IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v143y2022icp239-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Zi
  • Yuan, Ruizhi
  • Luo, Jun
  • Liu, Martin J.

Abstract

The concept of “new luxury” has challenged the conventional marketing of luxury goods as prestigious, leading to greater expansion of mass luxury meaning. This has become more evident since the outbreak of COVID-19, which has been a catalyst for consumption in the luxury market. This paper investigates the mass marketing of luxury goods and explores the essence of masstige luxury consumption since the outbreak of COVID-19. An interpretive approach was conducted based on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 31 participants. It analyzes four themes of mass luxury: self as content, self as process, self as context, and self–other. We further argue that the mass consumption of luxury reduces cognitive dissonance, with the pandemic resolving the dark side of conventional luxury consumption. Our findings provide important insights for both scholars and practitioners in the development of a more holistic understanding of masstige in the post-COVID era.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Zi & Yuan, Ruizhi & Luo, Jun & Liu, Martin J., 2022. "Redefining “masstige” luxury consumption in the post-COVID era," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 239-254.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:143:y:2022:i:c:p:239-254
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.057
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322000698
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.057?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kapferer, Jean-Noël & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2018. "The impact of brand penetration and awareness on luxury brand desirability:," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 38-50.
    2. Holmqvist, Jonas & Wirtz, Jochen & Fritze, Martin P., 2020. "Luxury in the digital age: A multi-actor service encounter perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 747-756.
    3. Virginie Barnier & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2013. "Culture and Luxury: An Analysis of Luxury Perceptions across Frontiers," Springer Books, in: Klaus-Peter Wiedmann & Nadine Hennigs (ed.), Luxury Marketing, edition 127, chapter 3, pages 37-56, Springer.
    4. Cristini, Hélène & Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele, 2020. "Managing the transformation of the global commons into luxuries for all," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 467-473.
    5. Juan M. Londono & Sai Ma & Beth Anne Wilson, 2021. "The Global Transmission of Real Economic Uncertainty," International Finance Discussion Papers 1317, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Banister, Emma & Roper, Stuart & Potavanich, Tisiruk, 2020. "Consumers’ practices of everyday luxury," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 458-466.
    7. Felipe Almeida, 2014. "Thorstein Veblen and Albert Bandura: A Modern Psychological Reading of the Conspicuous Consumer," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(1), pages 109-122.
    8. Sirgy, M. Joseph & Lee, Dong-Jin & Johar, J.S. & Tidwell, John, 2008. "Effect of self-congruity with sponsorship on brand loyalty," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(10), pages 1091-1097, October.
    9. HyunJun Na & Murat Sakir Erogul, 2021. "A global review of female entrepreneurial finance," International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 12(1), pages 59-82.
    10. Wang, Wangshuai & Ma, Tianjiao & Li, Jie & Zhang, Mo, 2020. "The pauper wears prada? How debt stress promotes luxury consumption," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    11. Sabeeha Naseer & Muhammad Kamran Khan & Sami Ullah, 2021. "Globalization Nexus Terrorism: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, CSRC Publishing, Center for Sustainability Research and Consultancy Pakistan, vol. 7(1), pages 177-184, March.
    12. Ko, Eunju & Costello, John P. & Taylor, Charles R., 2019. "What is a luxury brand? A new definition and review of the literature," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 405-413.
    13. Aaron C. Ahuvia, 2005. "Beyond the Extended Self: Loved Objects and Consumers' Identity Narratives," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(1), pages 171-184, June.
    14. von Wallpach, Sylvia & Hemetsberger, Andrea & Thomsen, Thyra Uth & Belk, Russel W., 2020. "Moments of luxury – A qualitative account of the experiential essence of luxury," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 491-502.
    15. Kim, Dongyoup & Hyun, Hyowon & Park, Jungkun, 2020. "The effect of interior color on customers’ aesthetic perception, emotion, and behavior in the luxury service," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    16. Shao, Wei & Grace, Debra & Ross, Mitchell, 2019. "Consumer motivation and luxury consumption: Testing moderating effects," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 33-44.
    17. Thompson, Craig J & Haytko, Diana L, 1997. "Speaking of Fashion: Consumers' Uses of Fashion Discourses and the Appropriation of Countervailing Cultural Meanings," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 24(1), pages 15-42, June.
    18. Dafna Goor & Nailya Ordabayeva & Anat Keinan & Sandrine Crener & Eileen Fischer & Linda L. Price & Pankaj Aggarwal, 2020. "The Impostor Syndrome from Luxury Consumption [Beyond Deserving More: Psychological Entitlement Also Predicts Negative Attitudes toward Personally Relevant Out-Groups]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(6), pages 1031-1051.
    19. Holmqvist, Jonas & Diaz Ruiz, Carlos & Peñaloza, Lisa, 2020. "Moments of luxury: Hedonic escapism as a luxury experience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 503-513.
