Consumption patterns across different cultures are influenced by several factors, including personal and cultural ones. Collectivist cultures play a major role in the consumption decision-making process that an individual goes through, as culture typically affects consumers' taste orientation, specifically toward luxury goods. The main motivation behind this study is to investigate the influence of two major collectivist cultural values-namely, face saving and group orientation-on the perception and consumption of luxury goods across two Arab market regions (i.e., the Levant versus the Gulf). A survey was completed by 400 consumers sampled from different universities in the capitals of Lebanon, Jordan, Qatar, and Oman. The results indicate that not all luxury-related factors influence face saving in the Levant and Gulf regions. In addition, no such factors influence group orientation in either region. Beliefs such as the assumption that group orientation plays a significant role in consumers' decision making and that hedonism is not appreciated in Arab cultures are challenged, which indicate slow changes in the Arab cultures. These findings are useful to marketers who aim to promote luxury products in the Arab world as they provide a greater understanding of consumers' perceptions of such products.

While prior consumer studies have adopted various theoretical perspectives to explain individuals' reactions to disasters, scant attention has been paid to the role of ontological security in shaping those responses. This study attempts to fill this knowledge gap by qualitatively exploring ontological security in two contexts: man‐made and natural disasters. To this end, we conducted 35 focus groups in the UK, Germany, and France to address how people reacted to terrorist attacks and the COVID‐19 pandemic respectively. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged: fear versus anxiety, oneself versus others, and materialistic versus experiential purchases. Man‐made disasters appear to elicit fear, concern for self, and a preference for materialistic purchases, whereas natural disasters seem to trigger anxiety, concern for others, and a preference for experiential purchases. Both types of disasters seem to evoke a desire to escape from reality. In closing, we discuss both transitory and prolonged threats to ontological security and how they shape individuals' behaviours while restoring their security.

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