Personal aspirations and the consumption of luxury goods

Past research has rarely included both intrimic and extrinsic aspirations antecedents in predicting luxury consumption, and most studies have assumed that conspicuous antecedents are predominant in consumers' motivations. The objective of this study is to build and test a model of the effects of extrinsic and intrinsic personal aspirations on consumer decision making in the luxury goods market. The findings of the study, conducted in France, show that extrinsic aspirations are more strongly related to conspicuous consumption than to quality search and self-directed pleasure, suggesting that extrinsically motivated consumers buy luxury brands mainly, but not wholly, as part of conspicuous consumption behaviour. However, intrinsic aspirations are much more strongly related to self-directed pleasure and quality search than are extrinsically aspirations, suggesting that these consumers are more focused on their own pleasure of ownership than on the display of conspicuous consumption. The findings suggest that practitioners should take into consideration both types of consumer motivation in the design of their marketing campaigns, in order to increase audience reach and improve brand loyalty in the long run. It is also recommended that market researchers adapt current segmentation and brand measurement tools to include intrinsic motivations.