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The abstractness of luxury

Author

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  • Hansen, Jochim
  • Wänke, Michaela

Abstract

The purchase of luxury goods is relatively exclusive, limited, and often merely hypothetical. Thus, luxury goods may be perceived as more psychologically distant than ordinary goods. Based on the link between psychological distance and abstract mental representation, we hypothesized and found in three studies that both consumers and advertisers describe luxury products in more abstract language than they describe ordinary products, and that abstract product descriptions are perceived as more luxurious than concrete product descriptions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hansen, Jochim & Wänke, Michaela, 2011. "The abstractness of luxury," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 789-796.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:5:p:789-796
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2011.05.005
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Kemp, Simon, 1998. "Perceiving luxury and necessity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 591-606, October.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kim, Kyuha & Lee, Sungmi & Choi, Yung Kyun, 2019. "Image proximity in advertising appeals: Spatial distance and product types," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 490-497.
    2. Das, Manish & Jebarajakirthy, Dr Charles, 2020. "Impact of acculturation to western culture (AWC) on western fashion luxury consumption among Gen-Y consumers in the Asia-Pacific region," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    3. Golmohammadi, Alireza & Mattila, Anna S. & Gauri, Dinesh K., 2020. "Negative online reviews and consumers’ service consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 27-36.
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    7. Joëlle Vanhamme & Adam Lindgreen & Gülen Sarial-Abi, 2023. "Luxury Ethical Consumers: Who Are They?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 805-838, March.
    8. Zhu, Hong & Zhou, Yayu & Wu, Yening & Wang, Xin, 2022. "To smile or not to smile: The role of facial expression valence on mundane and luxury products premiumness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
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    13. Savadori, Lucia & Mittone, Luigi, 2015. "Temporal distance reduces the attractiveness of p-bets compared to $-bets," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 26-38.
    14. Wang, Wangshuai & Ma, Tianjiao & Li, Jie & Zhang, Mo, 2020. "The pauper wears prada? How debt stress promotes luxury consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
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    20. Cesare Amatulli & Matteo De Angelis & Carmela Donato, 2019. "Communicating the luxury dream: The moderating role of brand prominence on the effect of abstract versus concrete language on consumer responses," MERCATI & COMPETITIVIT?, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2019(4), pages 91-108.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Luxury; Language; Abstractness; Construal level theory; Linguistic category model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M31 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Marketing
    • M37 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - Advertising

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