Archive Details

Help Desk

Year 2026 4 Downloads
Volume/Issue/Review Month Volume-XIX | Issue-I | Jan.-Jun.
Title Does Conspicuousness lead to Brand Loyalty? An Investigation of Gen Z Consumers
Authors Harmandeep Kaur, Dr. Mandeep Kaur
Broad area Marketing
Abstract customers. Young luxury purchasers have different consumption habits and motives so it is challenging for luxury retailers to succeed in the market. The present study was aimed at examining the effect of need for uniqueness and self-expression on conspicuous consumption of luxury products among Gen Z consumers along with interpersonal influence as among moderator. This investigation also examined the role of conspicuous consumption in building brand loyalty. Data for study was collected from 241 respondents using a structured questionnaire. PLS-SEM was used to analyse the conceptual model using SmartPLS tool. The study found that need for uniqueness and self-expression effect conspicuous consumption. The study also revealed that interpersonal influence moderates the relationship between need for uniqueness and self-expression. The study also found a positive relationship between conspicuous consumption and brand loyalty.
Citation Kaur, H., & Kaur, M. (2026). Does conspicuousness lead to brand loyalty? An investigation of Gen Z consumers. Srusti Management Review, 19(1), 197–211.
DOI https://doi.org/10.63340/SAMT/100000064
File
Referenceses

Akenji, L. (2019) Avoiding Consumer Scapegoatism: Towards a Political Economy of Sustainable Living. PhD dissertation, University of Helsinki.

Barton, C., Koslow, L., & Beauchamp, C. (2014) How Millennials are changing the face of marketing forever. Boston Consulting Group. Available at https://www.bcg.com/publications/2014/marketing-center-consumer-customer-insight-how-millennials-are-changing-marketing-forever (Accessed 6 June 2025).

BCG. (2023, July 5) True luxury global consumer insight 2023. Boston Consulting Group. Available at https://www.bcg. com/press/5july2023-true-luxury-global-consumer-insight (Accessed 18 May 2025).

Bearden, W. O., & Etzel, M. J. (1982) ‘Reference Group Influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions’, Journal of Consumer Research,  Vol. 9, No. 2, pp.183–194.,https://doi.org/10.1086/208911.

Belk, R. W. (1988) ‘Possessions and the extended self’, Journal of Consumer Research,  Vol. 15, No. 2, pp.139-168.

Bian, Q., & Forsythe, S. (2012) ‘Purchase intention for luxury brands: A cross cultural comparison’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 65, No. 10, pp.1443–1451, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.010.

Bourdieu, P. (1989) ‘Social Space and Symbolic Power’, Sociological Theory, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.14–25, https://doi.org/10.2307/202060.

Buckle, C. (2019). The luxury market in 2019: What brands should know. Available at https://blog.globalwebindex.com/chart-of-the-week/luxury-market-2019/ (Accessed 18 June 2025).

Burnkrant, R. E., & Page Jr, T. J. (1982) ‘On the Management of Self Images in Social Situations: The Role of Public Self Consciousness’, Advances in consumer research, Vol. 9, No. 1.

Chan, C., Berger, J., & Van Boven, L. (2012) ‘Identifiable but Not Identical: Combining Social Identity and Uniqueness Motives in Choice’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp.561–573, https://doi.org/10.1086/664804

Chaudhuri, A., & Holbrook, M. B. (2001) ‘The chain of effects from brand trust and brand affect to brand performance: the role of brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 65, No. 2, pp.81-93, https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.65.2.81.18255.

Chaudhuri, R. H., Mazumdar, S., & Ghoshal, A. (2011) ‘Conspicuous consumption orientation: Conceptualisation, scale development and validation’, Journal of Consumer Behaviour, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.216–224, https://doi.org/10.1002/cb.364.

Cho, E., Kim-Vick, J., & Yu, U.-J. (2022) ‘Unveiling motivation for luxury fashion purchase among Gen Z consumers: Need for uniqueness versus bandwagon effect.’, International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp.24–34, https://doi.org/10.1080/17543266.2021.1973580.

Clark, R. A., Zboja, J. J., & Goldsmith, R. E. (2007) 'Status consumption and role-relaxed consumption: A tale of two retail consumers’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp.45-59, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2006.03.003.

D’Arpizio, C., Levato, F., Prete, F., & Montgolfier, J. (2020, August 31) The luxury goods market continues to grow. Bain & Company. Available at https://www.bain.com/insights/eightthemes-that-are-rewriting-the-future-of-luxury -goods/ (Accessed 13 April 2025).

DeAcetis, J. (2019) How Highsnobiety defines the new luxury. ForbesLife. Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/josephdeacetis/2019/10/22/how highsnobiety-defines-the-new-luxury/#6de14a5e4240 (Accessed 17 May 2025).

Doherty, K., & Schlenker, B. R. (1991) ‘Self?Consciousness and Strategic Self?Presentation’, Journal of Personality, Vol. 59, No. 1, pp.1–18, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1991.tb00765.x.

