Introduction
Immigration is a world-wide phenomenon. For example, immigration to the UK for study grew from 177,000 to 193,000 in 2014 (National Statistics, 2015). Furthermore, in March 2015, there were 216,466 granted visas for the purposes of study in the UK and the higher numbers of visas granted for study (excluding student visitors) are for Chinese (+2,156 or +3%) (National Statistics, 2015).
Immigration has experienced acculturation by individuals or groups (Sam & Berry, 2006). The central aim of the research of acculturation has been to describe the impact of cultural changes which have influenced consumer behavior. Previous acculturation studies addressed intercultural situation between culture of origin and of immigration (Berry et al., 2006; Graves, 1967; Peñaloza, 1994). However, world has become more multicultural contexts due to the globalization and the development of Internet. Therefore, there is limitation of acculturation, which deals with the impact of only two cultures. This lack has encouraged a number of recent researches (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012; Dobson, 2014) which address cultural pluralism in a multicultural environment. Nevertheless, both acculturation and cultural pluralism studies are limited in demonstrating acculturation or consumption behavior outside the immigrant context such as culture of another foreign country.
For instance, Ravina (2009) states that the 'Korean Wave' (so called 'hallyu') has begun in East Asia in the nineties and has lasted recently among Latin America, U.S., Middle East, and some of Europe. This wave is involved with dual types of media (TV serials) and Korean popular music (Ravina, 2009). Furthermore, in recent years Korean wave, which has been affected by the Korean media and the internet development, has influenced relations between the South Korea and Chinese (Han, 2012). Korean wave (Hallyu) also has affected Chinese consumer culture and consumption behavior including Korean pop music, dramas, clothes, cosmetics and lifestyles in China due to the development of internet and media (Dong et al ., 2016; Han, 2012; Lin & Tong, 2008; Yu et al ., 2012). Yook et al . (2014) insist that the influence of Korean wave can be larger on Korean transnationals in multicultural environment, where Korean identity has become a more significant aspect in the interaction. As a result, although Korean wave can be considerable cultural phenomenon of among theoretical, empirical and even practical in the world, there are little theoretical and empirical studies (Han, 2012; Ravina, 2009; Yu et al ., 2012). Furthermore, researches as for the impact of acculturation on beauty consumption by Korean wave cannot find. As a result, this raises interesting conundrums. Is there any Korean wave impact on acculturation in multicultural contexts? For example, is there any impact of Korean wave to Chinese consumers living in the UK in terms of acculturation and beauty consumption? As a result, heeding the invitation of the consumer acculturation framework to enhance conceptual comprehending in multicultural marketplaces, I seek to extend contemporary knowledge of consumer migration by examining the answer to the question in this progressively crucial area of current cross-cultural and international marketing. This research aims to address the gap by extending the framework of the consumer acculturation (Peñaloza, 1994), which demonstrates another acculturation agent such as culture of another foreign country.
To this end, the paper provides an overview of acculturation and cultural pluralism to analysis issues surrounding cross-cultural studies. Next, some discussion of beauty ideals and beauty consumption is provided to identify the influence of acculturation. This is followed by methodology detailing the data collection and analysis compared with previous consumer research. Subsequently, findings from in-depth interviews are addressed before the paper concludes with a limitation and discussion.
Methods
Ethnographic study techniques were chosen for this study due to their long-lasting tradition of researching other cultures and ethnic phenomena (Clifford, 1988). Moreover, this interview method is constant with consumer research methods applied by Demangeot & Sankaran (2012)'s ethnographic research. This research aims to: (1) identify another consumer acculturation agent (Korea) including culture of origin (China) and of immigration (UK) for beauty ideal and consumption behavior, and (2) explore how acculturation and cultural pluralism have influenced beauty consumption for Chinese female students in the UK especially in the multicultural environment. Moreover, to achieve these aims, this research utilized ethnographic study which frequently has implemented to examine customers' experiences and to investigate social importance of consumption (Peñaloza, 1994). It also enables the examination and development of theory both consumer acculturation (Peñaloza, 1994) and cultural pluralism (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012). I conducted 12 depth interviews to compare more carefully Chinese student's previous beauty ideal for body and face and consumption patterns in China from their current changing ideal of beauty and consumption pattern in the UK. They have lived in the UK just over 1 year (except two participants who have lived for 10 months and 3 years). The final sample size (12) was not decided a priori. Instead, following the suggestions in the literature concerning study whose purpose is transcription and theory building (Strauss & Corbin, 1990), data collection finished when it became obvious that extra data no longer added any crucial insights to the interpretation.
