Gupta (2012)_APJML_The Impact of Globalization on Consumer Acculturation

8/11/2019 Gupta (2012)_APJML_The Impact of Globalization on Consumer Acculturation

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Mathur et al., 2008). This phenomenon has led Indian consumers to have a favorabledisposition towards foreign brands from economically developed countries(Bandyopadhyay, 2001; Batra et al., 2000; Hsieh, 2004; Jin et al., 2006; Kinra, 2006;Ling and Pysarchik, 2004; Maxwell, 2001; Mehta and Belk, 1991; Rahman and

Bhattacharya, 2003). Cleveland and Laroche (2007), hypothesize that this phenomenonwould ultimately result in consumer acculturation, wherein the local consumers wouldmove towards the global consumer culture.

Besides Cleveland and Loroche (2007), many other researchers have also madesimilar propositions. According to Hsieh (2002), cultural shifts occur overtime asmarkets level of modernity and the exchange of information across boundariesincreases. Usunier and Lee (2005) observe that culture evolves as political, social,economic and technological forces reshape the cultural landscape. Managerialliterature assumes the inevitability of cultural change (Witkowski, 2005). Douglas andCraig (1997) and Craig and Douglas (2006) also support this contention and observethat culture is not static, but continually evolving and changing.

Although the extant literature overwhelmingly supports the phenomenon whereinglobal flows (Appadurai, 1990) would lead to cultural change or acculturation, there isan acute dearth of studies which empirically show the existence of this phenomenon.Studies in the domain of acculturation may be segregated into two broad realms. Thefirst realm encompasses the study of level of acculturation among immigrants,e.g. Koreans in the USA (Jun et al., 1993), Asian Indians in the USA (Jain and Belsky,1997; Mehta and Belk, 1991), Chinese in Australia (Quester and Chong, 2001),Asian Americans in the USA (Xu et al., 2004), etc. The second realm coversacculturation of natives due to the impact of globalization, e.g. studies on Indian youth(Durvasula and Lysonski, 2008; Mathuret al., 2008). The most glaring lacuna in thesestudies is that antecedents which lead to acculturation have not been operationalized.Hence, these studies do not provide an empirically tested causal relationshiphighlighting the impact of various factors on acculturation. These gaps are addressedin the present study. In this study, forces of globalization have been operationalized asthe predisposition towards foreign brands. These have been considered as theantecedents which would impact the level of consumer acculturation among the nativepopulation.

Predisposition towards foreign brands is defined in the extant literature(Bandyopadhyay, 2001; Batra et al., 2000; Kinra, 2006) as the positive consumerperception and purchase preference towards brands that have originated fromeconomically developed countries. Consumer acculturation is defined as progress fromlocal consumer culture to global consumer culture, which a consumer undergoes due tothe impact of globalization. Unlike Cleveland and Laroches (2007) acculturation to

global consumer culture (AGCC) construct, which provides a holistic view on howconsumer acculturation occurs among consumer; in this paper, consumer acculturationconstruct lays more emphasis on progress from local to global consumer culture withrespect to specific cultural components.

Many researchers (Nicholls et al., 1996; Ruth and Commuri, 1998; Sarin andBarrows, 2005; Venkatesh and Swamy, 1994) consider the urban, middle class,educated Indian consumers to be most prone to the impact of globalization. Hence, thesample frame in this paper is restricted to that segment.

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The following sections of the paper cover literature review and development ofhypotheses, research methodology, results, discussion and conclusion, managerialimplications and limitations.

Literature review and development of hypothesesBrand originThakor and Kohli (1996) define the brand origin concept as the place, region or country towhich the brand is perceived to belong by its target consumers. This stated place mightbe different from the location where products carrying the brand name are manufactured,or are perceived by consumers to be manufactured. Eckhardt and Mahi (2004) justifysuch an approach by arguing that foreignness is dependent upon the consumersperception rather than a domestic or non-domestic site of production. Jin et al. (2006)support this contention by observing that consumers in India associate brands withcountries where the brands are originally developed rather than with the countries inwhich the products are currently produced. According to Bandyopadhyay (2001), even if

many of the products carrying foreign brands are manufactured in India through jointventures, these products still retain a very foreign image in the Indian consumers minds.

