Luxury symbolism, self-congruity, self-affirmation and luxury consumption behavior: a comparison study of China and the US

Purpose – Despite the growing research into luxury symbolism and its influence on consumer behavior, few studieshaveinvestigatedtheunderlyingpsychologicalprocessesthatoccurindifferentculturalcontexts.This study investigates the relationships among luxury symbolism,psychological underpinnings of self-congruity, self-affirmation and customer loyalty, especially regarding how these relationships differ between consumers in China and those in the US. Design/methodology/approach – Sample data were collected through surveys administered to 653 participants(327inChinaand326intheUS).Amulti-groupstructuralequationmodelwasadoptedtoexamine the conceptual model and proposed hypotheses. Findings–Theresultsshowthatluxurysymbolismpositivelyinfluencesself-consistency,socialconsistency, socialapprovalandself-esteem,andsubsequentlyimpactsself-affirmationandcustomerloyalty.However,for US consumers, self-esteem and social approval have significantly negative impacts on self-affirmation, while forChineseconsumers,socialapprovalhasnosignificantimpactonself-affirmation.Theauthorsalsofindthat interdependent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism, and social approval and social consistency. Independent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism and self-consistency, and negativelyinfluencesthe relationship between luxurysymbolism and self-esteem. Originality/value – Based on the theory of self-congruity and self-affirmation, this study fills a literature gap by revealing the psychological underpinnings regarding luxury symbolism and customer loyalty. It extends extant studies in luxury consumption by introducing self-construal (independent self vs interdependentself)asanimportantculturalmoderatorinluxurysymbolism.Thispaperprovidesinsights for luxury practitioners to create efficient marketing strategies by satisfying consumers’ psychological needs in different cultures.