two systems”: consumer acculturation of Hong Kong locals

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine local consumers’ acculturation process as they observe, encounter and shop with an influx of outsiders. Design/methodology/approach The multi-year qualitative study (involving in-depth interviews and netnography) investigates Hongkongers’ adaptation to encounters with Mainland Chinese shoppers in Hong Kong. Findings The authors focus on the world of luxury brand consumption, which plays a key role in signaling a newfound status for Mainlanders, and a change in identity construction for Hongkongers. Hongkongers’ acculturation process in response to large numbers of Mainland luxury shoppers includes emotional responses, behavioral adaptation and identity negotiation. Research limitations/implications This research has theoretical implications for consumer acculturation theory. Practical implications This research has managerial implications for consumers’ luxury consumption experiences. Originality/value First, the authors extend the consumer acculturation literature by focusing on the adaptation of locals to visitors. Unlike other acculturation studies that focus on poorer immigrants from less industrial countries to a wealthy nation, the study focuses on local perspectives of elite Hong Kong consumers about Mainland Chinese visitors who are economically well-off but lack cultural capital. Second, emotions are found to be an important component of acculturation and their causes and consequences are analyzed.

Expatriates go shopping: food and shopping acculturation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to outline how the food acculturation of British expatriates in Toulouse (France) translates into their shopping behaviours. Having established this population’s specific food acculturation outcomes, mechanisms and motivations, it then studies their buying behaviours and shopping experiences. Design/methodology/approach This qualitative research is based on 70 semi-directive interviews of British expatriates in Toulouse. Specific emphasis was placed on facilitating respondents’ expression and analysing the wealth of their answers. The transcribed interviews were thus manually analysed. Findings This food acculturation process proves simpler than what seminal papers outlined, i.e. fewer acculturation outcomes, but also more complex: respondents show intertwined outcomes. The marketing channels and store formats respondents privilege in their food provisioning show discrepancies with French buyers’, and the retailers’ mix variables they particularly react to are identified, leading to managerial implications. Overall, both acculturated consumption and shopping practices display fluid behaviours. Research limitations/implications This paper investigates a specific situation. Research on other populations or circumstances should confirm its results, especially migrants’ acceptance and satisfaction with local marketing channels and store formats. Practical implications Local retailers should address the shopping expectations of this affluent target through minor alterations to their operations without antagonising the locals. Originality/value This paper’s main contribution is to extend consumer acculturation literature in two dimensions. First, by studying wealthier migrants escaping “dominated acculturation”, the paper outlines respondents’ “embraced acculturation”. Then, by extending its scope beyond consumption, to shopping experience and store selection, it bridges the gap between consumer acculturation and retailing literatures.