Local consumer well‐being in a multicultural marketplace: From conflict to engagement

Abstract

AbstractThis study offers a nuanced understanding of how local consumers experience, interpret and acculturate to expatriates' practices within a multicultural marketplace. We adopt Demangeot et al. bridge framework and its marketplace domains (security, visibility, opportunity, utility, intercultural competence and cultural navigability) to unpack locals' consumption patterns and experiences that produce multicultural tensions or multicultural engagement that contributes to locals' well‐being. Data were collected via 2 focus groups and 20 in‐depth interviews with local consumers in Qatar. The findings offer several theoretical and managerial insights that could enrich the scant literature on acculturation of local minorities within multicultural non‐homogenous societies and enhance our understanding of how local consumers engage with culturally different experiences.