IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v60y2021ics0969698921000436.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uniqueness and luxury: A moderated mediation approach

Author

Listed:
  • Jebarajakirthy, Charles
  • Das, Manish

Abstract

Luxury consumption has become a worldwide phenomenon. Irrespective of consumers’ need for uniqueness being considered as an important psychological factor impacting luxury consumption intention, research seldom investigates the impact of CNFU dimensions on luxury consumption. This study investigates how CNFU dimensions (i.e. creative choice counter-conformity, unpopular choice counter-conformity and avoidance of similarity) drive luxury consumption intention in light of the mediating role of social comparison and the moderating role of materialism. Four hundred twenty-eight surveys completed by high-income consumers in India were used for analysis. The findings showed that social comparison mediates the effects of creative choice counter conformity and avoidance of similarity on luxury consumption. Materialism moderates these mediation effects. This study contributes to the luxury consumption literature by explaining how the interplay of psychological and social factor affects luxury purchase intention among the people driven by different uniqueness dimensions. Practically, the findings will be useful to the retailers and marketers of fashion luxury items and brands.

Suggested Citation

  • Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Das, Manish, 2021. "Uniqueness and luxury: A moderated mediation approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:60:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000436
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102477
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698921000436
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102477?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. Tian, Kelly Tepper & Bearden, William O & Hunter, Gary L, 2001. "Consumer's Need for Uniqueness: Scale Development and Validation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 28(1), pages 50-66, June.
    2. Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Das, Manish, 2020. "How self-construal drives intention for status consumption: A moderated mediated mechanism," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    3. Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Björk, Peter & Lönnström, Alexandra & Jauffret, Marie-Nathalie, 2018. "How consumers' need for uniqueness, self-monitoring, and social identity affect their choices when luxury brands visually shout versus whisper," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-81.
    4. Cleveland, Mark & Laroche, Michel, 2007. "Acculturaton to the global consumer culture: Scale development and research paradigm," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 249-259, March.
    5. Chan, Wing Yin & To, Chester K.M. & Chu, Wai Ching, 2015. "Materialistic consumers who seek unique products: How does their need for status and their affective response facilitate the repurchase intention of luxury goods?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 1-10.
    6. Shrum, L.J. & Wong, Nancy & Arif, Farrah & Chugani, Sunaina K. & Gunz, Alexander & Lowrey, Tina M. & Nairn, Agnes & Pandelaere, Mario & Ross, Spencer M. & Ruvio, Ayalla & Scott, Kristin & Sundie, Jill, 2013. "Reconceptualizing materialism as identity goal pursuits: Functions, processes, and consequences," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1179-1185.
    7. 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).
    8. Parguel, Béatrice & Delécolle, Thierry & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2016. "How price display influences consumer luxury perceptions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 341-348.
    9. Ajitha, S. & Sivakumar, V.J., 2017. "Understanding the effect of personal and social value on attitude and usage behavior of luxury cosmetic brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 103-113.
    10. Béatrice Parguel & B Delecolle & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2016. "How price display influences consumer luxury perceptions," Post-Print halshs-01374021, HAL.
    11. Pino, Giovanni & Amatulli, Cesare & Peluso, Alessandro M. & Nataraajan, Rajan & Guido, Gianluigi, 2019. "Brand prominence and social status in luxury consumption: A comparison of emerging and mature markets," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 163-172.
    12. Kapferer, Jean-Noël & Laurent, Gilles, 2016. "Where do consumers think luxury begins? A study of perceived minimum price for 21 luxury goods in 7 countries," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 332-340.
    13. Armstrong, J. Scott & Overton, Terry S., 1977. "Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys," MPRA Paper 81694, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Shao, Wei & Grace, Debra & Ross, Mitchell, 2019. "Consumer motivation and luxury consumption: Testing moderating effects," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 33-44.
