The Evolving Tile of the Digital Mosaic Identity: Exploring The Role of Social Media Consumption in the Acculturation Processes of (Im)migrants

In the superdiverse markets of today, consumers’ identities are no longer bound by national affiliations. Added to this is the proliferation of digital platform engagement in everyday consumption culture which will undoubtedly have effects on the cultural identity construction processes of individuals. We propose that the effect of digitalisation over individuals’ identity construction, will also be true for social media consumers’ who are experiencing acculturation. Investigating the effects of social media engagement for Syrian migrant consumers to the U.K. we show how digitalisation changes the way consumers perceive physical and social, spatial factors and cultural conflicts. Most significantly, we find that digital environments lead to evolving cultural mosaic identity creation among migrant Syrian consumers of social media through acculturating them to and through the digital realms. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications.