Ethnicity and Acculturation in a Culturally Diverse Country: Identifying Ethnic Markets

Within a culturally diverse nation such as Australia there are many ethnic groups of widely differing size. The decision to market to individual or aggregates of groups requires the identification of differences and similarities among them. The infusion of new migrants, and interaction between ethnicity and the acculturation process, may either increase or reduce the desirability of targeting individual ethnic groups. This creates the need for a dynamic framework to appraise the marketing relevance of ethnic groups. After reviewing the marketing literature dealing with ethnicity and acculturation, a framework is developed for examining the interaction between the two. The concept of ethnicity has three dimensions: ethnic origin, ethnic identity and ethnic intensity. The framework provides a conceptual understanding of how these dimensions develop within the acculturation process. The conclusion adds to the criticism of the traditional linear model of acculturation and reveals the fragile foundations of multicultural marketing in seeking to target ethnic groups, either in aggregate or individually, without a clear understanding of the similarities and differences among them and changes likely to occur over time.