The Intersection of Global Consumer Culture and National Identity and the Effect on Japanese Consumer Behavior

ABSTRACT

Acculturation research has mostly focused on the experiences of ethnic minorities, but nowadays global forces are shaping mainstream societies. How does exposure to global consumer culture (GCC) combine with a social identity drawing from nationality to impact consumer behavior? Using multidimensional measures for national ethnic identity and acculturation to GCC (AGCC), we investigate cultural relationships with an array of consumer attitudes and behaviors, focusing on Japan: an economically advanced country but with a non-Western and ethnically homogeneous people. AGCC positively (negatively) associated with materialism (consumer ethnocentrism); whereas Japanese ethnic identity positively associated with materialism. The behavioral impact of the cultural constructs was complex, varying substantially across 71 behaviors grouped into several product categories, whereby four broad acculturation patterns are discernible. Based on relative degrees of Japanese ethnic identity and AGCC, four consumer segments were revealed.

KEYWORDS:

• Acculturation
• consumer behavior
• globalization
• global consumer culture
• Japan
• national ethnic identity
• structural equation modeling