Acculturation and direct purchasing behavior among ethnic groups in the US: implications for business practitioners

Reports on a study to determine the influence of acculturation in Hispanic, Asian and black communities to US customs and practices regarding direct response purchasing behavior of self‐image projective products. A survey of students attending a western state university was conducted. The self‐administered questionnaire was developed to assess the following information: degree of acculturation; attitudes toward direct marketing; previous direct purchasing experiences; intention to respond to direct response advertisements of selected self image projective products; and demographic information. Results of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) yielded significant results at the 0.001 level regarding degree of acculturation by ethnic group. Degree of acculturation by Asians was significantly lower than any other ethnic group as well as compared to American whites. Discusses implications of the findings.