Globalization has led to predisposition towards foreign brandsAccording to Liu and Johnson (2005), consumers tend to evaluate products morefavorably when they originate from countries that enjoy a positive image or perceptions.Such countries, for consumers in developing world, are the economically developedcountries (Menget al., 2007). Elliott and Cameron (1994) observe that there is a positivecorrelation between product evaluations and the level of economic development ofthe country of origin. Indeed, the impact of globalization has made consumers in thedeveloping countries to emulate the lifestyles and consumption patterns of those wholive in more economically developed nations (Ger and Belk, 1996).

Ruth and Commuri (1998) observe that there is a strong urge to emulate the westernlifestyles among the middle class Indian couples due to the influence of westernization.Mathur et al. (2008) contend that the youth in India are consuming moreAmerican/Western culture-specific brands as compared to the older generation ofIndian consumers due to the influence of globalization. Batra et al.(2000) observe thatIndian consumers purchase foreign brands that they see in movies and TV channels toemulate the apparently glamorous western consumption practices and lifestyles. Thesepropositions have been concurred by Durvasula and Lysonski (2008), who state thataccess to global media expose young consumers in India to western culture/practicesand make them develop desires similar to those in consumer-oriented cultures.According to Batra et al. (2000), foreign brands symbolize cosmopolitanism and prestigeto the Indian consumers. They are perceived to have better quality, technology, status,

esteem, value and image as compared to the Indian brands (Bandyopadhyay, 2001;Kinra, 2006).

Based on the above discussion, predisposition towards foreign brands, in this paperhave been defined as:

[. . .] the positive perception and purchase preference of people towards brands that theyperceive as having originated from economically developed countries, where citizens haverelatively better lifestyles; because these brands are technologically superior, quality wisebetter, provide value for money and enhances a persons status in the society.

Consumeracculturation

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Among the few empirical studies done to test the Indian consumers predispositiontowards foreign brands, only Jin et al. (2006) considered the impact of asocio-demographic variable (income) on the extent of predisposition towards foreignbrands. Other similar studies (Bandyopadhyay, 2001; Bandyopadhyay and Banerjee,

2002; Batra et al., 2000; Kinra, 2006) have altogether ignored this aspect of testing ifsegments created on the basis of various socio-demographic variables differ in the extentof their predisposition towards foreign brands. Though, Durvasula and Lysonski (2008)and Mathuret al.(2008) indicate that predisposition towards foreign brands would besignificantly greater among Indian youth, they do not show any empirical proof for theircontention. To address this glaring gap in the extant literature the first set of formulatedhypothesis explore and compare the existence of predisposition towards foreign brandsamong segments based on key socio-demographic variables like income, educationalqualification, gender and place of residence:

H1. (a) Indian youth (16-25 years) would show significantly higher predispositiontowards foreign brands vis-a-visolder age segments (b) higher the income of

Indian consumers, greater would be their predisposition towards foreignbrands vis-a-vis lower income segments (c) there would be significant differencein predisposition towards foreign brands among segments of Indianconsumers based on their educational qualification (d) gender and (e) placeof residence.

Consumer acculturationAccording to Cleveland and Loroche (2007), the impact of globalization would not limititself to predisposition towards foreign brands, but would also lead to consumeracculturation. Eckhardt and Mahi (2004) observe something similar in the Indianconsumer market. According to them, foreign brands in India are also bringing foreigncultural influence.

Redfieldet al.(1936) define acculturation as cultural changes that occurred in twoindividuals, from different cultures, when they came into continuous first hand contactwith each other. Subsequent researchers (Andreasen, 1990; Gentry et al., 1995;Steenkamp, 2001) broadened this definition of acculturation. They included indirectexposure via media and commercial communication as the forces of dominant foreignculture, which would transform the indigenous culture.

While acculturation comprises of generic cultural changes, consumer acculturationencompasses the consumer related aspects of acculturation. In this paper, consumeracculturation construct is defined as the progress that a consumer makes from localconsumer culture to global consumer culture with respect to specific culturalcomponents. This construct should be not be confused with the AGCC construct givenby Cleveland and Loroche (2007, p. 252) which considers how individuals acquire theknowledge, skills and behaviors that are characteristic of a nascent and deterritorializedglobal consumer culture. Hence, while AGCC attempts to determine how consumeracculturation occurs, the consumer acculturation construct, proposed in the currentstudy, attempts to measure the current level of acculturation that a native consumer hasundergone by assessing his/her behavior with respect to specific cultural components.