In terms of a philosophical assumption of this study, an epistemology is utilized. There are different, epistemologically practicable world app ro ach of investigating human experience which is existential-phenomenology. As a result, as the focus of this research is acculturation and beauty consumption for Chinese women, which is existential-phenomenology with pattern metaphors of lived individual experience, a phenomenological approach was relevant (Thompson et al ., 1989).
Interviews were broken down into two distinct sets of questions. First, questions about consumer acculturation of beauty ideals in a multicultural environment were asked, which consists of beauty ideal for body and face and media consumption compared with experience both in China and the UK. Since this study assumes that there are other consumer acculturation agents not only culture of origin (China) and culture of immigration (UK) but also culture of other countries (Korea or America). Because as shown above, in recent times, Korean dramas, entertainment, movies and Korean pop music have been broadly popular in considerable Asian cultures such as China and Japan, which leads to acceptance and popularity of make-up, hairstyles and clothes (Yu et al ., 2012).
The second set of questions investigated how acculturation and cultural pluralism can affect beauty consumption both skin care and make-up cosmetics. Utilizing the constant comparative method (Glaser & Strauss, 1968), each question was compared with both in China and the UK to emerge similarities and differences among the different beauty ideals and consumption patterns demonstrated by participants.
In the beginning an interview, I informed this research's purposes and the interview will be recorded and are guaranteed of anonymity for ethical concerns (Thompson et al ., 1989). Furthermore, consent from all participants was accepted to utilize photographs only for research purpose. In addition, during the interview, there was no a priori question regarding the subject and interview was circular with respondent's experience rather than linear. The data was collected thorough depth interviews with 12 Chinese students especially with girls studying at the university located in the southern part of England. The overall data collection elicited transcriptions of the tape-recorded and transcribed verbatim handwritten onto hard copy to assist analysis (Goulding, 2001). Moreover, photographs (35) of cosmetics what participants consume were taken. In interviews, photographs may foster storytelling which brings out certain aspects of the participant's experience and resultantly further enhances the information provided (Miller & Happell, 2006). In the middle or end of interview, photographs were taken and participants explained their cosmetic brands or consumption in the UK. Date consisted of 48 pages of transcripts and 35 photographs with field notes. This provided the opportunity of attaining rich data by examining numerous instances of consumer acculturation and cultural pluralism behaviors while reaching extensive variability in terms of the participants' beauty ideals, beauty consumption and preferences.
Armed with a revised interview, I started with three Chinese students first which were conducted by interviewing and recording to have opportunity to avoid misinterpretations and increase the trustworthiness of the research. I initially utilized social and professional networks to recruit participants and they recommended and introduced other potential participants.
For interview, I modified the interview guide to distinguish differences between previous behavior in China and current behavior in the UK about media consumption, beauty ideals and beauty consumption to examine acculturation and pluralism effects. In terms of beauty consumption, it was divided with skin care and make-up products to investigate any changes because of the impact of acculturation. Interviews lasted between 30 and 60 min, which I usually visited participants' houses to examine their cosmetics and I started to appreciate the considerable differences and similarities between China and the UK.
In terms of data analysis, it contained a constant process of comparison between transcribed data, field notes and existing theory (Burawoy et al ., 1991). For an initial sorting-out process, I wrote findings in the form of reflective memos and also summarizes of field notes. Moreover, thematic analysis method for identifying, analyzing, and reporting patterns within data was adopted (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Therefore, to seek out patterns or meanings, I repeated reading and listening tape-recorded transcripts and tried to immerse in the data. For this process, I created diagrams to reduce the date (Creswell & Poth, 2012) and found similarity and differences.
