Cultural Value Orientations, Consumer Identity, and Brand Meaning Co-Creation in Multi-Ethnic Nigerian Consumer Markets

This study develops and tests an original conceptual model examining how cultural value orientations and consumer identity dynamics shape brand meaning co-creation processes in Nigeria's multi-ethnic consumer markets. The multi-ethnic composition of Nigeria, with over 250 distinct ethnic groups each carrying unique cultural values, presents an unparalleled natural laboratory for investigating the cultural dimensions of consumer-brand meaning formation. While brand meaning co-creation is well-theorised in homogeneous Western market contexts, its operation across culturally diverse, intersecting identities in African markets represents a significant theoretical frontier. Grounded in consumer culture theory, cultural value dimensions frameworks (including Hofstede and GLOBE), and brand co-creation theory, the study constructs an original theoretical model proposing that ethnic identity salience, collectivism orientation, and uncertainty avoidance values collectively moderate the co-creation pathways through which consumers construct and negotiate brand meanings. A multi-stage mixed-method design is employed, beginning with 45 ethnographic consumer interviews across Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa-Fulani, and Efik communities, followed by a quantitative survey of 600 consumers using SEM. Cross-cultural comparison techniques and multi-group analysis in SEM test proposed moderation effects. The study delivers an original theoretical contribution to the consumer culture theory literature by extending brand co-creation frameworks to culturally complex African market contexts. Implications address global brand managers and anthropologically informed marketing scholars on navigating multi-ethnic brand strategy in African emerging markets. Keywords: cultural value orientations, consumer identity, brand co-creation, multi-ethnic markets, Nigeria