Running head: CULTURAL PREFERENCES FOR LUXURY GOODS 1

Cultural Preferences for Luxury Goods

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Introduction

The consumption of luxury goods is always associated with successful people. Luxury

goods have become familiar to most of the consumers, and the luxury goods business has been

challenged to meet the desires of the global market segments by satisfying the consumers' needs.

Some factors determine the use of luxury goods, and they are related to the lack of affiliation,

recognition, and appreciation. Also, some factors motivate consumers to purchase luxury goods,

and they include finances and their personal and social dimensions of luxury value perceptions.

Most of the luxury consumers buy the products because they require belonging to a specific

upper social status, thus recognition by others. In both local and global markets, there has been a

rapid consumption of luxury goods, and this is because even individuals with low incomes are

increasingly spending their profits on luxury products (Cha & Kwon, 2018). This paper will

analyze and evaluate the cultural preferences for luxury goods perception. However, the concepts

to be measured during the research include interview questions, survey questions, and

observation.

Cultural Preferences for Luxury Goods

Individuals who are at the top of the society widely understood luxury as an expression

that was driven purely on desire. They would say, "I want it, so I buy it." Times have now

changed, and the way of doing things has also changed. In the current era, people expect what

they have as possessions to bring out pleasure and value in them. However, conspicuousness is a

cultural dimension that is used to evaluate the differences in cultural values of the respondents,

and it was negatively correlated with the purchase intentions of consumers from individualists

but not collectivist societies.

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Luxurious products with high quality had a positive impact on luxury purchase intentions

among numerous collectivist individuals but not among individualists. This is an indication that

cultural values have strongly influenced the choice of qualities of luxury products that consumers

find attractive and suitable for their consumption (Farah, 2016). Also, culture values have

changed different categories of purchase intentions that vary from one culture to another, and

therefore, different people have different luxury values. Besides, cultural perception towards the

luxury consumption of goods differs between the collectiveness and individualism. This is

because what might seem like a luxury to some people, to some, is not a luxury. Also, luxury

consumers buy things according to what is attractive and appealing to their eyes.

However, the cross-cultural affects the cultural preferences for luxury, and this is because

different cultures have different goods and products they view as a luxury to them. Besides, cross

cultures need uniqueness and self-monitoring when purchasing luxury goods so that they can buy

what makes them happy and also buy assets that will satisfy their desires. Self-monitoring within

luxury consumption is crucial because it monitors and helps individuals to control all the

products that they are consuming (Farah, 2016). Moreover, the social function enables luxury

consumers to meditate on the roles between the luxury brands and the purchase intentions.

Consumers need to be more aware of the kind of brands that they are buying and whether

it meets their needs. Also, when individuals are choosing the brand to use, the social image has a

significant influence because it helps to show the consumers the value of the luxury brands. An

example of the cross-cultural preferences for luxury goods is between China and America. The

creative dimension that is used in attracting buyers by luxury brands does not differ among

Chinese and American consumers. However, in China, there is always a transition when it comes

to cross-culture differences, and this is because young people in China try to adopt the American
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way of consuming luxurious goods (Farah, 2016). The diverse influences the social inclinations

for extravagance, and this is on the grounds that various societies have various merchandise and

items they see as an extravagance to them (Stathopoulos and Balabanis, 2019).

There is a vast cultural difference between China and America, but when it comes to

luxury consumption, the preferences are similar amongst the individuals. However, Chinese

consumers have higher similarity avoidance due to the collective nature of their society and seek

to display individualistic elements without changing its collectivist culture. This is a research that

was conducted through survey questions that explained that while cultural values are essential,

transitioning cultures may be adopting the luxury brand preferences of Western consumers. It

also casts doubt on the validity of the cross-cultural dimensions in influencing the purchase

intentions of luxury brands (Farah, 2016). In addition, cross societies need uniqueness and self-

observing when acquiring extravagance products with the goal that they can purchase what

makes them upbeat and furthermore purchase resources that will fulfill their wants (Skaff, 2015).

However, there are cross-cultural perspectives that vary in different states, and

motivational drivers are similar. The main drivers of luxury value perceptions include social,

functional, and financial aspects and are generalizable to all the countries. Thus, managers

should focus on these critical value perceptions when marketing their products. The article

provides further confirmation that luxury value perceptions do not differ from one country to

another. More importantly, consumers may prefer luxury products that provide value across the

core dimensions, rather than those influenced by culture. Thus, cultural variations and

preferences may not change luxury, good purchase intentions. Self-checking inside extravagance

utilization is vital because it screens and encourages people to control every one of the items that

they are expending (Perry, Barnes, and Ye, 2019).

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Besides, some patterns influence the consumption of luxury in different cultures, and they

include personal and cultural ones. The decision-making process in the collective cultures has a

significant role in what individuals go through when they are looking for satisfying luxury

goods. Luxury consumers in the region are generally driven by group orientation and hedonism.

Arab consumers consider quality aspects of a luxury product since the quality of a product is

reflected in its price, which helps them to join groups they aspire and maintain status. Consumers

who value exclusivity in the region will purchase luxury products to maintain social status. More

importantly, consumers are more willing to buy products that imply condition and concern of the

opinion of others when purchasing products. The article provides proof that while the culture of

the Gulf States is different from other perceptions, the same motivators for buying luxury

products such as status, hedonism, and exclusivity play a vital role in the choice of products

(Finnegan, 2017). The study provides further proof that culture is becoming more irrelevant in

influencing the purchase intentions of consumers in cultural groups that are different from

Western cultures.

