Catherine Demangeot

Toward Intercultural Competency in Multicultural Marketplaces

Intercultural competency plays a pivotal role in creating a more equitable and just marketplace in which situations of marketplace vulnerability are minimized and resilience is enhanced. Intercultural competency is the ability to understand, adapt, and accommodate anothers culture. In this essay, the authors present a framework of intercultural competency development in multicultural marketplaces. They discuss resilience-building actions for multicultural marketplace actors, specifically, consumers, companies/marketers, community groups and nongovernmental organizations, and policy makers for three phases of intercultural competency development.

Multicultural marketplaces: New territory for international marketing and consumer research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to bring international marketing and consumer research attention to multicultural marketplaces as a new focal research lens. It develops a conceptualisation of multicultural marketplaces, demonstrating why they constitute new conceptual territory, before specifying five key areas for research development. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws from seminal international marketing literature and other fields to propose perspective shifts, and suggest theories and frameworks of potential usefulness to the five research areas. Findings – The paper conceptualises multicultural marketplaces as place-centred environments (physical or virtual) where the marketers, consumers, brands, ideologies and institutions of multiple cultures converge at one point of concurrent interaction, while also being potentially connected to multiple cultures in other localities. Five key areas for research development are specified, each with a different conceptual focus: increasing complexity of cultural identities (identity), differentiation of national political contexts (national integration policies), intergroup conviviality practices and conflictual relationships (intergroup relations), interconnectedness of transnational networks (networks), and cultural dynamics requiring multicultural adaptiveness (competences). Research limitations/implications – For each research area, a number of research avenues and theories and frameworks of potential interest are proposed. Originality/value – The paper demonstrates why multicultural marketplaces constitute new conceptual territory for international marketing and consumer research; it provides a conceptualisation of these marketplaces and a comprehensive research agenda.

Consumer ethnicity three decades after: a TCR agenda

Abstract Research into consumer ethnicity is a vital discipline that has substantially evolved in the past three decades. This conceptual article critically reviews its immense literature and examines the extent to which it has provided extensive contributions not only for the understanding of ethnicity in the marketplace but also for personal/collective well-being. We identify two gaps accounting for scant transformative contributions. First, today social transformations and conceptual sophistications require a revised vocabulary to provide adequate interpretive lenses. Second, extant work has mostly addressed the subjective level of ethnic identity projects but left untended the meso/macro forces affecting ethnicity (de)construction and personal/collective well-being. Our contribution stems from filling both gaps and providing a theory of ethnicity (de)construction that includes migrants as well as non-migrants.

Cultural pluralism: uncovering consumption patterns in a multicultural environment

Abstract Although increasing numbers of people live in multicultural environments devoid of a dominant culture, little is known about how, in such environments, they deal with the products or consumption practices of different cultures. This study explores the phenomenon of cultural pluralism, defined as a pattern of emergent consumption acts that result in the adoption, by individuals, of products or consumption practices from several cultures. A qualitative study involving 20 participants investigated the adoption of culturally cued products over time. Four cultural pluralism strategies emerge from the analysis. First, cultural experimentalism characterises the continuous search for the products, practices, and experiences of other cultures. Second, cultural extensionism characterises a cautious strategy slowly leading consumers beyond their comfort zone of known products towards those of other cultures. Third, cultural purism characterises a selective approach towards culturally cued products which limits consumption to a specific set of cultures. Fourth, cultural passivity characterises inertia or lack of engagement with other cultures and their products. Several antecedents are identified, whose salience appears to vary with each strategy, and each strategy has different behavioural outcomes. The study contributes to the literature on multicultural marketing by providing a more inclusive view of consumption in multicultural environments than that afforded by the sole consideration of ethnic origin or individual traits and orientations.

