Cosmopolitan consumers as a target group for segmentation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Riefler, Petra; Diamantopoulos, Adamantios; Siguaw, Judy A.
• 署名单位: University of Vienna; University of North Carolina; East Carolina University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2011.51
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 285-305
• 关键词: cross-cultural research/measurement issues; market segmentation; consumer cosmopolitanism

摘要

For international companies, the literature recommends directing segmentation efforts at customer characteristics rather than country characteristics. Consumers' degree of cosmopolitan orientation has been suggested as a powerful segmentation base, as this characteristic is expected to drive consumers' tastes and preferences. To advance research on this segmentation base, this article offers a conceptualization of the consumer cosmopolitanism construct by: (1) delineating its conceptual domain; (2) highlighting its key dimensions, namely open-mindedness, diversity appreciation, and consumption transcending borders; and (3) examining its links with theoretically relevant variables, specifically consumer ethnocentrism and global consumption orientation. Based on the aforementioned conceptualization, a consumer-research-specific and psychometrically sound measurement instrument - the C-COSMO scale - is subsequently developed and tested in a series of complementary studies. Finally, empirically based insights into the characteristics of cosmopolitan consumers are offered, by: (1) profiling them on consumption-relevant variables (innovativeness, risk aversion, susceptibility to normative influence, consumer ethnocentrism, and demographic characteristics); (2) examining the link between consumer cosmopolitanism and willingness to buy foreign products; and (3) developing an empirically based typology of cosmopolitan/local consumers using a cluster analysis approach. From a managerial perspective, findings suggest that the identification and subsequent targeting of cosmopolitan consumers may well represent an appropriate strategy for internationally active companies. Journal of International Business Studies (2012) 43, 285-305. doi:10.1057/jibs.2011.51