    20. Jean-Noël Kapferer & Vincent Bastien, 2009. "The specificity of luxury management: Turning marketing upside down," Post-Print hal-00493180, HAL.
    21. Anido Freire, N., 2014. "When luxury advertising adds the identitary values of luxury: A semiotic analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(12), pages 2666-2675.
    22. Kreuzer, Maria & Cado, Vesna & Raïes, Karine, 2020. "Moments of care: How interpersonal interactions contribute to luxury experiences of healthcare consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 482-490.
    23. Mick, David Glen & DeMoss, Michelle, 1990. "Self-Gifts: Phenomenological Insights from Four Contexts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 17(3), pages 322-332, December.
    24. Sérgio Nunes & Philip Cooke, 2021. "New global tourism innovation in a post-coronavirus era," European Planning Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 1-19, January.
    25. Turunen, Linda Lisa Maria & Cervellon, Marie-Cecile & Carey, Lindsey Drylie, 2020. "Selling second-hand luxury: Empowerment and enactment of social roles," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 474-481.
    26. Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia & Jiménez-Barreto, Jano & Romero, Jaime, 2020. "Enhancing brand coolness through perceived luxury values: Insight from luxury fashion brands," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    27. Mark F Olson & Jose G Juarez & Moritz U G Kraemer & Jane P Messina & Gabriel L Hamer, 2021. "Global patterns of aegyptism without arbovirus," PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-12, May.
    28. Kunchamboo, Vimala & Lee, Christina K.C. & Brace-Govan, Jan, 2017. "Nature as extended-self: Sacred nature relationship and implications for responsible consumption behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 126-132.
    29. Zhu Liu & Zhu Deng & Philippe Ciais & Jianguang Tan & Biqing Zhu & Steven J. Davis & Robbie Andrew & Olivier Boucher & Simon Ben Arous & Pep Canadel & Xinyu Dou & Pierre Friedlingstein & Pierre Gentin, 2021. "Global Daily CO$_2$ emissions for the year 2020," Papers 2103.02526, arXiv.org.
    30. Kumar, Ajay & Paul, Justin, 2018. "Mass prestige value and competition between American versus Asian laptop brands in an emerging market—Theory and evidence," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 969-981.
    31. Belk, Russell W, 1988. "Possessions and the Extended Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 139-168, September.
    32. Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Björk, Peter & Lönnström, Alexandra & Jauffret, Marie-Nathalie, 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, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 72-81.
    33. Shukla, Paurav & Rosendo-Rios, Veronica & Khalifa, Dina, 2022. "Is luxury democratization impactful? Its moderating effect between value perceptions and consumer purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 782-793.
    34. Cristini, Hélène & Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele & Barthod-Prothade, Mireille & Woodside, Arch, 2017. "Toward a general theory of luxury: Advancing from workbench definitions and theoretical transformations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 101-107.
    35. Ruut Veenhoven & Felicia Chiperi & Xin Kang & Martijn Burger, 2021. "Happiness and Consumption: A Research Synthesis Using an Online Finding Archive* â€," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440209, March.
    36. Jean-Noel Kapferer & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2018. "The impact of brand penetration and awareness on luxury brand desirability : a cross country analysis of the relevance of the rarity principle," Post-Print hal-01998083, HAL.
    37. Paul, Justin, 2019. "Masstige model and measure for brand management," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 299-312.
    38. Hongfei Du & Ronnel B King & Peilian Chi, 2017. "Self-esteem and subjective well-being revisited: The roles of personal, relational, and collective self-esteem," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(8), pages 1-17, August.
    39. M. Joseph Sirgy, 2018. "Self-congruity theory in consumer behavior: A little history," Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(2), pages 197-207, April.
    40. Shahid, Shadma & Paul, Justin, 2021. "Intrinsic motivation of luxury consumers in an emerging market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    41. Paolo Antonetti & Stan Maklan, 2014. "Feelings that Make a Difference: How Guilt and Pride Convince Consumers of the Effectiveness of Sustainable Consumption Choices," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 117-134, September.
    42. Pamela J. Hinds & Diane E. Bailey, 2003. "Out of Sight, Out of Sync: Understanding Conflict in Distributed Teams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 14(6), pages 615-632, December.
    43. Elizabeth Nisbet & John Zelenski & Steven Murphy, 2011. "Happiness is in our Nature: Exploring Nature Relatedness as a Contributor to Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 12(2), pages 303-322, April.
    44. Sabeeha Naseer & Muhammad Kamran Khan & Sami Ullah, 2021. "Globalization Nexus Terrorism: Evidence from Pakistan," Journal of Business and Social Review in Emerging Economies, CSRC Publishing, Center for Sustainability Research and Consultancy Pakistan, vol. 7(1), pages 175-182, March.
    45. Llamas, Rosa & Thomsen, Thyra Uth, 2016. "The luxury of igniting change by giving: Transforming yourself while transforming others' lives," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 166-176.