Most research on consumer research on luxury product consumption often emphasizes

the importance of the group and cultural orientation. However, with increasing globalization and

market liberalization, consumer tastes are changing. A review of the literature suggests that

cultural values and preferences have no excellent influence value of luxury products among

consumers. Evaluation of the influence of culture on product evaluation of luxury fashion and

purchase of such products by Wang, Song, and Sun reported that Chinese consumers were driven

by social status and self-actualization when looking for luxury products. On the other hand, the

research found that there was a difference between collectivist and individualistic societies in

how they evaluated products. In contrast, reported that Chinese and American students had
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similar taste in luxury products, despite their different cultural values and preferences (Hudders,

2017).

In one of the most comprehensive study, conducted a survey of consumers from ten

countries, and found that consumers from the ten countries had similar tastes and preferences

despite cultural variations. They were driven by social, functional, and financial aspects of

purchasing luxury brands, rather than cultural values such as collectivism, or masculinity.

However, by supporting the findings, in their study of luxury consumers from Arab countries.

They found that consumers were more interested in high-quality products, and those with

hedonistic value. On the other hand, the research conducted face to face interviews with young

Taiwanese female luxury consumers. It found that they placed importance on social status and

were motivated by female celebrities.

The trends in luxury consumption in the country are similar to those of Western nations,

where preference is placed on the purchase of products that indicate social status. The research

found that Indian consumers, regardless of cultural choice or social affiliation, were interested in

purchasing luxury products that depicted them as being members of the upper class (Gascón,

207). Research also found that social luxury and self-enhancement as the critical drivers of the

purchase of luxury products in a sample of American consumers.

Besides, cultural preferences are becoming less critical as motivators for buying luxury

products with specific attributes, as the findings indicated. However, the current research lacks

in-depth information on how culture preferences affect the purchase intentions of luxury

consumers from different cultures when evaluating different product categories. The

investigation mostly focuses on key motivators for luxury products. Consumers may have

different motivations for buying specific product categories, and cultural preferences could
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potentially influence the purchase intentions or value of particular products. Furthermore, there is

a need to conduct mixed research in this that combines both qualitative and quantitative methods

that will allow researchers to gain an in-depth perspective on the actual value of cultural

preferences (Jensen, 2017). More importantly, there is a need to include other cultural

frameworks other than Hofstede's cultural dimensions.

However, the research was aimed at analyzing the impact of cultural preferences on the

purchase intention of luxury goods. For the study, both Hofstede's cultural dimensions and other

cultural dimensions will be used, such as hedonism, subjective norms, and the extended self.

Hofstede's cultural dimensions often do not consider individual differences in cultures that exist

within different geographical regions, but instead focuses on national cultures. A questionnaire

will be developed to capture the perceptions of luxury consumers. The scale of the survey will be

modified in line with the recommendation that will provide questions that the consumers will

answer, and this will give the researcher the correct information. Consumers may have different

motivations for buying specific product categories, and cultural preferences could potentially

influence the purchase intentions or value of particular products (Joy et al., 2018).

Given the costly process of administering a quantitative survey in different countries, a

web-based questionnaire will be used to allow the researchers to reach respondents from

different countries. A social media campaign will be conducted to attract potential respondents.

The campaign will have a link to the questionnaire page. After the collection of data, it will be

analyzed using SPSS software. The analysis will involve descriptive data analysis. Moreover,

discriminant, convergent, and reliability will be conducted to evaluate the safety and validity of

the questionnaire. The findings will be presented in tables and other graphic presentations.
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References

Cha, Y., & Kwon, Y. (2018). Why Korean Young Women Consumers Buy Luxury Goods? The

Influence of Cultural Orientation and Media Use. The Journal of Business, Economics,

and Environmental Studies (JBEES), 8(2), 23-32.

Farah, M. F., & Fawaz, R. S. (2016). A comparison of the influence of personal and cultural

values on the consumption of luxury goods across Arab regions: the Levant versus

gulf. Contemporary Management Research, 12(2).

Finnegan, J. (2017, July). FROM OCCIDENT TO ORIENT: A CROSS-CULTURAL

COMPARISON OF BRAND LOVE AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN THE

LUXURY FASHION AND ACCESSORIES MARKET. In 2017 Global Fashion

Management Conference at Vienna (pp. 416-416).

Gascón, J. F. F., Puiggròs, E., González, M. M., & Giménez, G. B. (2017). Cultural tourism in

Barcelona: an empirical analysis of information from different types of

establishments. International journal of scientific management and tourism, 3(1), 111- 121.

Jensen, K. R. (2017). Global Organizational Leadership for Luxury Companies. In New Luxury

Management (pp. 33-45). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Joy, A., Belk, R. W., Wang, J. J., & Sherry Jr, J. F. (2018). Emotion and consumption: Toward a

new understanding of cultural collisions between Hong Kong and PRC luxury

consumers. Journal of Consumer Culture, 1469540518764247.

Perry, P., Barnes, L., & Ye, T. (2020). The Evolution of the Chinese Luxury Fashion Consumer:

An Interpretive Study of Luxury Value Perceptions. In Understanding Luxury

Fashion (pp. 175-202). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

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Skaff, J. K. (2015). Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran, editors. Nomads as Agents of Cultural

Change: The Mongols and Their Eurasian Predecessors.

Stathopoulos, A., & Balabanis, G. (2019). The effect of cultural value orientation on consumers'

perceptions of luxury value and proclivity for luxury consumption. Journal of Business

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Yu, S., Hudders, L., & Cauberghe, V. (2017). Targeting the luxury consumer: A vice or virtue?

A cross-cultural comparison of the effectiveness of behaviorally targeted ads. Journal of

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