Results and Discussion
This section presents the impact of consumer acculturation and cultural pluralism strategies that emerged from the research data. They are labeled another acculturation agent, consumer acculturation of beauty ideal and consumer acculturation of beauty consumption.
1. Another acculturation agents: Korean wave
Although Peñaloza (1994) insists that consumer acculturation occurs due to double sets of agents between culture of origin and new migration culture from family, friends, media and institutions. In multicultural era, due to globalization and the development of internet or media, other acculturation agents such as culture of other foreign countries and foreign influences within culture of origin could be influenced to consumer acculturation and consumption (Figure 1). Based on the revised strategies, the findings found out another consumer acculturation agent such as Korean wave from media and Internet in terms of media and beauty consumption to Chinese participants. All Chinese participants in recent years have watched Korean TV program both in China and in the UK, which has affected beauty consumption of Korean cosmetics in China and even in the UK to the Chinese participants. It has been most prevalent among participants, Ramber, Ray, Luyao and Si. For instance, Ramber explains "I watched Korean entertainment and dramas, and saw actresses using some make-up cosmetics which made them look so pretty and made me want to buy. Until now in the UK, I have watched Korean TV programs, I accept super stars' recommendation. However, it is hard to buy in the UK, thus I asked my friends who went to China to buy Korean cosmetics for me or I brought some from China. Now, I still use these Korean cosmetics such as Hera and Sulwhasoo" (Figure 2).
In terms of beauty products, Chinese participants utilized Korean, Japanese, American and European brands in China and they have preferred Korean cosmetics in recent years in China and even in the UK. This also shows another acculturation agent, Korean wave, has influenced acculturation which leads to beauty consumption. Another example is Si. She states "I often watched Korean dramas and entertainment in China and sometimes have watched those in the United Kingdom through the Internet. I really like Korean cosmetics due to high quality. Although, it is difficult to buy those in the UK, but, I still use Korean brands such as Innisfree masks now in the UK. I think quality of Chinese cosmetics is not as good as Korean or Japanese ones. Therefore, almost every girl in china uses the Korean or Japanese cosmetics now" (Figure 3). Luyao also explains "I use both Korean such as Innisfree and European brands in China and in the UK. In China, I usually buy cosmetics from Wechat or Taobao. In the UK, I still use some Korean brands but it is not easy to buy Korean brands. In terms of cosmetics, I care about quality so I prefer more Korean or European brands than Chinese brands" (Figure 4).
Consequently, another acculturation agent which is culture of another foreign country (Korea), has a significant impact of beauty consumption to the Chinese participants even in the UK through the media and Internet consumption. Moreover, it is interesting note that Chinese participants were influenced by a foreign impact within their culture of origin rather than foreign influence with their culture of immigration.
2. Consumer acculturation of beauty ideal
As for beauty ideal for face, Chinese female students studying in the UK have already acculturated from western women even when they were in China. Foreign advertising in China has already been widespread, thus it has formed a mix of Asian and Western culture (Staley & Zhan, 2011). Since the beauty ideal for face from UK's women has no any impact to change in perception of their beauty ideals except for skin color preference. Traditionally or culturally, Chinese women in China consider big eyes, high nose and small face as beautiful. All participants have already influenced by a western beauty ideal and they now maintained beauty ideals such as big eyes, high nose, small face and small or high nose both in China and the UK. These findings are in accordance with several researches (Dobson, 2014; Jones, 2011; Staley & Zhan, 2011).
In research, almost all participants explain Chinese people prefer big eyes, high and small nose and small face. Renee explains "Most Chinese women like Fan Bingbing who has small face, big eyes, small and high nose and white skin color. People around me say she is beautiful. Also most Chinese people in China like and prefer white skin color. In China, I preferred white skin color. I've lived in the UK for 3 years thus, for the first year, I thought tan skin color is beautiful but after that year I prefer white skin color again".