    15. Béatrice Parguel & Thierry Delécolle & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2016. "How price display influences consumer luxury perceptions," Post-Print hal-01819615, HAL.
    16. Thompson, Craig J & Haytko, Diana L, 1997. "Speaking of Fashion: Consumers' Uses of Fashion Discourses and the Appropriation of Countervailing Cultural Meanings," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(1), pages 15-42, June.
    17. L. J. Shrum & Nancy Wong & Farrah Arif & Sunaina Chugani & Alexander Gunz & Tina M. Lowrey & Agnès Nairn & Mario Pandalaere & Spencer M. Ross & Ayalla Ruvio & Kristin Scott & Jill Sundie, 2013. "Reconceptualizing materialism as identity goal pursuits : Functions, processes, and consequences," Post-Print hal-02313071, HAL.
    18. Makkar, Marian & Yap, Sheau-Fen, 2018. "Emotional experiences behind the pursuit of inconspicuous luxury," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 222-234.
    19. Umair Akram & Peng Hui & Muhammad Kaleem Khan & Chen Yan & Zubair Akram, 2018. "Factors Affecting Online Impulse Buying: Evidence from Chinese Social Commerce Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-28, January.
    20. 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.
    21. Manish Das & Debarshi Mukherjee, 2020. "Ethnic Identity Impact on Consumers’ Ethnocentric Tendencies: The Moderating Role of Acculturation and Materialism," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 45(1), pages 31-53, February.
    22. Quach, Sara & Thaichon, Park, 2017. "From connoisseur luxury to mass luxury: Value co-creation and co-destruction in the online environment," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 163-172.
    23. Stokburger-Sauer, Nicola E. & Teichmann, Karin, 2013. "Is luxury just a female thing? The role of gender in luxury brand consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(7), pages 889-896.
    24. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    25. Abosag, Ibrahim & Ramadan, Zahy B. & Baker, Tom & Jin, Zhongqi, 2020. "Customers' need for uniqueness theory versus brand congruence theory: The impact on satisfaction with social network sites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 862-872.
    26. Gil, Luciana A. & Kwon, Kyoung-Nan & Good, Linda K. & Johnson, Lester W., 2012. "Impact of self on attitudes toward luxury brands among teens," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(10), pages 1425-1433.
    27. Belk, Russell W & Ger, Guliz & Askegaard, Soren, 2003. "The Fire of Desire: A Multisited Inquiry into Consumer Passion," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 30(3), pages 326-351, December.
    28. Shukla, Paurav, 2011. "Impact of interpersonal influences, brand origin and brand image on luxury purchase intentions: Measuring interfunctional interactions and a cross-national comparison," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 242-252, April.
    29. Chun‐Hung Chiu & Tsan‐Ming Choi & Xin Dai & Bin Shen & Jin‐Hui Zheng, 2018. "Optimal Advertising Budget Allocation in Luxury Fashion Markets with Social Influences: A Mean‐Variance Analysis," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 27(8), pages 1611-1629, August.
    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. Ahmad Hamdani & Idris Gautama So & Amalia E. Maulana & Asnan Furinto, 2023. "How Can Conspicuous Omni-Signaling Fulfil Social Needs and Induce Re-Consumption?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-21, June.
    2. Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Das, Manish & Shah, Dhara & Shankar, Amit, 2021. "Deciphering in-store-online switching in multi-channel retailing context: Role of affective commitment to purchase situation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    3. Hu, Xin & He, Liuyi & Liu, Junjun, 2022. "Status reinforcing: Unintended rating bias on online shopping platforms," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    4. Bhardwaj, Seema & Sreen, Naman & Das, Manish & Chitnis, Asmita & Kumar, Sushant, 2023. "Product specific values and personal values together better explains green purchase," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Das, Manish & Saha, Victor & Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Kalai, Anjana & Debnath, Nirmalya, 2022. "Cultural consequences of brands' masstige: An emerging market perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 338-353.
    6. Park, Jihye & Li, Wenhan, 2023. "“I got it FIRST†: Antecedents of competitive consumption of a new product," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    7. Pangarkar, Aniruddha & Arora, Vibha & Shukla, Yupal, 2022. "Exploring phygital omnichannel luxury retailing for immersive customer experience: The role of rapport and social engagement," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Sara Alghanim & Nelson Oly Ndubisi, 2022. "The Paradox of Sustainability and Luxury Consumption: The Role of Value Perceptions and Consumer Income," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-22, November.
    9. Kim, Sanghee & Chang, Hyo Jung (Julie), 2023. "Mechanism of retail therapy during stressful life events: The psychological compensation of revenge consumption toward luxury brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).

