Cosmopolitan consumers as a target group for segmentation

By Petra Riefler, Adamantios Diamantopoulos, Judy A. Siguaw. 2012

282 citations recorded by the source corpus.

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.

Subfields: Marketing, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e80b3572b57526e7c4e693053e03e729ee54f8c1

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Citations in the corpus

A Taxonomy and Review of Positive Consumer Dispositions toward Foreign Countries and Globalization (2016, background): “Similarly, higher levels of education and income foster an open-minded orientation/ attitude toward foreign countries by facilitating exposure to other countries, cultures, and people (e.g., Riefler, Diamantopoulos, and Siguaw 2012).”
Global cities and multinational enterprise location strategy (2013, background): “Riefler, Diamantopoulos, and Siguaw (2011) define and operationalize cosmopolitanism with three second-order factors: open-mindedness to other countries and cultures, appreciation of diversity, and preference for international consumption.”
Consumer Xenocentrism as Determinant of Foreign Product Preference: A System Justification Perspective (2016, background): “…variable either on its own or in conjunction with other scales capturing consumer dispositions—such as the CETSCALE (Shimp and Sharma 1987) and/or the C-COSMO scale (Riefler, Diamantopoulos, and Siguaw 2012)—to derive distinct consumer segments for market targeting and brand communication purposes.”
The Effect of Global Company Animosity on Global Brand Attitudes in Emerging and Developed Markets: Does Perceived Value Matter? (2013, background): “Given the revival of localism, the construct has recently regained attention in marketing literature (e.g., Riefler, Diamantopoulos, and Siguaw 2012; Steenkamp and De Jong 2010).”