title: Antecedents of Luxury Brand Purchase: The Case of Chinese Consumers
Creators: name: Jin, Ting
Publisher: name: Griffith University
Year: 2021
Subjects: subject: Chinese consumers’ perceptions
subject: Chinese domestic brands
subject: Chinese domestic luxury brands

description: China has shown an increasing demand for luxury in the global market; for example, Louise Vuitton, Dior, Prada, Gucci. Previous research regarding Chinese consumers has mainly focused on wealth and social status for luxury branding. However, in recent years we have witnessed significant changes in political (e.g., Brexit) and economic (e.g., Covid 19) forces that suggest that globalization might be stalling, and new opportunities are emerging for local (i.e. Chinese) luxury brand to develop more rapidly based on unique local consumer culture. One of the Chinese luxury brand Chow Tai Fook was ranked as top 10 on the Global Powers of Luxury Goods Top 100. Thus, despite the fact that Chinese consumers showed a strong desire towards Chinese values and aesthetics of Chinese luxury brands, there are specific gaps in the existing literature. Firstly, empirical research still lacks theoretical foundations to understand Chinese consumers’ perceptions, attitudes, motivations, purchase intentions of domestic brands and domestic luxury brands. Secondly, the literature on whether Chinese consumers take into consideration similar to different luxury values when choosing between domestic luxury brands and foreign luxury brands and whether these values will influence their purchase intention remains unconsolidated. Thirdly, there are very few luxury branding studies that examine the relationship between value perceptions, special occasions and demographic characteristics on purchase intention of domestic or foreign luxury brands by Chinese consumers. This thesis draws on the model of consumer-based brand equity, consumer culture theory, self-determination theory and complexity theory to explore Chinese consumers’ perceptions, attitudes, motivations, and examine the purchase intentions of Chinese brands, and Chinese luxury brand as opposed to the global luxury brand. The model and these theories have not been widely applied in branding research, and existing research primarily supports the importance of foreign brands and foreign luxury brands among Chinese consumers in China’s market. This thesis extends this understanding by further investigating the significance of domestic brands and domestic luxury brands within a Chinese consumers context. To answer the overall aim of this thesis, six research questions were formulated to support the theoretical foundation and guide the overall direction of the research. This PhD thesis fills a knowledge gap between domestic brands, in particular, domestic luxury brands consumption and Chinese luxury consumers in the branding and luxury branding literature. This thesis is framed within a pragmatism paradigm and employed a mixed-methods approach, using an exploratory sequential research design, combining the constructivist paradigm (qualitative) and the positivistic paradigm (quantitative), which involved focus groups, in-depth interviews, and online self-completed questionnaire. The first phase of the study included a qualitative study as a preliminary study to explore the perceptions and attitudes towards Chinese brands from Chinese consumers’ perspective. This preliminary study was significant as it informed and guided the following empirical study in the second and third phase of this research. To meet the requirements and objectives of this research, this PhD thesis uses a “thesis with publication format” and is presented as a series of published and unpublished papers to provide direct evidence that the current work is of a publishable standard. This PhD format was also selected for the mentoring and experience gained through the exposure to the peer-review process and the efficiency to increase publications during candidature. Therefore, this thesis’s results are presented in three separate papers, which form the core chapters of this thesis. Two papers have been published, and one is currently under review with A ranked journals in the ABDC listing. ABDC refers to the Australian Business Deans Council Journal Quality List, which is a widely recognized journal-ranking list in Australia. Paper one presents the results from the qualitative (preliminary) study, which involves two phases of the research, including focus groups and in-depth interviews to explore Chinese brands’ perceptions from the point of views of young Chinese consumers. By adopting consumer-based brand equity, the result of this study demonstrates that symbolic values (such as pride, lifestyle, feeling of home and being happy) constitute one of the primary motivations for young Chinese consumers’ purchase of domestic brands. The results of this study challenge the traditional view that Chinese brands are perceived negatively in the Chinese market. This is one of the very few studies investigating how young Chinese consumers perceive brands from their home country rather than foreign brands. This research provided a better understanding of how young Chinese consumers perceive Chinese domestic brand, which has significant implications for marketing and branding management. Based on paper one’s findings, the results indicated the Chinese brands were perceived positively by Chinese consumers. However, the results of paper one limited only to a very broader view of the research topic. To gain more specific knowledge on Chinese brands’ topic, we argue that the research topic should be focus on a specific category of Chinese brands: Chinese luxury brands. Thus, paper two presents the results from a mixed study, which explored the meanings and uniqueness of Chinese luxury brands and the differences and similarities between Chinese and global luxury brands from the perspective of Chinese consumers. At the first stage of this research, the qualitative results identified the uniqueness of Chinese