    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. Das, Manish & Habib, Mohshin & Saha, Victor & Jebarajakirthy, Charles, 2021. "Bandwagon vs snob luxuries: Targeting consumers based on uniqueness dominance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    2. Ko, Eunju & Costello, John P. & Taylor, Charles R., 2019. "What is a luxury brand? A new definition and review of the literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 405-413.
    3. Pillai, Kishore Gopalakrishna & Nair, Smitha R., 2021. "The effect of social comparison orientation on luxury purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 89-100.
    4. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Ramirez, Germán Contreras & Campbell, Jeffrey & Klaus, Philipp, 2021. "The product is me: Hyper-personalized consumer goods as unconventional luxury," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 446-454.
    5. Grigorescu Adriana & Ion Amalia Elena, 2020. "Innovation and product management – The direction of the 21st century luxury market," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 1035-1045, July.
    6. Bakir, Aysen & Gentina, Elodie & de Araújo Gil, Luciana, 2020. "What shapes adolescents’ attitudes toward luxury brands? The role of self-worth, self-construal, gender and national culture," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    7. Gurzki, Hannes & Woisetschläger, David M., 2017. "Mapping the luxury research landscape: A bibliometric citation analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 147-166.
    8. Adriana Grigorescu & Amalia-Elena Ion, 2022. "Qualitative Analysis of Sustainability and Innovation Within the Luxury Business Sector," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 13(4), pages 3150-3171, December.
    9. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    10. Pizzetti, Marta & Chereau, Philippe & Soscia, Isabella & Teng, Fangyuan, 2023. "Attitudes and intentions toward masstige strategies: A cross-cultural study of French and Chinese consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    11. Sharma, Amalesh & Soni, Mauli & Borah, Sourav Bikash & Haque, Tanjum, 2022. "From silos to synergies: A systematic review of luxury in marketing research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 893-907.
    12. Kim, Sanghee & Chang, Hyo Jung (Julie), 2023. "Mechanism of retail therapy during stressful life events: The psychological compensation of revenge consumption toward luxury brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Shahid, Shadma & Paul, Justin, 2021. "Intrinsic motivation of luxury consumers in an emerging market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    14. Sanyal, Shamindra Nath & Mazumder, Rabin & Singh, Ramendra & Sharma, Yukti, 2021. "Uncertainty and affluent teenagers’ luxury buying-decision: The role of avoidance-related indecisiveness," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    15. Kilsheimer Eastman, Jacqueline & Iyer, Rajesh & Babin, Barry, 2022. "Luxury not for the masses: Measuring inconspicuous luxury motivations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 509-523.
    16. Lim, Weng Marc & Phang, Cynthia Su Chen & Lim, Ai Ling, 2020. "The effects of possession- and social inclusion-defined materialism on consumer behavior toward economical versus luxury product categories, goods versus services product types, and individual versus ," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    17. Aw, Eugene Cheng-Xi & Chuah, Stephanie Hui-Wen & Sabri, Mohamad Fazli & Kamal Basha, Norazlyn, 2021. "Go loud or go home? How power distance belief influences the effect of brand prominence on luxury goods purchase intention," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    18. Kapferer, Jean-Noël & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2019. "How self-success drives luxury demand: An integrated model of luxury growth and country comparisons," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 273-287.
    19. Zahra MajlesiRad & Abdol Hamid Haji pour Shoushtari, 2020. "Analysis of the impact of social network sites and eWOM marketing, considering the reinforcing dimensions of the concept of luxury, on tendency toward luxury brand," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 1-19, December.
    20. Wang, Zi & Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 239-254.

    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:joreco:v:60:y:2021:i:c:s0969698921000436. 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: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.