Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the “bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior

Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the “bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior

Authors: Minas N. Kastanakis and George Balabanis
Publisher: ScienceDirect
Cited as: Kastanakis, M.N. and Balabanis, G. (2012). Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the “bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1399-407.

This paper examines the impact of a number of psychological factors on consumers’ propensity to engage in the “bandwagon” type of luxury consumption. It develops and empirically confirms a conceptual model of bandwagon consumption of luxury products. In general, results show that a consumer’s interdependent self-concept underlies bandwagon luxury consumption. This relationship is mediated by the level of a consumer’s status-seeking predispositions, susceptibility to normative influence and need for uniqueness. The study concludes that these psychological constructs explain well a large part of bandwagon luxury consumption and can be used as inputs in the development of marketing strategies.

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