Furthermore, including Renee, other 3 more participants, Ray, Chen and Luyao, replied their beauty ideals for face is Fan Bingbing who is a famous Chinese actress. The notion of beauty ideal for big eyes is accordance with Dobson (2014)'s research that found in Chinese culture, big eyes are attractive. Moreover, the finding, which is the notion of white skin is beautiful, is consistent with Li et al . (2008) who suggest that "whiteness" or having white skin is regarded a crucial feature in constructing women's beauty in Asian cultures. Furthermore, according to Jones (2011), due to globalization certain ideals of beauty for women such as big-eyes, white skin and thin bodies have affected and diffused worldwide.
Moreover, due to the impact of Korean wave as for acculturation of beauty ideals, Korean actress has also influenced. Ray states "My beauty ideal for face is Suji, who is a famous Korean actress, and I like her image".
On the other hand, there is the only impact of acculturation from culture of immigration for facial beauty, which is skin color. Some participants preferred white skin in China, however, moving to the UK they consider tan skin color as more attractive. Four participants, Ray, Iris, Chen and Si, have assimilated skin color since they thought white skin color was beautiful in China. On the other hand, now they think tan color is attractive in the UK. However, it is interesting note that if they live in the UK for more years, they would want and maintain tan skin color. However, since they will go back to China soon, they don't desire to tan their skin. Because white skin is considered as beautiful in Chinese culture.
In terms of beauty ideal for body, Chinese women regard thin as attractive and beautiful and almost all participants explained that their beauty ideals for body was thin in China. However, when they move to the UK, their beauty ideals for body have changed as healthy and fit with exercise. Therefore, there is acculturation from culture of immigration for beauty ideal for body. As a result, many participants began exercise in the UK such as running and gym. For example, Si explains "Chinese people in China prefer thin body. When I was in China, I preferred thin and slim body, however, in the UK having muscle with exercise looks more beautiful and attractive. Thus, now I exercise in the gym". Renee also states "In China, I thought thin was beautiful but now in the UK, healthy S-line shape such as Victoria secret models' bodies is more beautiful. Miranda Kerr's body is my ideals of body".
Consequently, in terms of beauty ideals for body, Chinese participants have influenced and acculturated with culture of immigration (UK) which leads to assimilation. Therefore, all participants in the UK prefer healthy body shape and they try to exercise. These findings are consistent with Lindberg et al . (2006)'s study who explore that women with high body observation often compare their feature with that of other women. However, it is interesting note that three participants state that they compare their body with their own previous body appearance.
3. Consumer acculturation of beauty consumption
During interview with participants, I was interested to how new environment can affect beauty consumption for Chinese women in the UK in the multicultural era. In terms of cosmetics consumption, participants consider quality, suitable for their face and brands as important factors. Considerable participants utilized Korean or Japanese cosmetics because of high quality in China, however, moving to the UK they have changed brands because it is difficult to purchase Korean, Japanese and even Chinese brands in the UK. Therefore, they have purchased and consumed European (including UK) brands in the UK. Peñaloza (1994) insists that the immigrants' consumption environment and circumstances can control their ability to continue previous consumption patterns. Therefore, in terms of cultural pluralism, Chinese participants have adopted cultural experimentalism, extensionism and purism strategies for beauty consumption practices which findings are in consistent with Dobson (2014). First, there is cultural experimentalism. For example, Shudan explains "I have to change products because I cannot buy Korean cosmetics in the UK and I want to try new things. Because European brands are more expensive in China and I like to try new things. I can try and learn which brands are better for me. That is why I've tried to purchase many cosmetic brands. I want to try diverse brands before I go back to China" (Figure 5).
Consequently, her beauty consumption pattern is related with cultural experimentalism strategy which is constantly pursuing revelation to products, services and experiences form other cultures and satisfaction for the desire of variety (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012). Second, there is cultural extensionism strategy due to environmental aspects which lead to consuming European including local UK brands since it is easy to purchase (Dobson, 2014). Demangeot & Sankaran (2012) describe that cultural extensionism is a slow and cautious strategy where people progress step by step beyond their comfort zone to adopt the products of other cultures. For example, Iris also comments "In the UK, I prefer to use French brands (European brands). Although I used Korean and Japanese brands in China, it is difficult to access and purchase in the UK. That is why I have changed the cosmetic brands in the UK. Also I use UK brands because I can only easily see UK or European brands in the UK. I use UK brands such as Lush, Simple and Rimmel, and brand and price are the most important factors to choose beauty products" (Figure 6). Ramber also states "I used Chinese cosmetics in China but branding is not very powerful, so now I have changed European, Korean and Japanese brands. And I have used UK brands such as Body shop because it is cheaper here".