Researchers world-over have already created a robust body of literature whichprovides various parameters for measuring the extent of consumer acculturationamong a given population of native consumers. Studies have considered a whole array

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of cultural determinants relevant for the study of consumer acculturation, e.g. languagepreference (Jain and Belsky, 1997; Jun et al., 1993; Quester and Chong, 2001), musicpreference (Jun et al., 1993; Mathur et al., 2008; Quester and Chong, 2001; Xu et al.,2004), food preference (Jain and Belsky, 1997; Mathur et al., 2008; Mehta and Belk,

1991; Xuet al., 2004), etc. Though studies which measure consumer acculturation areaplenty, most of these studies have limited themselves to the measurement of just threeor four components of consumer acculturation. This is highly inadequate as the extantliterature provides atleast ten cultural components pertinent to consumer acculturation(Table III). These are language preferred, language actually spoken, musicpreference, movies/TV program preference, food preference at home, food preferenceoutside, attire preference, reading preference, writing preference and behavior withrespect to celebration of festivals.

Durvasula and Lysonski (2008) and Mathur et al. (2008) have observed consumeracculturation among Indian youth. But their studies are limited to only a fewcomponents of consumer acculturation food, music, movie (Mathuret al., 2008) andmedia (Durvasula and Lysonski, 2008). So far, none of the studies in the extant literaturehave measured consumer acculturation as a comprehensive construct, which wouldencompass all the ten cultural components mentioned earlier. Also, it has not beenexplored if there would be a difference among demographic segments with respect to thegiven comprehensive construct of consumer acculturation. To address these gaps, thesecond set of hypotheses has been formulated as:

H2. (a) Indian youth (16-25 years) would show significantly higher consumeracculturation vis-a-vis older age segments. There would be significantdifference with respect to consumer acculturation among segments of Indianconsumers based on (b) income (c) educational qualification (d) gender and(e) place of residence.

Does predisposition towards foreign brands lead to consumer acculturation?As has been discussed above, the forces of globalization have conditioned the Indianconsumers predisposition towards foreign brands. In the extant literature many authorsindicate that such predisposition towards foreign brands could itself act as a potent forceof globalization. Gupta (2011) quotes works of Cayla and Arnould (2008) and Eckhardtand Mahi (2004), wherein these authors have considered such onslaught of foreignbrands as a component of the globalization force. This contention is supported byKaynak et al. (2000), who propose that preference for brands from economicallydeveloped countries is a result of globalization. Combining the aforementioneddiscussion with Cleveland and Laroches (2007) preposition that globalization wouldultimately lead to consumer acculturation indicate towards a phenomenon wherein

predisposition towards foreign brands would act as an antecedent force of globalization,which would lead to consumer acculturation. So far, none of the studies have empiricallyshown if such a phenomenon could exist. The role that various demographic factorswould play in such a relationship is also not clear. To bridge these gaps, the third set ofhypotheses is developed as:

H3. (a) Predisposition towards foreign brands would lead to consumeracculturation among Indian consumers (b) the demographic factors wouldsignificantly affect this relationship.


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Research methodSample dataThe data were collected by using a structured questionnaire. This questionnaire wasinitially modified on the basis of inputs collected from two six-member focus group

discussions and a pilot study comprising sample size of 30 respondents. The responseswere elicited from individuals residing in five metropolitan cities of India Delhi,Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Indore.

The sample frame chosen was the educated, urban, middle and upper middle classIndian consumers (Table I) as many researchers (Nicholls et al., 1996; Ruth andCommuri, 1998; Sarin and Barrows, 2005; Venkatesh and Swamy, 1994) consider thisstrata of the Indian population as the ideal segment to study consumer behaviorchanges in the contemporary scenario. Few of the samples were collected from thelower middle class for comparison purposes. The final sample studied consisted ofcompletely filled-in questionnaires from 557 respondents (see Table I for thedemographic profile of the sample). Though stratified sampling method would have

been preferred for this type of survey study, but since the study was descriptive innature, snowball and judgment sampling methods were adopted for the collection of thesample data.

