Impact of Self-Gift Behavior on Masstige Consumption: Moderating Role of Self-Esteem and Ideal- Social-Self

Abstract

Masstige is a new marketing trend that emerged from democratizing luxury brands to the middle class. And in this era of democratization, individuals are consuming luxury not only to get social distinction but also to offer consumers personal experience and a sense of self-indulgence through its high-quality, premium price, and social reputation. As a way of self-indulgence, consumers self-gift themselves with affordable luxury. This study explores the role of consumers’ self-gift behavior involved in the intention to consume masstige smartphone brands. This study identifies the motives of self-gift that affect masstige brand consumption. This study also explores the moderating role of self-esteem and ideal social self as the moderator in the relationship between self-gift and masstige consumption. Using the masstige mean index, this study also identifies the masstige brands in the smartphone industry of Pakistan. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 560 smartphone users in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used for data analysis. The results indicate that all dimensions of self-gift behavior used in this study positively affect masstige consumption. At the same time, self-esteem and ideal-social-self moderate the relationship between self-esteem and masstige consumption. The findings of this study contribute to masstige literature on the impact of self-gift behavior on masstige brand consumption.