Cultural identities in the era of globalization: Implications for consumer behavior

With globalization, the marketplace is growing in cultural diversity in terms of both brand offerings (that is, supply) and consumers (that is, demand). The wide offering of brands from every corner of the world brings a variety of cultures to a consumer population that is also growing in cultural diversity. This chapter reviews recent research on globalization, cultural identities and branding to explain how multicultural consumers navigate a marketplace loaded with a mixture of cultural meanings. The central premise is that globalization promotes culture-mixing within the individual, as well as outside the individual in products and brands. Culture-mixing can create conflict within the individual, and may result in negative brand evaluations. However, resolving cultural conflict can improve consumer well-being and generate favorable brand attitudes. The chapter identifies multiple factors that determine the extent to which cultural conflict is resolved, and outlines an agenda for future research in this area.