Sample from the citiesDelhi 125 (22.44%)Hyderabad 107 (19.21%)Kolkata 103 (18.50%)Mumbai 109 (19.57%)Indore 113 (20.29%)Sample segregated on the basis of age (yrs)

16-25 113 (20.29%)26-35 242 (43.45%)36-45 109 (19.57%)46-55 59 (10.59%)56 34 (6.10%)Sample segregated on the basis of income categoriesLower middle classa 60 (10.77%)Middle classb 318 (57.09%)Upper middle classc 179 (32.14%)Sample segregated on the basis of educational qualificationUndergraduates 52 (9.34%)Graduates 232 (41.65%)Post graduates 273 (49.01%)Sample segregated on the basis of gender

Males 326 (58.53%)Females 231 (41.47%)

Notes:Kindly note that this table has also been incorporated in another paper by the author, whichhas already been published in Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics (Gupta, 2011);ahouseholds earning less than Rs 180,000/- ($3,829.78, $1 Rs 47) per annum; bhouseholds earningbetween Rs 180,000 and Rs 450,000 ($3,829.78-$9,574.47) per annum; chouseholds earning betweenRs 450,000/- and Rs 1,000,000/- ($9,574.47-$21,276.59) per annumSource:Bharadwaj et al. (2005) and McKinsey Global Institute Report(2007, p. 13)

Table I.Demographicprofile of the sample

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MeasuresIn order to measure predisposition towards foreign brands, the respondents wererequested to select one product category from a set of seven durable products (car/SUVs,TV sets, shirts, jeans, refrigerators,washingmachines, watches) and one productcategory

from a set of seven non-durableproducts (shampoo, lipstick, bathing soap, shaving cream,deodorants,haircolour, cosmetic creams and lotions). They werethen requested to specifythe name of the brand owned by them in the selected durable product category and thebrand used by them in the selected non-durable product category. Subsequently, theirperception regarding the origin of the brand as being Indian or foreign was elicited.

Once the respondent had identified the brand origin of his chosen product categoriesboth in case of consumer durable and non-durable products, response to determinepredisposition towards foreign brands was elicited on a ten-item five-point Likert scale,which ranged from 1 strongly disagree to 5 strongly agree. These ten items werederived from extant literature. The perception of consumers with respect to consumerdurables was measured on four parameters technology, quality, value for money andstatus; whereas their perception with respect to consumer non-durables was measuredon three parameters (quality, value for money and status). These parameters have beenextensively used in the body of literature dealing with country-of-origin studies(Batra et al., 2000; Roth and Romeo, 1992). While measuring predisposition towardsforeign brands, researchers have also suggested considering native consumersintention to purchase foreign brand vis-a-visIndian brand (Durvasula and Lysonski,2008; Hsieh, 2004) as well as the extent of admiration for the lifestyles of consumersliving in economically developed countries (Cleveland and Loroche, 2007; Mathuret al.,2008). All these considerations have been incorporated in the scale designed formeasurement of predisposition towards foreign brands. The items and their sources aregiven in Table II. For each respondent, the score on predisposition towards foreignbrands was estimated by taking the mean of that individuals responses on the given ten

items. Higher score indicated greater predisposition towards foreign brands.To measure consumer acculturation, respondents were requested to select one of thefive options, given per item, which best explained their status pertaining to thatcultural component (Table III). The instrument was derived from the works of leadingresearchers in this area. Each individuals score on consumer acculturation wascalculated by taking the mean of the responses on the given ten items. A higher scoreon this scale indicated greater consumer acculturation.

ResultsThe Cronbachsawas calculated for the instruments measuring predisposition towardsforeign brands and consumer acculturation for the total sample as well as for eachdemographic segment based on age, income, educational qualification level, gender and

city of residence. All these values were above 0.70.Results reported in Tables IV-VI indicate that Indian youth (16-25 years) had

significantly greater predisposition towards foreign brands vis-a-vis the older agesegments (except with respect to 26-35 years age group). Hence H1a, which stated thesame, is supported. However, no significant difference with respect to predispositiontowards foreign brands was observed among the segments created on the basis ofincome (H1b), educational qualification level (H1c) and place of residence (H1e). Hence,these three hypotheses were not supported. Male consumers showed significantly


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higher predisposition towards foreign brands than female consumers. This resultstrongly supported H1d, according to which there would be significant difference inpredisposition towards foreign brands on the basis of gender.

