IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v158y2020icp49-65.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What if diamonds did not last forever? Signaling status achievement through ephemeral versus iconic luxury goods

Author

Listed:
  • Desmichel, Perrine
  • Ordabayeva, Nailya
  • Kocher, Bruno

Abstract

Individuals signal status through luxury goods because high status confers social, economic, and psychological benefits. While it is known that luxury (vs. non-luxury) consumption signals individuals' high (vs. low) level of status, it is unclear how individuals' marketplace behaviors influence perceptions of type, or source, of their status. The present research examines how ephemeral and iconic luxury consumption signals individuals' achieved or ascribed social status. Seven studies (and two follow-ups) show that, while ephemeral and iconic luxury consumption signal similar levels of individuals' ascribed status, ephemeral luxury consumption signals individuals' higher achieved social status than iconic luxury consumption. This happens because ephemeral luxury consumption signals individuals' higher creativity than iconic luxury consumption. We outline the boundaries of this phenomenon and demonstrate its behavioral downstream consequences. Our findings offer guidance on how individuals and managers can leverage the status signaling value of ephemeral and iconic luxury goods.

Suggested Citation

  • Desmichel, Perrine & Ordabayeva, Nailya & Kocher, Bruno, 2020. "What if diamonds did not last forever? Signaling status achievement through ephemeral versus iconic luxury goods," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 49-65.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:158:y:2020:i:c:p:49-65
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.01.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597818307842
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2020.01.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Curhan, Jared R. & Neale, Margaret A. & Ross, Lee & Rosencranz-Engelmann, Jesse, 2008. "Relational accommodation in negotiation: Effects of egalitarianism and gender on economic efficiency and relational capital," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 192-205, November.
    2. David Hamilton & Rick Tilman, 1983. "Conspicuous Consumption: A Study of Exceptional Consumer Behavior," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(3), pages 791-799, September.
    3. van Dijke, Marius & De Cremer, David & Mayer, David M. & Van Quaquebeke, Niels, 2012. "When does procedural fairness promote organizational citizenship behavior? Integrating empowering leadership types in relational justice models," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 235-248.
    4. Belk, Russell W & Bahn, Kenneth D & Mayer, Robert N, 1982. "Developmental Recognition of Consumption Symbolism," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 9(1), pages 4-17, June.
    5. repec:adr:anecst:y:2001:i:63-64:p:03 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Daniel J. Zizzo & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Are People Willing to Pay to Reduce Others'Incomes?," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 63-64, pages 39-65.
    7. Ravi Mehta & Meng Zhu, 2016. "Creating When You Have Less: The Impact of Resource Scarcity on Product Use Creativity," Journal of Consumer Research, Oxford University Press, vol. 42(5), pages 767-782.
    8. White, Katherine & Stackhouse, Madelynn & Argo, Jennifer J., 2018. "When social identity threat leads to the selection of identity-reinforcing options: The role of public self-awareness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 60-73.
    9. Hirschman, Elizabeth C, 1980. "Innovativeness, Novelty Seeking, and Consumer Creativity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 7(3), pages 283-295, December.
    10. Jonah Berger & Morgan Ward, 2010. "Subtle Signals of Inconspicuous Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(4), pages 555-569, December.
    11. Arnett, Rachel D. & Sidanius, Jim, 2018. "Sacrificing status for social harmony: Concealing relatively high status identities from one’s peers," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 108-126.
    12. Ravi Mehta & Darren W. Dahl & Rui (Juliet) Zhu, 2017. "Social-Recognition versus Financial Incentives? Exploring the Effects of Creativity-Contingent External Rewards on Creative Performance," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 536-553.
