Political Ideology and Cultural Consumption: The Role of Flexibility in Shaping Liberal and Conservative Preferences for Global-Local Experiences

Research has long discussed the personal and collective benefits of cultural consumption. Yet not all cultural experiences are the same, as experiences vary in whether they benefit consumers’ understanding of global or local cultures. The present research proposes that consumer preferences for these discrete types of cultural experiences vary by their political ideology. Across four studies, liberals prefer global consumption experiences, whereas conservatives prefer local consumption experiences. Moreover, these preferences are driven by differences in cognitive flexibility and are shown to emerge from different learning styles (breadth or depth). Furthermore, these preferences are independent of openness, cultural identity, and mental construal, and have implications for marketing and public policy decisions. Collectively, these findings detail the role of political ideology and cognitive flexibility in shaping consumer preferences for different types of cultural experiences and thereby offer a nuanced perspective on the impact of liberal and conservative consumers in shaping cultural consumption.