Indian youth (16-25 years) showed significantly higher level of consumeracculturationvis-a-vissample falling within age groups of 36-55 years. But, this agegroup comprising of youth failed to show any significant difference vis-a-vis 26-35years age group as well as 56 years age group. These results partially supportH2a,which expected Indian youth to show significantly higher consumer acculturation thanall the older age segments. Significant differences with respect to consumeracculturation were observed among segments based on income (H2b) (except betweenlower middle class and middle class segments) and educational qualification level(H2c). Hence, the results supported these two hypotheses. No significant difference with

respect to consumer acculturation was observed between males and females. Hence,there was no support for H2d, in which this proposition was stated. Interestingly,sample from Indore showed significantly lower consumer acculturation vis-a-vis theother four cities. This result provided partial support for H2e, which had proposed thatrespondents residing in different areas would show significant difference in consumeracculturation.

To test if predisposition towards foreign brands would lead to consumeracculturation among Indian consumers (H3a) and if this relationship would be

Item Source

To determine perception in case of consumer durablesQ1. Foreign brands have better technology than

Indian brands

Bandyopadhyay (2001), Batra et al.(2000), Elliott

and Cameron (1994), Hui and Zhau (2002), Kinra(2006), Meng et al. (2007), Han (1989), Roth andRomeo (1992), Watson and Wright (2000)

Q2. Foreign brands are better in quality thanIndian brands

Q3. Foreign brands provide better value formoney than Indian brands

Q4. Use of foreign brands enhances my status inthe society

To determine perception in case of consumer non-durablesQ5. Foreign brands are better in quality than

Indian brandsQ6. Foreign brands provide better value for

money than Indian brandsQ7. Use of foreign brands enhances my status in

the societyTo determine consumers intention to buy foreign brandsQ8. Generally, I prefer buying foreign brands to

Indian brandBatraet al.(2000), Durvasula and Lysonski (2008),Hsieh (2004), Jinet al.(2006), Kinra (2006), Mathuret al.(2008)Q9. I buy foreign brands more often than Indian

brandsTo determine admiration for lifestyles of people living in EDCsQ10. I admire the lifestyles of people who live in

more economically developed countries, likethe USA, Japan, countries of WesternEurope, etc.

Batraet al. (2000), Cleveland and Loroche (2007),Durvasula and Lysonski (2008), Mathur et al.(2008), Meng et al. (2007), OCass and Lim (2002),

Table II.Items used for measuringpredisposition towardsforeign brands

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Item and options Source

Q1. What language can you speak? Bhugraet al.(1999), Cleveland and Loroche

(2007), Conway (2000), Gentry et al. (1995),Jain and Belsky (1997), Junet al. (1993),Legoherel et al. (2009), Quester and Chong(2001), Suinnet al. (1992)

Q2. What language do you prefer to speak?Options for Q1 and Q2 were:1. Your mother tongue only2. Mostly mother tongue and some English3. Mother tongue and English equally well4. Mostly English and some mother tongue5. Only English

Q3. What type of music/songs do you prefer to listen to? Bhugraet al.(1999), Cleveland and Loroche(2007), Conway (2000), Gentry et al. (1995),Jain and Belsky (1997), Junet al. (1993),Mathur et al. (2008), Quester and Chong(2001), Suinnet al. (1992), Xu et al. (2004)

1. Only Indian music/songs2. Mostly Indian music/songs3. Indian and English/foreign music/songs equally

preferred4. Mostly English/foreign music/songs5. Only English/foreign music/songs

Q4. Which movies/TV programs do you prefer to watch? Bhugraet al.(1999), Cleveland and Loroche(2007), Durvasula and Lysonski (2008), Jainand Belsky (1997), Jun et al. (1993),Mathur et al. (2008), Quester and Chong(2001), Suinnet al. (1992), Xu et al. (2004)

1. Only Indian movies/TV programs2. Mostly Indian movies/TV programs3. Indian and English/foreign movies/TV programs

equally preferred4. Mostly English/foreign movies/TV programs5. Only English/foreign movies/TV programs

