An Examination of the Relationships Between Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Attitudes to Places and Their Products
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
An Examination of the Relationships between Ethnicity, Acculturation, and Attitudes to Places and their Products By Alia R. El Banna A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Management Sprott School of Business Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2014 Alia R. El Banna i Abstract Ethnic consumers' "dual allegiance" to their ethnic affiliation and residence countries raises unique research opportunities to examine the role of ethnicity and acculturation in product and place buyer behaviour in the context of research on product country image and place constructs. This study examines ethnic consumers' place and product evaluations in a complex framework that combines multiple cultural, social, and marketing concepts. This research centres on the idea that ethnic individuals who decide to migrate from their country of origin to host countries, or who are born in a host country to immigrant parents, are affiliated with two places that may or may not be aligned economically, politically, or culturally. Therefore, ethnic individuals could possibly be tagged in two directions depending on their ethnicity and acculturative tendency. The principal compelling element in this study, which comprises its main intended contribution, is consumers’ identification with the notions of “home” and “host” countries in an ethnic context, and the forces that influence their relationship with places and their offerings. The main proposition of the research is, therefore, set to systematically investigate the extent to which consumers’ ethnic strength with their country of origin, and the degree of their acculturation to the host culture, both influence their evaluations and willingness to buy products that originate from countries that are expected to be viewed negatively or positively by them. The sample used in this study consists of Egyptian Canadians and the countries examined are Egypt, the respondents' ethnic origin country (home); Canada, their present residence country i (host) to which they may acculturate to one level or other; Israel and Tunisia, included, as countries toward which, respectively, "animosity" or "affinity" feelings may be present; and Brazil, included as a benchmark country that could be used for comparison. The study extends theory and advances research by integrating, for the first time, distinct research areas to reveal the specific influences of ethnicity and acculturation on predicting consumers’ attitudes and behaviours toward various places and their offerings. The hypotheses include whether ethnic consumers may feel "ethnocentric" toward either or both of home and host; their level of ethnic strength to the former and acculturation to the latter; their potential "attachment" toward and/or "affinity" with countries that share several cultural similarities to home; their "nostalgia", if any, toward their origin culture; their "animosity", if any, toward an animosity country, their general views on the above in relation to those toward other countries; and the potential effects of any of the above on the respondents' evaluations of products from the five countries in the study. ii Acknowledgements “All praise is due to God, Lord of the Worlds - the most Gracious, the most Merciful.” (Qur’an 1:2-3) If I were to express my full gratitude to everyone who supported me throughout the course of my Ph.D. journey, I would probably need to write another dissertation. I would like first and foremost to express my deepest gratitude to my supervisors Dr. Nicolas Papadopoulos and Dr. Steven A. Murphy for their contributions to this work from inception to completion. This thesis would not have been possible without their guidance and support. Their dedication, high working standards, and continuous feedback have taken my research to an advanced level. I would also like to thank all my dissertation committee members Dr. Attila Yaprak, Dr. Janet Mantler, Dr. José I. Rojas Méndes, and Dr. Michel Rod for their constructive comments and valuable suggestions. My sincere appreciations go to Melissa Doric, the Sprott Ph.D. program administrator, and to Greg Schmidt, manager at computing, for being there for me whenever I needed their assistance. To my husband Sharif whose vision, encouragement, and motivation have led me through this journey. I could not have accomplished this dissertation without you. iii To my kids, thanks for putting up with the long hours I had to spend working away from you. Thanks for waiting patiently for the day I would blow the trumpet of good news and announce that I am done! To my dad and my role model whose unconditional love and support has kept me going at times of hardship. To my mother, father, sister, and brother - in laws who believed in me and provided all the support I needed. Last but definitely not least; this thesis is dedicated to the memory of my mom and my grandmother who always inspired me to fulfill my dreams. Thank you all so very much! iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Research Opportunity ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Study Contribution ........................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Context ............................................................................................................................... 6 1.4 Structure ............................................................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 2. Literature Review and Theoretical Implications ............................................. 9 2.1 Ethnicity ............................................................................................................................. 9 2.1.1 Ethnic group ................................................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 Ethnicity research ......................................................................................................... 10 2.1.3 Conceptual confusion: Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity ................................................... 13 2.1.4 The study’s conceptualization of “Ethnicity” ............................................................... 17 2.2 Acculturation ................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.1 Definition ...................................................................................................................... 21 2.2.2 Process .......................................................................................................................... 23 2.2.3 Acculturation modes ..................................................................................................... 29 2.3 Place constructs ............................................................................................................... 32 2.3.1 PCI effects .................................................................................................................... 34 2.3.2 Animosity ..................................................................................................................... 36 2.3.3 Affinity ......................................................................................................................... 39 2.3.4 Ethnocentrism ............................................................................................................... 42 2.3.5 Cosmopolitanism .......................................................................................................... 45 2.3.6 World-mindedness ........................................................................................................ 48 2.3.7 Nostalgia ....................................................................................................................... 52 CHAPTER 3. Integrating Past Research .................................................................................. 57 3.1 “Home” country views ................................................................................................... 58 3.2 “Host” country views ...................................................................................................... 61 3.3 Other country views ..................................................................................................... 62 3.3.1 Positive attitudes ........................................................................................................... 63 3.3.2 Negative attitudes ......................................................................................................... 65 3.4 Research highlights ......................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 4. Conceptual Framework and Hypotheses ......................................................... 70 4.1 Proposition ....................................................................................................................... 72 4.2 Hypotheses ....................................................................................................................... 73 CHAPTER 5. Methodology ........................................................................................................ 79 5.1