The Effect of Acculturation on Consumer Disidentification and Consumption Behavior Among Cuban and Puerto Rican Immigrants in the US

Immigration and ethnic diversification have been a defining characteristic of many Western, industrialized countries since the second half of the twentieth century. Immigrants often struggle between maintaining their original identity and commitment to their new nation-state (Verkuyten and Yildiz 2007). Identification conflicts at the individual level are often translated into consumers’ positive or negative sentiments, which emerge in their consumption behavior (Klein et al. 1998; LeClerc and Schmitt 1994; Sharma et al. 1995). Recently, the concept of consumer disidentification (CDI) has been introduced and validated (Josiassen 2011). CDI stems from national disidentification and entails consumers’ active rejection of and distancing from the perceived typical domestic consumer and is argued to have a significant impact on consumers’ buying decisions (Josiassen 2011).