Dubois, B., & Laurent, G. (1994) ‘Attitudes toward the concept of luxury: An exploratory analysis’, Asia-Pacific Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 1, pp.273–278.

Eastman, J. K., Iyer, R., Shepherd, C. D., Heugel, A., & Faulk, D. (2018) ‘Do they shop to stand out or fit in? The luxury fashion purchase intentions of young adults’, Psychology & Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp.220–236, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21082.

Elibol, F. (2023) ‘The Effect of Conspicuous Consumption on Brand Loyalty and the Mediating Role of Reference Groups’, Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi, Vol. 21, No. 50, pp.1099-1123.

Escalas, J. E. (2004) ‘Narrative processing: Building consumer connections to brands’ Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 14, No. 1–2, pp.168–180, https://doi.org/ 10.1207/s15327663jcp1401&2_19.

Festinger, L. (1957) ‘Social comparison theory’ Selective Exposure Theory, Vol. 16, No. 401.

Folwarczny, M., Gasiorowska, A., Sigurdsson, V., & Otterbring, T. (2024) ‘Conspicuous consumption and conscientious conservation: Testing for a status-prosociality link through need for uniqueness and variety seeking’, Cleaner and Responsible Consumption, Vol. 14, pp.100219, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clrc.2024.100219.

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981) ‘Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error’, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp.39-50, https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104.

Fournier, S. (1998) ‘Consumers and their brands: Developing relationship theory in consumer research’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp.343–373, https://doi.org/10.1086/209515.

Giovannini, S., Xu, Y., & Thomas, J. (2015) ‘Luxury fashion consumption and generation Y consumers: Self, brand consciousness, and consumption motivations’, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp.22–40, https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-08-2013-0096.

Grotts, A. S., & Widner Johnson, T. (2013) ‘Millennial consumers’ status consumption of handbags’, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp.280-293, https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-10-2011-0067.

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., & Thiele, K. O. (2017) ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall: a comparative evaluation of composite-based structural equation modeling methods’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 45, pp.616-632, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-017-0517-x.

Hair, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2011) 'PLS-SEM: Indeed a silver bullet’, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp.139-152, https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679190202.

Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019) ‘When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM’, European Business Review, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp.2-24, https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-11-2018-0203.

Heisley, D. D., & Cours, D. (2007) ‘Connectedness and worthiness for the embedded self: A material culture perspective’, Consumption, Markets and Culture, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp.425-450, https://doi.org/10.1080/10253860701566424.

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015) ‘A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing science, Vol. 43, pp.115-135, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8.

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sinkovics, R. R. (2009) ‘The use of partial least squares path modeling in international marketing’, In New challenges to international marketing (Vol. 20, pp.277-319). Emerald Group Publishing Limited, https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7979(2009)0000020014.

Hoffmann, A. O. I., & Broekhuizen, T. L. J. (2009) ‘Susceptibility to and impact of interpersonal influence in an investment context’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 37, No. 4, pp.488–503, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-008-0128-7.

Jacob, I., Khanna, M., & Rai, K. A. (2020) ‘Attribution analysis of luxury brands: An investigation into consumer-brand congruence through conspicuous consumption’ Journal of Business Research, Vol. 116, pp.597–607, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.007.

Johar, J. S., & Sirgy, M. J. (1991) ‘Value-expressive versus utilitarian advertising appeals: When and why to use which appeal’, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 20, No. 3, pp.23-33, https://doi.org/10.1080/00913367.1991.10673345.

Johnson, C., & Ein-Gar, D. (2008) 'Being hedonic and becoming prudent’, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 35, pp.957-957.

Kadakia, P. M. (2023, November 8) Can India become the next China for the luxury market?, Forbes India. Available at https://www.forbesindia.com/article/lifes/can-india-become-the-next-china-for-the-luxury-market/89583/1 (Accessed 17 February 2025).

Kapferer, J. N., & Bastien, V. (2012) The luxury strategy: Break the rules of marketing to build luxury brands. Kogan page publishers.

Kastanakis, M. N., & Balabanis, G. (2012) ‘Between the mass and the class: Antecedents of the “bandwagon” luxury consumption behavior’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 65, No. 10, pp.1399-1407, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.10.005.

Kauppinen-Räisänen, H., Björk, P., Lönnström, A., & Jauffret, M.-N. (2018) ‘How consumers’ need for uniqueness, self-monitoring, and social identity affect their choices when luxury brands visually shout versus whisper’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 84, pp.72–81, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.11.012.

Ko, E., Costello, J. P., & Taylor, C. R. (2019) ‘What is a luxury brand? A new definition and review of the literature’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 99, pp.405-413, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.023.

Langner, S., Hennigs, N., & Wiedmann, K.-P. (2013) 'Social persuasion: Targeting social identities through social influencers’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp.31–49, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363761311290821.

