Call for Papers – Louisville 2025 Boutique Conference

Conference Theme and Objective
Massive changes in global population demographics are shaping consumer markets that are increasingly multicultural. In many countries, including the United States, multicultural consumers—those who embrace and identify with multiple cultural backgrounds—are among the fastest-growing demographic segments. For instance, the Hispanic American population grew by 23% from 2010 to 2020, making it a significant contributor to the U.S. population growth during that period (U.S. Census Bureau, 2021). 

Traditionally, consumer behavior studies have focused on differences between distinct cultural groups, such as collectivist versus individualistic values or interdependent versus independent self-construals. However, the current imperative is to understand consumers who embody multiple cultural influences simultaneously. These multicultural individuals navigate and integrate various cultural identities, leading to complex consumer behaviors that cannot be fully understood through traditional, monocultural lenses.

This conference aims to bring together scholars and practitioners dedicated to understanding this critical and rapidly evolving area. By focusing on consumers who embrace and identify with multiple cultures, we can bridge the gap between industry practices and academic research, ultimately leading to more effective and inclusive marketing strategies worldwide. We encourage multidisciplinary research from a variety of frameworks, including consumer culture theory, survey and experimental research, behavioral economics, ethnography, and others. Accordingly, the conference seeks to build upon the discipline’s theoretical and practical understanding of this topic by attracting research addressing the following aspects of multicultural marketing:

• How do multicultural consumers integrate and negotiate multiple cultural influences in their decision-making processes?
• What role does cognitive flexibility play in how multicultural consumers interpret and respond to marketing messages that appeal to more than one culture?
• How might we better understand consumers’ shifts among various cultural identities when navigating the marketplace?
• How can brands develop and communicate value propositions that resonate with multicultural consumers across different global markets?
• What are the benefits associated with multicultural marketing strategies?
• What are the potential challenges of multicultural marketing, particularly when brands attempt to appeal to consumers from diverse cultural backgrounds simultaneously?
• How can we better understand the motivations, values, and identities of multicultural consumers to create more holistic marketing strategies?
• What role does multicultural marketing play in addressing systemic inequities in the marketplace?
• How can multicultural marketing protect and promote cultural traditions and values?
• How can insights from industry practices be leveraged to inform and enhance academic research on multicultural consumer behavior?

Important Dates
Submissions Due: February 28, 2025
Notification Date: March 29, 2025
Conference Dates: July 31-August 1, 2025

Conference Format
The conference will kick off with an evening reception on July 31, 2025, followed the next day by research presentations, a poster session, plenary sessions, and a keynote address by a leading expert in multicultural marketing, culminating with a second reception and dinner.  

Submission Format
Please submit a no-more-than 1,000-word abstract that summarizes the motivation, conceptualization, methodology, and major findings. References do not count against the word limit. 

Submissions must include:

• The title of the paper
• The name and affiliation of the author(s)
• The email addresses of all authors
• A 50-word abstract for the conference program

Please upload your submissions to the submission website by February 28, 2025.

Participation
In keeping with the boutique nature of the conference, the conference will have a limit of 60 attendees.  All attendees are expected to be engaged in research on or practice of multicultural marketing.

Presenters, and co-authors of accepted presentations, will have priority in registering for the conference. The conference will then open up registration on a first-come first-serve basis until the attendance cap is reached.

Organizers
Aaron Barnes, University of Louisville (aaron.barnes@louisville.edu)
Maria Rodas, University of Illinois (mrodas@illinois.edu)
David Luna, University of Central Florida (dluna@ucf.edu)
Michael Barone, University of Louisville (michael.barone@louisville.edu)