Multiculturalism and its Consequences for Marketing & Management

In a globalized world, multiculturalism is on the rise. This is not only fueled by migration patterns, but also by the increasing knowledge of local consumers about multiple cultures. Multicultural consumers develop certain unique characteristics. Specifically, through their cultural experiences, multicultural consumers develop greater cognitive flexibility, which refers to the ability to simultaneously consider multiple conflicting representations of a single object or event and to make uncommon associations.

This increased cognitive flexibility can lead to more creativity, given the increased flexibility in framing the same problem in different ways, as well as to preferences for certain types of brands, for example, brands with contradictory meanings.

Watch this webinar, led by Professor Maria Rodas, as she provides a deeper understanding of multicultural consumers, and the consequences of multiculturalism.

Maria Rodas

Assistant Professor of Marketing and Shebik Centennial Faculty Fellow

Maria Rodas is an assistant professor of marketing and Shebik Centennial Faculty Fellow at the Gies College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests focus on branding and cross-cultural and multicultural consumer behavior, and she teaches Marketing Management (BADM 520) in the iMBA program. Prior to joining UIUC in 2021, she was an assistant professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business and received her Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. Additionally, Maria received an MBA from Columbia University and spent a decade working in management consulting and in the consumer-packaged goods industry. Her industry experience is predominantly in brand management, having worked with brands such as Yoplait, Old El Paso, Wrigley’s Extra Gum, and Palmolive.