The effect of globalization on consumer behaviours: The case of Izmir

In the study, which aims to determine the effects of globalization on consumer behaviours, at first, globalization has been discussed in historical perspective. Accordingly, it has been observed that three stages of globalization were experienced, the first of which started with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1490, the second with industrialization in 1890, and the third with the liberalization movements in 1990. It has been seen that the main feature of the third stage of globalization, which is the subject of the study, is that consumption takes precedence over production. For this reason, producers have focused on controlling consumers. This control was carried out especially with the mass media that surrounds the whole world. Some researchers claim that due to these networks surrounding the whole world and many technological developments, the core countries affect other countries through consumption and the world is becoming more and more homogeneous, in other words, a global culture has emerged. This situation is also referred to as "global consumer culture acculturation". Some other researchers argue that globalization causes a heterogeneous structure that increases cultural diversity rather than homogenization. In line with the theoretical discussions in this field, the developments in consumer behaviour in the third globalization process have been examined in the case of İzmir. As a result of these examinations, the global consumer culture level of the consumers in İzmir has been determined as 4.06 according to the 7 point Likert scale. This level has shown that consumers in Izmir have a global consumer culture above the average. In addition, it was concluded that there are interactions between ethnic identity, consumer ethnocentrism, materialism, consumer animosity, values and product groups, which are thought to be related to global consumer culture. In addition to these, it has been observed that the variables discussed in the study differ in terms of demographic characteristics. Finally in the research, possible culture types in İzmir were determined by performing cluster analysis. As a result of the cluster analysis, it was concluded that there are three cultural types in İzmir: the cluster with those exibiting glocal behaviour, the cluster with those exhibiting local or traditional behaviour, and the cluster with those who define themselves as multinational. Keywords: Globalization, Consumer Behaviours, Homogeneous Social Structure, Heterogeneous Social Structure, Global Consumer Culture