Q5. What type of food do you prefer to have at home? Bhugraet al.(1999), Cleveland and Loroche(2007), Jain and Belsky (1997), Mathur et al.(2008), Mehta and Belk (1991), Suinn et al.(1992), Xu et al. (2004),

Q6. What type of food do you prefer to have atrestaurants?Options for Q5 and Q6 were:

1. Exclusively Indian food2. Mostly Indian food and some foreign food (like

pizza, noodles, burger, etc.)3. Indian and foreign food equally preferred4. Mostly foreign food5. Exclusively foreign food

Q7. What type of dress do you prefer to wear? Cleveland and Loroche (2007), Mehta andBelk (1991)1. Only Indian dresses

2. Mostly Indian dresses3. Indian and Western dresses Equally preferred4. Mostly Western dresses5. Only Western dresses

Q8. Reading preference Cleveland and Loroche (2007), Jain andBelsky (1997), Khairullah and Khairullah(1999), Khairullah et al. (1996), Suinn et al.(1992)

1. Reading books, newspapers, etc. only in Indianlanguages

2. Reading books, newspapers, etc. mostly in Indianlanguages

3. Reading books, newspapers, etc. equally in Indianand English/foreign Languages

4. Reading books, newspapers, etc. mostly in English/foreign languages

5. Reading books, newspapers, etc. only in English/foreign languages

(continued)

Table III.Items used for measuring

consumer acculturation


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significantly affected by demographic variables (H3b), a regression equation wasformed. The independent variables in this equation were:

. predisposition towards foreign brands;

. demographic variables age, income, educational qualification level and gender;and

. interaction between predisposition towards foreign brands and each of thedemographic variables under study.

Consumer acculturation was the dependent variable. Results given in Table VIIindicate that predisposition towards foreign brands, age, income (as independentvariables) and educational qualification (as moderating variable, determined on thebasis of tests suggested by Sharma et al. (1981) and Baron and Kenny (1986))explained 72.2 percent variance in consumer acculturation. Educational qualificationacting as a moderating variable with a positive coefficient means that high level of

educational qualification is significantly intertwined with the predisposition towardsforeign brands and both of them together have a significant impact on consumeracculturation. Hence, the results support H3a, which had predicted that predispositiontowards foreign brands would lead to consumer acculturation. There is also supportfor H3b, wherein impact of demographic variables was proposed on the givenrelationship. While predisposition towards foreign brands, income and educationalqualification were positively impacting consumer acculturation, age had negativeimpact on it.

Item and options Source

Q9. Writing preference Suinnet al. (1992)1. Writing only in Indian languages2. Writing mostly in Indian languages3. Writing equally in Indian and English/foreign

languages4. Writing mostly in English/foreign languages5. Writing only in English/foreign languages

Q10. Celebration of festivals Bhugraet al. (1999), Conway (2000), Jainand Belsky (1997), Suinn et al. (1992)1. I celebrate only Indian festivals/traditions and none

of the foreign festivals (like thanks giving,Halloween, etc.)

2. I celebrate most of Indian festivals/traditions andsome of foreign festivals

3. I celebrate Indian and foreign festivals/traditionsequally

4. I celebrate very few of Indian festivals/traditionsand more foreign festivals

5. I celebrate all foreign festivals and none of Indianfestivals/traditions

Note: Kindly note that this table has also been incorporated in another paper by the author, which hasalready been accepted for publication in International Journal of Emerging MarketsTable III.

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Discussion and conclusionExistence of predisposition towards foreign brandsThe study reiterates the findings of various authors (Batra et al., 2000; Durvasula andLysonski, 2008; Mathur et al., 2008) that Indian consumers, especially youth have afavorable disposition towards foreign brands. The predisposition towards foreign

Sample segment Sample size (n)Predisposition towards foreign brands

mean (SD)Consumer acculturation

mean (SD)a

Total sample 557 2.96 (0.81) 2.36 (0.55)Age segments (yrs)16-25 113 3.06 (0.71) 2.44 (0.53)26-35 242 3.06 (0.77) 2.45 (0.52)36-45 109 2.77 (0.90) 2.18 (0.57)46-55 59 2.85 (0.93) 2.17 (0.60)56 34 2.70 (0.68) 2.35 (0.47)

