The Impact of Personality Traits on Consumer Acculturation: The Mediating Role of Social Media Use

Consumer acculturation pertains to the overall adjustment and adaptation to the cultural setting of a particular society by individuals originating from a different culture. On the other hand, when analyzing consumer purchases, consumer personality traits become an important aspect. Also, social media connects people from different parts of the world with different cultures and enables them to interact and communicate with each other. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the mediating role of social media in the influence of consumer personality on consumer acculturation. The statistical population of this research was 188 consumers of luxury brands who were members of online brand communities before purchasing and had relationships with other consumers. The findings indicated that extroversion, agreeableness, and openness to new experiences positively and significantly impact customers' acculturation process. The personality traits of neuroticism and conscientiousness did not have a positive and meaningful effect on the customer's acculturation. On the other hand, the use of social media plays a mediating role between all 5 personality traits and acculturation.