The Role of Consumer Agency in the Globalization Process in Emerging Markets

Abstract

In emerging markets, the main actors in the globalization process are widely considered to be governments and multinational corporations (MNCs). The authors examine the role of a key player that has largely been left out of the globalization debate—the consumer. Viewed through a lens of consumer agency, the authors outline important factors that influence whether new foreign goods that enter the marketplace are accepted, rejected, or transformed by consumers. This is investigated in the context of the Indian marketplace, an emerging market that has only recently had access to foreign goods. The authors’analysis suggests that consumers are not merely pawns of MNCs or governments. The framework developed to understand the complexities of consumer agency in an emerging market provides the first such effort to guide future empirical consumer globalization research.

Effects of US‐based franchising in the developing world: a middle‐eastern consumer perspective

“…Clear evidence of ''consumer agency'' as a transformative force in the globalization process is revealed. In addition to confirming consumer agency findings from previous research, this study also indicates a sequential progression of product adoption over time along Eckhardt and Mahi's (2004) consumer agency categories. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.…”

“…One emergent area of research concerns the adoption of a ''consumer agency'' perspective on globalization. This work is concerned with consumers' active participation in the changes brought into their lives by globalization, in contrast to the traditional perspective of consumers as passive ''pawns'' who simply accept their new ''globalized'' lives (Eckhardt and Mahi, 2004). Consumers in the developing world may decide to reject products or services introduced by foreign entities outright, for example because a ''modern'' offering from the West may offend ''traditional'' values (Ger and Belk, 1996).…”

“…Consumers in the developing world may decide to reject products or services introduced by foreign entities outright, for example because a ''modern'' offering from the West may offend ''traditional'' values (Ger and Belk, 1996). Alternatively, there is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that consumers adapt Western products to fit their indigenous lifestyles, while accepting other products without even perceiving a need for assimilation (Eckhardt and Mahi, 2004;Ger and Belk, 1996). Specific calls have been made for rich case studies of the economic and social effects of franchising in developing countries (e.g., Alon, 2004).…”

Globalization and Culture a Study of Purchase Behavior

“…It has defined as change that occurs when tow individuals from different culture came into continuous meeting and sharing with each other. This definition has been supported and the research shows that indirect exposure to media enforced the global culture which changed the indigenous culture (Steenkamp & jong, 2010).This cultural change due to inclination towards foreign brand has been studies in Indian market (Eckhardt & Mahi, 2004).…”

Origination: the geographies of brands and branding

“…Associations evoked by and assigned to a given brand can be interpreted, deconstructed and reconstructed to form an array of ideoscapes that permeate and at times drive transformation of the lived experiences of consumers and fabrics of societies (Eckhardt and Mahi 2004;Schroeder and Salzer-Mörling 2006;Izberk-Bilgin 2012;Scaraboto and Fischer 2013). Among these, brands' place associations -i.e., meanings construed through a brand's links to actual or imaginary locations one conjures up in mind (Papadopoulos et al 2011) -continuingly receive much attention from marketing research.…”