Unveiling Culturally Diverse Markets

Abstract

Although culture is often recognized as a multi-leveled construct, it is mostly examined at the macro (national) level, for instance, by cross-national comparisons on specific cultural dimensions. Consequently, the heterogeneity within culturally diverse societies such as that found in Flanders is often overlooked. Therefore, this study examines cultural variability among ethnic minority and majority youngsters in Flanders at the personal level by mapping their personal values and self-construal. By doing so, a typology of a culturally diverse youth market is formed based on the similarities and differences in the personal values and self-construal among ethnic minority and majority youngsters. This typology is used to examine the advertising beliefs and attitudes of distinct subgroups and to assess the relevance of values and self-construal for both advertising research and the emerging practices of ethnic and diversity marketing.