Abstract:

The perception of customers amidst multilingual/cultural/Religious diversities in Nigeria, has made it complex for marketing strategist to determine the exact behavioural pattern of the consumer; hence a rigorous process in organizational decision making. The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of customers and its socio-cultural dissimilarities in Nigeria. The issues to be addressed by this study includes; the effect of language in customer perception, the consummate effect of customer perception based on religious sentiments and the consequences of socio-cultural diversity on customer perception. The main concepts, models and theories of customer perception, micro-marketing and cultural dissimilarities will be examined. Specifically, this study adopted The Cognitive Dissonance Theory–The Belief Disconfirmation Paradigm. Descriptive research methodology was adopted using standard multiple regression model to analyse and test the hypothesis of the study based on the enunciated dimensions of customer perception which includes; language, religious sentiment and cultural diversities. The discussion of the study findings was based on the study objectives, theoretical/empirical gap and the outcome of the analysis. The study recommended the need for marketing strategists to acknowledge existing dissonance (culture, language and religion) in customer pre/post purchase behavioural perception, and fashion out engaging plan of action that could enhance effective implementation of product/service marketing in Nigeria.