luxury brands was mainly focused on cultural symbols, Guanxi, Collectivism and self-brand image congruity. At the second stage of the research, the quantitative results suggest that the glamorous and high-end appeal of global luxury that appeals to consumers’ senses and contributes to their personal experience could be the main reason for making a purchase. By contrast, Chinese consumers tend to consider both luxury brand values, including functional, financial, individual, and social and luxury brand experience to be the main reasons for purchasing Chinese luxury brands. Additionally, counterfeit luxury purchases and ownership seem to be a bigger and more serious issue for global luxury brands than for Chinese luxury brands. Paper three presents the results from the second empirical enquiry, which tested a proposed model which was underpinned by the self-determination theory and complexity theory to examine the relationship between value perceptions, special occasions, and demographic characteristics on Chinese luxury brands and foreign luxury brands purchase intentions. The results showed that the financial value (i.e. price worthiness and economic value) and the overall luxury value perception (i.e. a sense of luxury) were essential antecedents of the purchase of domestic luxury brands. By contrast, hedonic value (i.e. brand emotion) and individual value (i.e. mood lifting) were significant predictors of the purchase intent of foreign luxury brands. It was noted that social value (i.e. social symbol, social acceptance), although extensively discussed in the luxury brand literature, was not consistent between symmetrical (regression) and asymmetrical (fsQCA) analyses as a significant factor that influenced Chinese consumers’ intention to purchase luxury brands (domestic and/or foreign). Also, it is worth noting that special occasions and demographics were not important key drivers of domestic luxury brand purchase as compared to foreign luxury brands. Moreover, the interviews revealed that Chinese consumers favour domestic luxury brands mainly due to the social and cultural meanings embedded in those brands. The results indicated that Chinese luxury brands were not perceived as being less important than foreign brands. Therefore, the findings of this study suggest a holistic picture on consumers’ purchase decisions and behaviours. This thesis makes theoretical and practical contributions, which are reflected in each of the three papers. Theoretically, paper one contributes to existing knowledge in Chinese brands and Chinese consumers studies by unravelling Chinese brands’ meaning to young Chinese consumers, specifically, the functional, experiential and symbolic values of Chinese brands. This study challenges the traditional view that Chinese brands are perceived negatively in the Chinese market. Paper two to the best of our knowledge is the first to explore the uniqueness of Chinese luxury brands, and then examine differences between global and local (i.e. Chinese) luxury brand consumption. This is against the background that many local or domestic luxury brands now have greater opportunities and greater potential to grow in the global luxury market, and local consumer culture is also on the rise due to a downward trend in globalization. This research responds to the previously identified call for research on identifying opportunities for developing China-specific luxury brands from the perspective of Chinese consumers. Paper three contributes to three bodies of knowledge. Firstly, it extends luxury branding literature by examining not only the mainstream global luxury brands, but also domestic brands that are endogenous to the Chinese market. Secondly, this research provides a new perspective by removing the boundary between intrinsic and extrinsic motivations in relation to the purchase of luxury brands. Thirdly, this research contributes to the branding literature by drawing upon the complexity theory and incorporating a novel asymmetrical method (fsQCA) into Chinese consumer decision making for luxury brands. Overall, this thesis presents empirical evidence to support the application of Keller’s model, consumer culture theory, theory of consumption value, self-determination theory, and complexity theory to Chinese brands and Chinese luxury brands studies. Practically, this study first contributes to managerial implications by recommending that Chinese marketers need to aware of the importance of symbolic meanings of Chinese brands and the image of the brand’s Chinese origin. Secondly, China is still a country of ancient traditions and Chinese consumers still purchase and use Chinese luxury brands that are less well known to their global or Western counterparts. Chinese luxury brands may not have to go global partly due to the fact that they were tailored to the taste of the Chinese. However, for global luxury brands targeting Chinese consumers, they need to be sensitive to the way the Chinese culture is held in everyday life as consumers are using products and brands whether they are mundane or luxurious. In particular, for local luxury marketers, Chinese luxury brands should emphasize the unique cultural and social meanings to convey these messages to Chinese local consumers. Also, it is an important implication for domestic luxury brand managers to adopt a social media marketing strategy with a local endorsement to enhance the brand awareness of Chinese luxury brands and the meanings attached to the consumers in the luxury market. Thirdly, there is a need to shift marketing and advertising of luxury brands away from the emphasis on wealth, status, and conspicuous consumption. Instead, Chinese consumers may be attracted to promotional and communication strategies that focus on enjoyment, mood lifting, and enhancing feelings and emotions through sensory experiences in relation to foreign luxury brands. Domestic luxury brands will also appeal to Chinese consumers when they are considered to provide economic value and offer an overall luxury value perception.