Consumer Behavior in Ethnic Enclaves: Does Co-ethnic Density Reduce Consumer Spending?

• In Event: 2384 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 07. Enclaves and Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Though sociological research on immigrant enclaves and co-ethnic spatial homogeneity is rife with analyses on how associated conditions affect entrepreneurship, research on these phenomena from the consumer’s perspective is lacking. Because consumers make up a larger proportion of the population inhabiting areas often described as enclaves, and are responsible for the success or failure of local enclave businesses as well as the flow of local revenue, an analysis of enclave consumers is warranted. This paper purports to bridge the gap between research on immigrant entrepreneurs, which often relies heavily on variations of the enclave thesis and theories of concentrated wealth and poverty, with research on consumers, particularly with regards to established theories on consumer ethnocentrism and consumer acculturation. Using the 1995-2015 Current Population Survey, we test the effect of co-ethnic immigrant density on degrees of consumer spending per week on food. Focusing specifically on Mexican immigrants and East Asian immigrants, who each make up a significant portion of the foreign-born population, our results indicate that an increase in co-ethnic density significantly corresponded to a decrease in weekly spending for Mexicans, but an increase in spending for East Asians. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Authors

• Scott Tuttle, University of Kansas

• ChangHwan Kim, University of Kansas