Lee, S. H., & Workman, J. E. (2015) ‘Compulsive buying and branding phenomena’, Journal of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, and Complexity, Vol. 1, No. 1, pp.1-12, https://doi.org/10.1186/s40852-015-0004-x.

Lee, W. H., & Lin, Y. H. (2020) ‘Online communication of visual information: Stickers’ functions of self-expression and conspicuousness’, Online Information Review, Vol. 44, No. 1, pp.43-61, https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-08-2018-0235.

Lee, Y., Ho, F. N., & Wu, M.-C. (2018) 'How do form and functional newness affect adoption preference? The moderating role of consumer need for uniqueness’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp.79–90, https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-10-2015-1578.

Luo, X. (2005) 'How does shopping with others influence impulsive purchasing?’, Journal of Consumer psychology, Vol. 15, Vol. 4, pp.288-294, https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327663jcp1504_3.

Mann, B. J. S., & Sahni, S. K. (2015) ‘Exploring the Drivers of Status Consumption for the Wedding Occasion’, International Journal of Market Research, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp.179–202, https://doi.org/10.2501/IJMR-2015-017.

New York Post. (2020) Generation Z is bigger than millennials and they’re out to change the world. Available at https://nypost.com/2020/01/25/generation-z-is-bigger-than-millennials-and-theyre-out-tochange-the-world/ (Accessed 11 January 2015).

O’Cass, A., & Frost, H. (2002) ‘Status brands: Examining the effects of non-product-related brand associations on status and conspicuous consumption’, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 11, https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420210423455.

Oliver, R. L. (1999) 'Whence consumer loyalty?’, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63, No. 4_suppl1, pp.33-44, https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429990634s105.

Pangarkar, A., & Shukla, P. (2023) 'Conspicuous and inconspicuous consumption of luxury goods in a digital world: Insights, implications, and future research directions.’, International Journal of Advertising, Vol. 42, No. 7, pp.1226–1238, https://doi.org/10.1080/02650487.2023.2246260.

Park, H. J., Rabolt, N. J., & Sook Jeon, K. (2008) ‘Purchasing global luxury brands among young Korean consumers’, Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management: An International Journal, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.244-259, https://doi.org/10.1108/13612020810874917.

Pew Research Center. (2019) Where millennials end and generation Z begins, Available at https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/01/17/where-millennials-end-and-generation-z-begins/ (Accessed 19 March 2015).

Podoshen, S. J. (2008) 'The African American consumer revisited: Brand loyalty, word?of?mouth and the effects of the black experience’, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp.211–222, https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760810882407.

Puiu, A.-I., Ardeleanu, A. M., Cojocaru, C., & Bratu, A. (2021) ‘Exploring the effect of status quo, innovativeness and involvement tendencies on luxury fashion innovations: The mediation role of status consumption. Mathematics, Vol. 9, No. 9, pp.1051, https://doi.org/10.3390/math9091051.

Roy, M. (2024) Snapshots of Gen Z of India in 2024, India 2015, Available at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/snapshots-gen-z-india-2024-manik-roy-mekzc/ (Accessed 21 June 2015).

Sahin, O., & Nasir, S. (2021) ‘The effects of status consumption and conspicuous consumption on perceived symbolic status’, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Vol. 30, pp.1–18, https://doi.org/10.1080/10696679.2021.1888649.

Seemiller, C., & Grace, M. (2017) ‘Generation Z: Educating and engaging the next generation of students’, About Campus, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp.21-26, https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21293.

Sheth, J. N., & Uslay, C. (2023) ‘The geopolitics of supply chains: Assessing the consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war for B2B relationships’, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 166, pp.114120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114120.

Snyder, C. R., & Fromkin, H. L. (1977) 'Abnormality as a positive characteristic: The development and validation of a scale measuring need for uniqueness, Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 86, No. 5, pp.518-527, https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.86.5.518.

Tian, K. T., Bearden, W. O., & Hunter, G. L. (2001) ‘Consumers’ Need for Uniqueness: Scale Development and Validation’, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp.50–66, https://doi.org/10.1086/321947.

Veblen, T. (1899) The theory of the leisure class: An economic study in the evolution of institutions (1st ed.), Macmillan Co.

Veblen, T. (2017) The theory of the leisure class, Routledge.

Wood, S. (2013) Generation Z as consumers: trends and innovation, Vol. 119, No. 9, pp.7767-7779, Institute for Emerging Issues: NC State University.

Yang, F., Tang, J., Men, J., & Zheng, X. (2021) ‘Consumer perceived value and impulse buying behavior on mobile commerce: The moderating effect of social influence’, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 63, pp.102683, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2021.102683.

Ye?il, E., & Ünsalan, M. (2022) Gösteri?çi tüketimin marka sadakatine etkisinde ülke men?einin arac?l?k rolü [Master’s Thesis, Nev?ehir Hac? Bekta? Veli Üniversitesi], Available at http://acikerisim.nevsehir.edu.tr/handle/20.500.11787/6452.