Income segmentsLower middle class 60 3.13 (0.89) 2.18 (0.66)Middle class 318 2.91 (0.81) 2.31 (0.54)Upper middle class 179 2.99 (0.76) 2.51 (0.50)

Educational qualification segmentsUndergraduates 52 3.03 (0.61) 2.11 (0.68)Graduates 232 3.03 (0.83) 2.33 (0.56)

Postgraduates 273 2.89 (0.81) 2.43 (0.51)Gender segmentsMales 326 3.02 (0.84) 2.38 (0.53)Females 231 2.88 (0.76) 2.33 (0.58)CitiesDelhi 125 2.97 (0.79) 2.40 (0.53)Mumbai 109 2.91 (0.89) 2.48 (0.59)Hyderabad 107 2.90 (0.69) 2.47 (0.46)Kolkata 103 3.15 (0.85) 2.41 (0.43)Indore 113 2.87 (0.79) 2.05 (0.60)

Note: aKindly note that the results in the given column have also been incorporated in another paperby the author, which has already been accepted for publication in International Journal of Emerging

Markets

Table IV.Mean and Standard

deviation: predispositiontowards foreign brands

and consumeracculturation

VariablesPredisposition towards foreign brands

F valueConsumer acculturation

F valuea

Age 4.08 * * 7.02 * *

Income 2.18ns 10.84 * *

Qualification 2.07ns 8.07 * *

Gender 4.22 * 1.36ns

Cities 2.00ns 12.65 * *

Notes: aKindly note that the results in the given column have also been incorporated in another paper

by the author which has been accepted for publication inInternational Journal of Emerging Markets;significant at: *p , 0.05, * *p , 0.01 and nsnot significant at: p , 0.05 level

Table V.ANOVA results:

predisposition towards

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brands score of the total sample is skewed towards higher side (2.96) in the five-pointscale indicating the aforementioned result. The Indian consumers falling in the agegroup of 16-35 years show a high level of attraction towards foreign brands vis-a-visIndian brands. With 70 percent of Indian citizens being less than 36 years old(Bharadwaj et al., 2005), this finding brings good news for the multinationalcorporations who would be more than eager to tap this huge and growing market.

Unlike the observation made by Jin et al. (2006) that higher income groups showpreference towardsforeignbrands,the presentstudydidnotshowanysignificant difference

T-test resultsPredisposition towards foreign

brands Consumer acculturationa

Group 1 Group 2 T-stat T-stat

Age segments (yrs)16-25 26-35 0.03ns 20.06ns

16-25 36-45 2.65 * * 3.53 * *

16-25 46-55 2.53 * 3.06 * *

16-25 56 2.60 * * 0.92ns

26-35 36-45 2.90 * * 4.26 * *

26-35 46-55 2.80 * * 3.25 * *

26-35 56 2.58 * 1.02ns

36-45 46-55 20.54ns 0.14ns

36-45 56 0.47ns 21.56ns

46-55 56 0.88ns 21.50ns

Income segmentsLower middle

class

Middle class 1.92ns 21.61ns

Lower middleclass

Upper middleclass

1.16ns 23.44 * *

Middle class Upper middleclass

21.16ns 23.94 * *

Educational qualification segmentsUndergraduate Graduate 0.08ns 22.17 *

Undergraduate Post graduate 1.49ns 23.23 * *

Graduate Post graduate 1.87ns 22.13 *

Gender segmentsMale Female 2.09 * 1.17ns

City segmentsHyderabad Delhi 20.72ns 0.95ns

Hyderabad Mumbai 20.07ns 20.15ns

Hyderabad Kolkata 22.31 * 0.91ns

Hyderabad Indore 0.29ns 5.82 * *

Delhi Mumbai 0.58ns 20.99ns

Delhi Kolkata 21.62ns 20.10ns

Delhi Indore 0.98ns 4.79 * *

Mumbai Kolkata 22.00 * 0.94ns

Mumbai Indore 0.32ns 25.34 * *

Kolkata Indore 2.48 * 25.12 * *

Notes: aKindly note that the results in the given column have also been incorporated in another paperby the author which has been accepted for publication inInternational Journal of Emerging Markets;significant at: *p , 0.05, * *p , 0.01 and nsnot significant at: p , 0.05 level

Table VI.T-test results:predisposition towardsforeign brands andconsumer acculturation

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as a symbol of progress, sophistication and modernity in India. Since higher education inIndia has Western spirit and content in its core, it is assumed that it opens avenuesfor interaction with the foreign culture and encourages its assimilation among the Indianconsumers, which in turn leads to a greater level of consumer acculturation among them.

