Do luxury brands successfully entice consumers? The role of bandwagon effect

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the underlying motivations for bandwagon luxury brand consumption among consumers of an emergent market by empirically investigating the effects of consumers’ interdependent and independent orientations on their personality traits, such as conformity, need for uniqueness and status consumption, which in turn affect their bandwagon luxury brand consumption. Design/methodology/approach A paper-based survey method is used to collect data from more than 400 Pakistani consumers indulging in bandwagon luxury brand consumption. The model is estimated through structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that individuals’ personality traits significantly affect their bandwagon luxury brand consumption. Further, the results suggest that the relationship between individuals’ interdependent/independent orientation and bandwagon luxury brand consumption is partially/fully mediated by their personality traits. Research limitations/implications These findings offer insights into consumers’ perceptions about bandwagon luxury brand consumption and provide useful managerial implications for the managers/marketers to build reputable luxury brands. Originality/value This research contributes to the literature by investigating the mediating role of consumers’ personality traits in the relationship between their interdependent/independent orientation and bandwagon luxury brand consumption behavior. There is scant literature on bandwagon luxury brand consumption, especially in the context of collectivistic society where the proposed framework has been empirically tested.

A Study on Bandwagon Consumption Behavior Based on Fear of Missing Out and Product Characteristics

“…This excessive consumption behavior frequently appears in eastern countries such as Korea and China [1]. Previous studies explain this mass consumption of particular brands as conformity consumption or following-up consumption [6,7]. This bandwagon consumption pattern deeply illustrates the phenomenon of collective consumption behavior which emulates the actions of others, and represents one's social status, the belonging of a particular group, and conspicuous consumption.…”

“…Another perspective of recent research on bandwagon consumption were related to personal characteristics; examples of relevant personal characteristics include personal traits, external stimuli, and group characteristics such as cultural forces [27]. Recently, much research has been conducted on why consumers are so enthusiastic about purchasing luxury products [7,19,28]. This type of consumption concerning luxury goods reflects prestige and higher-class status in addition to its function and utility [29,30].…”

The Malleable Self-Concept - Relationships between Young Adolescents’ Self-Concept and Bandwagon Luxury Consumption

“…This stratum has an inelastic income and the wealthiest people earn in 2 days what a person in the lowest quintile would earn in a year. Therefore, there is a limited number of individuals who control most of the resources leading to financial agility for indulging in luxury consumption (Shaikh et. al., 2017).…”

Influenced Global Consumption Orientation impacts Global Brand Attitude with reference to Indian Consumers’ perspective?

“…As Shayan Shaikh et.al [39] cites in their paper there are better and newer opportunities due to "democratization" of luxury brands on one hand but on the other hand it gives challenges in terms of developing marketing strategies for the consumers to buy the products (cited by [39]). This increases the consumption orientation in Asia and global brands are tapping this markets.…”

“…So these brands have expanded their presence and developed products to suit their income levels. ( quoted by [39]) Arpita et.al [3] states that Clothing bestows not only self-identity on to individuals but also social identity. For clothing manufacturers, it is very essential to understand how the consumers assign meaning to fashion clothing.…”