An Assessment of Values Concerning Luxury Brand Purchase Intention: A Cross-Culture Comparison

Abstract

Over the last few decades, the global consumption of luxury brands has rapidly ýincreased. ýThere are many internal and external factors that motivate consumers to buy a ýluxury brand. ýAlthough there is some evidence of the impact of functional, social, and ýindividual values on ýluxury purchase intention, little has been done to compare cultures in ýterms of these values, ýespecially in the Middle East. Thus, the purpose of this research ýwas to compare Western and ýMiddle Eastern culture (individualism and collectivism) ýregarding the consumers’ intention to purchase a luxury brand in terms of ýthree main ývalues (functional, social and individual), while also addressing consumer guilt. ý The data for this study were collected from two countries—the United States and ýSaudi ýArabia. A total of 478 university students participated in this study via an online ýsurvey: 171 ýfrom the United States and 277 from Saudi Arabia. The reliability of research ýscales was ýassessed ýthrough Cronbach’s alpha. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was ýapplied to test the correlations ýbetween the study variables. Data was assessed using ýSEM. Before testing the proposed ýstructural model, the measurement model was tested ýby a confirmatory factor analysis using the ýAMOS 21 program. Model fit was assessed ývia the chi-square statistic. The results revealed that ýFunctional and Social values ýsignificantly predicted Luxury Purchase Intention while Individual ýValue did not. ýCultural Dimension did not moderate the relationship between Functional Value ýand ýLuxury Purchase Intention. Individualism moderated the relationship ýbetween ýConspicuousness and Luxury Purchase Intention. The relationship between ýConspicuousness and ýLuxury Purchase Intention was stronger within the high ýindividualism group. Meanwhile, Guilt ýmoderated the relationship between Uniqueness ýand Luxury Purchase Intention. The relationship ýbetween Uniqueness and Purchase ýIntention was stronger within the high guilt group. However, ýCultural Dimension and ýConsumer Guilt did not moderate the relationship between Individual ýValue and Luxury ýPurchase Intention. Attitude toward Luxury did not mediate the relationship ýbetween ýFunctional and Social Value and Luxury Purchase Intention but it is partially mediated ýby ýthe relationship between Individual Values and Luxury Purchase Intentions. These results ýadd ýto the existing literature by addressing consumer guilt and Middle Eastern culture to ýluxury ýmarketing, which can then be used for marketing purposes and to increase the sales ýof luxury ýbrands. Theoretical and practical implications were provided based on the ýresults.ý