Becoming Canadian: understanding how Hong Kong immigrants change their consumption

Abstract

By examining Hong Kong immigrants in Canada this study investigates how people change their consumption as they move across cultural boundaries. Anglo-Canadians, new Hong Kong immigrants (less than seven years), long-time Hong Kong immigrants and Hong Kong residents were surveyed about their product ownership and participation in a set of value-related activities. New immigrants downwardly adjust their consumption habits by prioritizing and acquiring products essential for their life in Canada. After living in Canada for more than seven years, the long-time immmigrants matched the Anglo-Canadians in their family income and owned a comparable set of products. For the value-related activities, the findings suggested that value-free activities were immediately adopted, while those that may generate value conflicts were the least adopted even for long-time immmigrants. The study confirmed the importance of environmental influences and cultural relevancy in how immigrants acculturate to Canada. -Authors