    13. Dickerson, Mary Dee & Gentry, James W, 1983. "Characteristics of Adopters and Non-Adopters of Home Computers," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 10(2), pages 225-235, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. He, Yue & Mo, Zan & Wan, Xiuqi & Li, Mengyin & Fu, Huijian, 2023. "Who will embrace upward line extension? The role of power distance belief," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    2. Wang, Yajin, 2022. "A conceptual framework of contemporary luxury consumption," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 788-803.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gaetano Miceli & Maria Antonietta Raimondo, 2020. "Creativity in the marketing and consumer behavior literature: a structured review and a research agenda," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2020(1), pages 85-124, March.
    2. Xu, Lidan & Mehta, Ravi & Hoegg, JoAndrea, 2022. "Sweet ideas: How the sensory experience of sweetness impacts creativity," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    3. Lokesh Jasrai, 2014. "Measuring Mobile Telecom Service Innovativeness Among Youth," Paradigm, , vol. 18(1), pages 103-116, June.
    4. Ravi Mehta & Darren W. Dahl & Rui (Juliet) Zhu, 2017. "Social-Recognition versus Financial Incentives? Exploring the Effects of Creativity-Contingent External Rewards on Creative Performance," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 536-553.
    5. Yu, Yining & Zhou, Xinyue & Wang, Lei & Wang, Qiuzhen, 2022. "Uppercase Premium Effect: The Role of Brand Letter Case in Brand Premiumness," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 335-355.
    6. Claire Heeryung Kim & Kelly B. Herd & H. Shanker Krishnan, 2023. "The creative touch: the influence of haptics on creativity," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 113-124, March.
    7. An, Donghwy & Youn, Nara, 2018. "The inspirational power of arts on creativity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 467-475.
    8. Igbaria, M. & Iivari, J., 1995. "The effects of self-efficacy on computer usage," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 587-605, December.
    9. Cony M. Ho & Szu‐Han ( Joanna) Lin & Russell E. Johnson, 2022. "Does depletion have a bright side? Self‐regulation exertion heightens creative engagement," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 666-684, June.
    10. Prins, Remco & Verhoef, Peter C. & Franses, Philip Hans, 2009. "The impact of adoption timing on new service usage and early disadoption," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 304-313.
    11. Jessen, Alexander & Hilken, Tim & Chylinski, Mathew & Mahr, Dominik & Heller, Jonas & Keeling, Debbie Isobel & de Ruyter, Ko, 2020. "The playground effect: How augmented reality drives creative customer engagement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 85-98.
    12. Citrin, Alka Varma & Stem, Donald Jr. & Spangenberg, Eric R. & Clark, Michael J., 2003. "Consumer need for tactile input: An internet retailing challenge," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(11), pages 915-922, November.
    13. Bin Kim, Woo & Jung Choo, Ho, 2023. "How virtual reality shopping experience enhances consumer creativity: The mediating role of perceptual curiosity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    14. Tellis, Gerard J. & Chandrasekaran, Deepa, 2010. "Extent and impact of response biases in cross-national survey research," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 329-341.
    15. Vandecasteele, Bert & Geuens, Maggie, 2010. "Motivated Consumer Innovativeness: Concept, measurement, and validation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 308-318.
    16. Jerome Christia PhD, 2014. "The Effect of Alliance Image on the Relationship between Consumer Innovativeness and New Product Adoption," International Journal of Business and Social Research, LAR Center Press, vol. 4(4), pages 20-33, April.
    17. Hoffmann, Stefan & Soyez, Katja, 2010. "A cognitive model to predict domain-specific consumer innovativeness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 778-785, July.
    18. Lee, Saerom & Bolton, Lisa E., 2020. "Mixed signals? Decoding luxury consumption in the workplace," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 331-345.
    19. Rohit Aggarwal & David Kryscynski & Vishal Midha & Harpreet Singh, 2015. "Early to Adopt and Early to Discontinue: The Impact of Self-Perceived and Actual IT Knowledge on Technology Use Behaviors of End Users," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 26(1), pages 127-144, March.
    20. Lee, Sang Yup & Lee, Keeheon, 2018. "Factors that influence an individual's intention to adopt a wearable healthcare device: The case of a wearable fitness tracker," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 154-163.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:158:y:2020:i:c:p:49-65. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.