Do materialists care about sustainable luxury?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the underlying psychological mechanism and boundary conditions which drive materialists' purchase intention (PI) of sustainable over generic luxury products.Design/methodology/approachFour empirical studies (one survey and three experiments) were conducted to test the hypotheses.FindingsMaterialism has a positive effect on consumers' purchase intention of sustainable over generic luxury products because materialists tend to have higher perceived functional value of sustainable (i.e., green) luxury products. Product conspicuousness (i.e., publicly consumed versus privately consumed luxury) moderates the effect of materialism on PI of sustainable over generic luxury products. Materialism increases the perceived functional value and thus enhances the PI of sustainable luxury products over generic luxury products only when the product is privately consumed (as opposed to publicly consumed).Originality/valueThis article contributes to the literature that explores how materialism affects environmentalism. This study is among the first empirical works in the context of luxury that studies the relationship between materialism and purchase intention of green products over generic products. This study is also among the first in the context of materialists to empirically establish the importance of perceived functional value associated with sustainable over generic products in affecting PI. Moreover, this article investigates the moderating role of product conspicuousness, which enhances the generalizability of the findings.

What influences the purchase intentions of sustainable luxury among millennials in the UK?

“…The impression vegan‐leather luxury goods could make on friends and family (De Klerk et al, 2019). Drawing from the work of Jain (2019a, 2019b), Talukdar and Yu (2020), and Ki and Kim (2016), four items relating to perceived quality (PQ) were developed. Three items concerning perceived aesthetics (PA) were adopted from Jung et al (2016), Magnuson et al (2017), and Stępień et al (2016).…”

Impact of materialism on purchase intention of sustainable luxury goods: An empirical study in India

“…This trait plays a central role in predicting consumer behavior as highly materialistic attach themselves to worldly possessions (Ellis, 1992;Richins and Dawson, 1992;Richins, 1994;Kilbourne and Pickett, 2008;Goldsmith and Clark, 2012;Shrum et al, 2013). They tend to purchase luxury products to display status-quo (Talukdar and Yu, 2020). Thus, a reputation with the products could lead to a higher purchase intention (Gupta et al, 2020).…”

“…Ali et al (2019) discussed the positive relationship between materialism and purchase intention of luxury cars. Talukdar and Yu (2020) have tried to explore the relationship between purchase intention of luxury products along with the dimension of materialism and product conspicuousness. Therefore, materialism comprising possessiveness, non-generosity and envy has a positive impact on purchase intention.…”

Mixed emotional appeal enhances advertising effectiveness of pro-environmental luxury brands: the mediating role of cognitive flexibility

“…Research in this area has demonstrated that while these two concepts are incongruent to each other (Achabou and Dekhili, 2013), there are some conditions under which consumers are likely to accept sustainable luxury brands (Janssen et al, 2014;Ki and Kim, 2016;Rolling and Sadachar, 2018). Notably, there are consumerrelated factors, including personality trait (Talukdar and Yu, 2020) and gender (Achabou and Dekhili, 2013), and also brand-related factors, including brand conspicuousness (Kumagai, 2020) and marketing communication styles (Amatulli et al, 2020;Septianto et al, 2021). Notably, prior research has suggested that positive emotions such as pride and gratitude might be beneficial to increase online sharing intentions of sustainable luxury contents (Septianto et al, 2021).…”