Luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs

Abstract

Purpose – Cross-cultural influences are important considerations in the international marketing of luxury brands. These influences have predominantly been understood through cross-national approaches and the lens of glocalisation. The purpose of this paper is to study augments these paradigms by advancing the view of luxury brand markets as confluences of multiple cultural beliefs. Design/methodology/approach – A hermeneutic analysis of 24 in-depth interviews was conducted with luxury brand consumers in New Zealand. Findings – The findings describe two cultural beliefs that convey divergent meanings and shape luxury brand consumption styles in a multicultural marketplace. More specifically, the authors illustrate that consumers can be influenced by and shift between both local and foreign cultural beliefs in a single national market. Research limitations/implications – The study offers a situated account of the New Zealand luxury market. Other cultural beliefs may be in operation in different national markets. Originality/value – This paper makes three contributions to the international marketing of and cross-cultural considerations for luxury brands. First, the authors illustrate that cultural diversity must be considered not only at the cross-national level, but also at the intra-national level. In particular, the authors show that the global-local dichotomy in cross-cultural luxury branding needs to be augmented with the local-foreign dimension. Second, this is the first study in this area to empirically demonstrate the impact of multicultural marketplaces on luxury brands, where consumers emerge as contextual cultural shifters. Third, the authors advocate a shift from the prevailing glocal approach to a new multicultural approach in luxury branding.

Chinese hotel guest perception of international chain hotels under the same hotel brand in different travel destinations

“…Kwek and Lee (2015) discovered that face is an important factor for the gift purchase behavior of Chinese outbound travelers. In addition, among the travelers from East Asian countries, the Chinese travelers tend to show greater appreciation for luxury brands driven by face (Seo et al, 2015).…”

U.K. consumers' perceived risk of buying products from emerging economies: A moderated mediation model

“…Globalisation has undoubtedly integrated different markets and enabled consumers to enjoy a wide range of choice of products from different countries. Although consumers' attitudes towards foreign products have been widely studied in the extant literature (Steenkamp & de Jong, 2010), most studies in this domain investigate (a) consumers' attitudes towards products from unspecified foreign countries (Sharma, Shimp, & Shin, 1995;Nguyen, Nguyen, & Barrett, 2008;Strizhakova, Coulter, & Price, 2008), (b) Western consumers' attitudes towards products from other Western countries (e.g., Christodoulides, Cadogan, & Veloutsou, 2015;Javalgi, Khare, Gross, & Scherer, 2005;Seo, Buchanan-Oliver, & Cruz, 2015;Verlegh, 2007), and (c) Eastern consumers' attitudes towards products from Western countries (e.g., Fong, Lee, & Du, 2014;Klein, Ettenson, & Morris, 1998;Kumar, Lee, & Kim, 2009;Yim, Sauer, Williams, Lee, & Macrury, 2014). The literature is characterised by a scarcity of studies on Western consumers' attitudes towards products from Eastern emerging economies.…”

Forms of inconspicuous consumption

“…Tynan et al, 2009). Luxury goods can be thought of as symbols of personal and social identity (Vickers and Renand, 2003) as well as cultural beliefs (Seo et al, 2015). In this sense, luxury consumption can be identified as both conspicuous and inconspicuous, depending upon motivation and context, which is discussed below.…”