Among the five cities studied, the sample from Indore (which is still a developingmetropolitan and has not attained the full-fledged metropolitan status so far) hasshown the least score on consumer acculturation. This is in accordance with theliterature (Nicholls et al., 1996; Ruth and Commuri, 1998; Sarin and Barrows, 2005;Venkatesh, 1994) that expects consumer acculturation to be greater in the designatedmetropolitan cities rather than in relatively smaller cities. Kolkata, besides Indore, isthe other city that has shown relatively low scores on consumer acculturation vis-a-visother Indian metropolitan cities. The reason for the same might be the presence ofrelatively strong local collectivist culture exhibited by the population there, whichmight reduce the impact of consumer acculturation, despite significantly higher scorethat this sample had shown on predisposition towards foreign brands. This is aspeculative argument which needs to be probed further.

Predisposition towards foreign brands leads to consumer acculturationThe results presented in the paper have empirically shown what many authors had justindicated, that predisposition towards foreign brands is itself acting as a potent force ofglobalization and is leading to consumer acculturation. As suggested by Yaprak (2008),education level does affect this relationship as a moderating variable, which means thateducational qualification level together with predisposition towards foreign brandswould significantly impact consumer acculturation. The other demographic variablesthat significantly influence this relationship are age and income.

Managerial implications

The present research enables a manager to gain some interesting insights about theIndian consumers. The segment comprising of the middle class and upper middle class,urban, educated Indian consumers falling in the age group of 16-35 were showingsignificantly higher consumer acculturation vis-a-vis consumers in the otherdemographic segments. This segment comprises of a substantial chunk of Indianpopulation, estimated to comprise 40 million households encompassing 200 millionpeople (Bharadwajet al., 2005). This segment is ready to integrate itself with the globalconsumer culture and should be the ideal target group for the multi-nationalcorporations to device strategies which would have the essence of global consumerismat its core.

The empirical evidence which suggests that predisposition towards foreign brands,acting as a potent force of globalization, is leading to consumer acculturation would be

of much interest to managers. Existence of such a phenomenon would encourage themto highlight foreign associations of their brands, besides serving the aforementionedsegment of Indian consumers with the same consumer orientation as they would followfor their other global customers.

Limitations and future research prospectsThe paper analyzes data from only five cities. A much more widespread andquantitatively large data, collected using probability sampling methods might have

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given more robust insights with respect to globalizations impact on consumeracculturation. Besides structured questionnaire, a more exhaustive combination ofquantitative and qualitative methods can be employed to get in-depth and insightfulresponse from the respondents.

Future researchers are suggested that while assessing a consumer segmentspredisposition towards foreign brands, other variables like availability of the product,previous experience with the product, etc. could be incorporated to make the givenconstruct more robust. The future researchers might also consider the impact of theconstruct involvement on the relationship between forces of globalization and consumeracculturation.

Inspite of empirically showing that globalization would lead to consumeracculturation; it is beyond the scope of the current study to take a stance on productstandardization versus adaptation strategies. All what may be concluded from thestudy is that Indian consumers are being acculturated under the impact of forces ofglobalization. Hence, some degree of product standardization might be possible, butthis certainly does not completely nullify the requirement of product adaptation.Probing this aspect could be an interesting future research prospect.

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About the authorDr Nitin Gupta gained his PhD in Consumer Behavior from ICFAI University, Dehradun, India.He has an MBA and a Bachelors degree in Economics. He was a Visiting Research Scholar inSyracuse University, USA. He is regularly invited by ICN Business School, Nancy, France to takemarketing courses for their students. At IBS Hyderabad, he has taught various marketingcourses to MBA, Executive MBA and PhD students. His areas of interest are consumer behavior,brand management and influence of globalization on consumer culture and his research workand cases have been published in national and international journals. Nitin Gupta can becontacted at: [email protected]

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