Participants among Renee, Iris, Shu, Luyao and Si do not use Chinese cosmetics brands both in China and the UK, since they cannot trust and think quality is not as good as other countries brands. For instance, Shu explains "Compared with other countries brands', Chinese cosmetics' quality is a little lower in some degree".
These findings are consistent with Corine & Edmond (2012)'s study who examine China's luxury cosmetic market to comprehend Chinese customers. They explore that Chinese consumers prefer foreign cosmetics brands because they believe foreign cosmetic brands are more durable, safer and demonstrate minimum detrimental effects as well as better quality than the domestic cosmetics. Furthermore, finally, the finding can apply for cultural purism strategy which arises from obviously defined aims (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012). Demangeot & Sankaran (2012) examine that "Ernest has realised that some Lebanese eating practices are unhealthy and chooses practices from other cultures which he believes are healthier".
In terms of beauty consumption, when Chinese participants get beauty information or knowledge about cosmetics, they trust Chinese friends' recommendation first and also prefer to search information thorough the Internet. In Corine & Edmond (2012)'s research, they found that Chinese people's preferences were affected by their friends and neighbours, but not to a large extent. However, in my research most participants emphasized they have got beauty information about products from their Chinese friends largely both in China and the UK. Moreover, most Chinese participants stated that they have searched beauty information through the Internet and social media. These findings are in accordance with Corine & Edmond (2012)'s research that insists the impact of the online media had increased over the years. For instance, Ray states "I always trust Chinese friends' recommendation since we have no cultural differences and can communicate easily and express more clearly. If I ask local people which types of cosmetics are suitable for me, I think I cannot quite understand the information".
Furthermore, it is consistent with Corine & Edmond (2012)'s study who insists Chinese customers are not brand loyalty. Since their purchase decisions are more affected by what they feel is fit and suitable for their skin. Chinese participants emphasized suitable for their skin is the most central factors to purchase cosmetics. Maggie also explains "In China, I got beauty information from my friends and the Internet. At first, my friends recommend cosmetics and I search on the Internet whether it is suitable for me or not. Also in the UK, mostly I have got beauty information from two Chinese friends, because before they came to the UK, they already used make-up products, they have introduced many make-up cosmetics for me".
This result is consistent with the findings of Li et al . (2008), who insisted that existing trust between friends is so commonly affected to Chinese customers' behaviors that recommendation from friends are crucial for consumption.
In addition, three participants, Ray, Queenie and Maggie, explain that function to make their skin clean or effectiveness for blemish is the crucial factors to choose cosmetics. Even though Cash & Pruzinsky (2004) found that the blemish on the skin can be lower self-esteem for man and cosmetics may increase self-esteem for them, my finding can extend that the blemish can also diminish self-esteem for women and they choose cosmetics to make their skin clean and improve their self-image for women.
In terms of the impact of the Internet on beauty consumption, according to Yu et al . (2012), due to the internet culture in China, online social networks are crucial and they further explain that "according to the Sina corporation annual report, the Weibo microblog now has more than 50 million active users per day, and 10 million newly registered users per month". Most Chinese participants have used social media such as WeChat and Sina Weibo both in China and the UK and in the UK they utilize Facebook and Instagram as well. While in China, WeChat and Sina Weibo were the most useful tools to get beauty information, in the UK, participants utilize not only WeChat and Sina Weibo but also Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. These findings are consistent with Yu et al . (2012)'s research who explored that in China youth utilize online social networks such as Sina Weibo, forums and blogs to exchange viewpoints and share information.
Consequently, respondents have acculturated beauty products and consumption due to the environmental factors that Chinese women in the UK can easily access and purchase. Peñaloza (1994) notes that consumers purchase and utilize considerable products and services associated with culture of immigration.