    46. V. Barnier & Pierre Valette-Florence, 2013. "Culture and luxury: an analysis of luxury perceptions across frontiers," Post-Print halshs-00786051, HAL.
    47. Ghezzi, Antonio & Cavallo, Angelo, 2020. "Agile Business Model Innovation in Digital Entrepreneurship: Lean Startup Approaches," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 519-537.
    48. Liselot Hudders & Mario Pandelaere, 2012. "The Silver Lining of Materialism: The Impact of Luxury Consumption on Subjective Well-Being," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 411-437, June.
    49. Kumar, Ajay & Paul, Justin & StarÄ ević, SlaÄ‘ana, 2021. "Do brands make consumers happy?- A masstige theory perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Alić Adi & Činjarević Merima & Maktouf-Kahriman Nedžla, 2022. "Exploring the antecedents of masstige purchase behaviour among different generations," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 17(3), pages 255-271, September.
    2. Berta Marcos Ceron & Manuel Monge, 2023. "Consumer Sentiment and Luxury Behavior in the United States before and after COVID-19: Time Trends and Persistence Analysis," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-14, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ostovan, Nima & Khalili Nasr, Arash, 2022. "The manifestation of luxury value dimensions in brand engagement in self-concept," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Malone, Sheila & Tynan, Caroline & McKechnie, Sally, 2023. "Unconventional luxury: The reappropriation of time and substance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    3. Sharma, Amalesh & Soni, Mauli & Borah, Sourav Bikash & Haque, Tanjum, 2022. "From silos to synergies: A systematic review of luxury in marketing research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 893-907.
    4. Shahid, Shadma & Paul, Justin, 2021. "Intrinsic motivation of luxury consumers in an emerging market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Chandon, Jean-Louis & Laurent, Gilles & Lambert-Pandraud, Raphaëlle, 2022. "Battling for consumer memory: Assessing brand exclusiveness and brand dominance from citation-list," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 468-481.
    6. Taishoff, Marika & Mühlbacher, Hans & Kauppinen-Räisänen, Hannele, 2022. "Building and sustaining resilient luxury service ecosystems," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 201-215.
    7. Lim, Weng Marc & Aggarwal, Arun & Dandotiya, Ravi, 2022. "Marketing luxury services beyond affluence in the new normal: Insights from fine dining during the coronavirus pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Rosendo-Rios, Veronica & Shukla, Paurav, 2023. "The effects of masstige on loss of scarcity and behavioral intentions for traditional luxury consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Pangarkar, Aniruddha & Patel, Jayesh & Kumar, Sampath K., 2023. "Drivers of eWOM engagement on social media for luxury consumers: Analysis, implications, and future research directions," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    10. Boisvert, Jean & Christodoulides, George & Sajid Khan, M., 2023. "Toward a better understanding of key determinants and consequences of masstige consumption," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    11. Michel, Géraldine & Stathopoulou, Anastasia & Valette-Florence, Pierre, 2022. "Luxury is still alive and well: A spotlight on its multifaceted components," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 276-284.
    12. Das, Manish & Jebarajakirthy, Charles & Sivapalan, Achchuthan, 2022. "How consumption values and perceived brand authenticity inspire fashion masstige purchase? An investigation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Shahid, Shadma & Adil, Mohd & Sadiq, Mohd & Dash, Ganesh, 2024. "Why do consumers consume masstige products? A cross-cultural investigation through the lens of self-determination theory," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Chatterjee, Sheshadri & Chaudhuri, Ranjan & Vrontis, Demetris, 2023. "Masstige marketing: An empirical study of consumer perception and product attributes with moderating role of status, emotion, and pride," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 155(PA).
    15. Jonas Holmqvist & Luca Visconti & Christian Grönroos & Blandine Guais & Aurélie Kessous, 2020. "Understanding the value process: Value creation in a luxury service context," Post-Print hal-03511392, HAL.
    16. Sharma, Purva & Srivastava, Ankur & Sharma, Veenu & Singh, Nidhi & Nijjer, Shivinder, 2024. "Understanding consumer repurchase intentions towards luxury retail brands: Evidence from an emerging market," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    17. Chapman, Alexis & Dilmperi, Athina, 2022. "Luxury brand value co-creation with online brand communities in the service encounter," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 902-921.
    18. Holmqvist, Jonas & Visconti, Luca M. & Grönroos, Christian & Guais, Blandine & Kessous, Aurélie, 2020. "Understanding the value process: Value creation in a luxury service context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 114-126.
    19. Holmqvist, Jonas & Wirtz, Jochen & Fritze, Martin P., 2020. "Luxury in the digital age: A multi-actor service encounter perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 121(C), pages 747-756.
    20. Rosenbaum, Mark S. & Ramirez, Germán Contreras & Campbell, Jeffrey & Klaus, Philipp, 2021. "The product is me: Hyper-personalized consumer goods as unconventional luxury," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 446-454.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:143:y:2022:i:c:p:239-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.