Marketer acculturation to diversity needs: The case of modest fashion across two multicultural contexts

Stephanie Slater (1) , Catherine Demangeot (2)

1 Cardiff University
2 LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221

Intersecting neo-institutional and acculturation theory, this paper investigates how national acculturation ideologies inform attitudes towards modest fashion, comparing the United Kingdom and French contexts. Modest fashion, an emerging market phenomenon with roots in the conservative notion of ‘modesty’, has been a controversial cultural flashpoint.We analyze public discourse towards modest fashion using UK and French press media articles through content analysis. The UK press shows institutional work towards the legitimization of a modest fashion subfield, integrated within the global fashion field. The French press shows institutional work involving heterogenous actors, where modest fashion is framed as destabilizing the Western fashion field, and stigmatized. Theoretical and managerial implications are considered.Our work contributes to acculturation and multicultural marketplaces literature by showing how, in contexts that are similarly multicultural, large-scale institutions can structure markets in widely different ways, and shape the realm of opportunities for marketers to cater to minority needs.

Mots clés: Neo-institutional theory; Acculturation theory; Multicultural marketplaces; Modest fashion; Context; Institutional work

Domaines: Sciences de l'Homme et Société; Gestion et management

Stephanie Slater, Catherine Demangeot. Marketer acculturation to diversity needs: The case of modest fashion across two multicultural contexts. Journal of Business Research, 2021, 134, pp.702-715. ⟨10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.05.059⟩. ⟨hal-03600360⟩