Conclusion
Much of the previous acculturation including consumer acculturation literatures assume that acculturation has been influenced between only two culture such as origin culture and immigrant culture and fail to fully comprehend potential culture of other foreign countries in the multicultural contexts. On the other hand, in order to address this limitation of acculturation theory in the multicultural environment, cultural pluralism has researched (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012; Dobson, 2014). Nevertheless, both acculturation and cultural pluralism fail to fully comprehend not only potential other acculturation agents but also foreign influences within culture of origin in the multicultural contexts resulting in the globalization and the development of Internet. Therefore, the research adopt and extend consumer acculturation (Peñaloza, 1994) that aims to shed light on another acculturation agent such as Korean wave in the multicultural contexts, providing the distinct contributions to consumer research. From a research perspective, I have proposed a more potential and detailed conceptualization of acculturation patterns and agents than those articulated previously.
For example, Korean wave has been spread not only the popularity of dramas or Korean pop but also the expansion of Korean behavior standards, sensibilities and life styles. Han (2012) also insists that Chinese people consider Western cultural contents as only stories of foreigners and foreign culture. However, they can simply connect to the values and themes driven in Korean cultural content. Han (2012) further states that Hallyu plays a crucial role in Korean cosmetics popularity. As a result, these findings suggest that there is another acculturation agent for beauty consumption to the Chinese women from Korean culture "Hallyu". Moreover, there is another factor to be acculturated by Chinese female students in the UK, which is environment to access and purchase cosmetics. Several contextual, personal environmental and situational aspects can influence cultural pluralism strategies and behavioral results (Demangeot & Sankaran, 2012).
These findings have several implications. First, although Chinese participants have been acculturated in terms of body shape and skin color, there is no direct impact of beauty consumption. However, purchase situational or environmental factors would be more crucial, which is Chinese participants prefer Korean or Japanese cosmetics even in the UK but it is difficult to purchase so they choose European brands. Second, Chinese participants prefer and trust Chinese friends' recommendation for beauty products since they think western women have different types of skin and it is more convenience and effective to communicate with Chinese friends.
The findings demonstrate significant implications for marketers. There are new segments in the market worldwide. Marketers may consider Chinese consumers not only in mainland China but also other immigrant countries such as Europe. Therefore, marketing managers might set new segments for immigrants or students abroad. Chinese participants prefer Korean or Japanese cosmetics. However, it is difficult to purchase those in the UK. Therefore, Asian marketing managers need to exploit this comprehending in the development of marketing strategies. On the other hand, marketers in the UK or Europe also have considerable chances to extend targeting for Asian students studying in the UK. They can research more students or immigrants residing abroad and explore their needs and consumption patterns for beauty consumption.
This research makes contributions to the multicultural marketing and consumer literature. First, it offers insights into how, in the multicultural contexts, consumers manage the cosmetics consumption within different cultures in terms of the point of view between acculturation and cultural pluralism strategies. Second, this research identifies and extends the potential new acculturation agents, thus opening the chances of further study of acculturation and cultural pluralism.
However, this study is not without its limitations. Since this research was conducted with Chinese students residing in the southern part of the UK just over 1 year, these results may be of limited utility in comprehending how acculturation level, beauty consumption patterns or the impact of Korean culture is different from immigrants living more than few years. Immigrants residing and working in the UK for few years may be more acculturated than students. Moreover, immigrants would meet more local residents and be influenced by local while in this research most Chinese participants usually go out with Chinese friends and prefer their recommendation.
As such, extending this study with Chinese immigrants living in the UK more than 5 years is necessary to fully comprehend the acculturated level and change their consumption behavior for cosmetics.
Furthermore, for Chinese students or immigrants in the UK, there might be another foreign acculturation agent not only Korean wave but also US or Japan, which has a great impact of change of beauty ideals and beauty consumption. At the same time, there might be Korean wave influences for Chinese immigrants living worldwide as well as UK as for the impact of beauty consumption. Therefore, further longitudinal research would be appropriate to achieve theses.
