Journal of Marketing Science ›› 2012, Vol. 8 ›› Issue (1): 76-94.

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Consciousness of Social Face and Conspicuous Consumption of Luxury Products in the Chinese Society

Zhang Xin'an   

  1. Zhang Xin'an, Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
  • Online:2012-03-01 Published:2013-04-15

Abstract:

Luxurious brands consumption in China is featured by clear conspicuous purposes. This research investigated the phenomenon from the indigenous perspective of social face consciousness. Drawing on Ho’s (1976) framework of gaining versus losing face dynamics, the authors broke down the construct of face consciousness into two dimensions of “desire to gain face” and “fear of losing face”, and developed measurement scales for them. The two scales were then used to examine their effect on conspicuous luxurious brand consumption behavior and found both of them had unique contribution in explaining why Chinese consumers buy luxurious brands.

Key words: Face consciousness, desire to gain face, fear of losing face, luxurious brand, conspicuous consumption