On becoming a culturally plural consumer

Purpose – This paper aims to examine consumption behavior to understand how individuals become culturally plural consumers through exploratory research conducted in one of the worlds most urban multi‐cultural environments, the UAE. As a starting point consumption was deemed as “consummatory” in accord with Holbrook.Design/methodology/approach – The data were collected through 20 interviews with UAE residents. This included men and women, ages ranging from 20s to 60s, representing 11 countries from five continents. Broadly a hermeneutic approach was followed in eliciting how culturally plural consumption behaviors emerged and interpreting how the process unfolded. The study examined multicultural habits pertaining to products or services chosen by the respondents. These covered food, cuisine, books, beverages, music, dance, clothes, TV and health treatments among others.Findings – Patterns of consumption acts create a consumption behavior that may be described as extemporaneous, expedient and emergent. Th...

Consumer mobility and well-being among changing places and shifting ethnicities

(Market)places are spatial entities which individuals and groups might experience as meaningful. By highlighting the role of place in ethnic consumer research, this article argues that increased mobility and changing places render relatively stable notions of ethnicity outdated. We identify three main trajectories to revitalize future research on ethnicity. First, we demonstrate the need for research on ethnic identity to be underpinned by a better understanding of the role of place in identity processes. Second, we contend that the established migration/acculturation paradigm should be replaced by the mobility/adaptiveness paradigm. Third, we consider the profound effects of interethnic contact among mobile and immobile populations within shared places on individual and societal well-being.

The rainbow of diversity versus the rain of fragmentation: the futures of multicultural marketing in the UAE

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the challenges and opportunities faced by the contemporary marketer looking to the future of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of the literature, futures studies and concepts originating from expert opinion, this paper explores futures studies, multiculturalism and international vs local branding in the context of the UAE.Findings – The main challenges of operating in this environment include the cultural diversity and sensitivity of its consumers and short‐termism. Firms most likely to succeed in such a market are those which choose to honour and celebrate differences, thus promoting a form of common, multicultural identity among residents. A consideration of futures scenarios is essential for successful marketers in such a different and new market.Practical implications – The difficulties of marketing in such a diversified marketplace and service‐scape as the UAE should be addressed. A culture of patience, tolerance and em...

Special Session: Multicultural Marketplaces (Theoretical and Empirical Ground Advances)

Several disciplines such as sociology and human geography have recognized that the new era of “superdiversity,” where social actors all evolve in “lived multiculture” (e.g., Neal et al. 2013; Vertovec 2007; Wessendorf 2013), poses new questions and requires theoretical development. Similarly, in marketing and consumer research, several authors have pointed to the need to distinguish between international and multicultural marketing (e.g., Askegaard et al. 2005; Craig and Douglas 2006; Jamal 2003; Laroche et al. 2003; Yaprak 2008). Large proportions of contemporary marketplaces become increasingly culturally diverse—in terms of their populations’ composition, the cultural origin of the marketers and brands active in the marketplace, and their consumers’ exposure to brands, advertising, media, and ideologies from multiple cultural origins. Such continuous multicultural interactions and experiences facilitate the integration, appropriation, and, in some cases, transformation of cultural meanings from other marketplaces to consumers’ lived multiculture realities in a given marketplace (Cayla and Eckhardt 2008; Demangeot et al. 2015; Eckhardt and Mahi 2004; Kipnis et al. 2014).

Practising conviviality: social uses of ethnic cuisine in an Asian multicultural environment

Purpose – This paper aims to understand the social dynamics surrounding the consumption of non-native, ethnic cuisines in the multicultural context of an Asian city. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected via in-depth interviews with 21 culturally diverse residents of Dubai. Data were analysed inductively, leading to the emergence of three themes characterising social dynamics underpinning the consumption of non-native cuisines in an Asian multicultural environment. Findings – Three types of social dynamics were identified: instrumental uses, expressive uses and conviviality considerations. Research limitations/implications – The study suggests that the different types of cultural dynamics at play have different roles; some act as influencing or constraining factors in the everyday practice of multicultural consumption, whereas others are used more proactively as enablers. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the authors’ understanding of how people “practice conviviality” in multicult...