The antecedents and consequences of brand commitment towards luxury brand buying behaviour: A study of mainland China

Li, Ning (2014) The antecedents and consequences of brand commitment towards luxury brand buying behaviour: A study of mainland China. Doctoral thesis, University of Northumbria.

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Abstract

Over the last 30 years, China has moved to establish itself as a global economic superpower. This has contributed to the Chinese luxury market becoming one of the largest emerging markets on the world stage in the last two decades. However, the market is still at a formative stage and knowledge about the motivations behind the Chinese consumers’ buying behaviour and factors influencing commitment toward luxury brands is understandably limited. This study investigates consumers luxury consumption behaviour through the evaluation of the antecedents and consequence of brand commitment toward Western luxury brands in this environment.

Quantitative data has been gathered via a self-completed but research supported questionnaire that sought to capture the perception of 494 Chinese consumers located in Beijing within four shopping malls dealing in luxury brands. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling have been used to analyse this primary data.

The findings reveal that brand affect, brand trust and luxury customer value positively influence Chinese consumers’ brand commitment, with luxury customer value consistently acting as the most important predictor. Brand commitment afforded by consumers influences their willingness to pay more, but not their future purchase intentions. Brand affect, brand trust and luxury customer value also have a positive relationship with purchase intentions and willingness to pay more for the luxury brands. This study updates the luxury customer value structure, emotional value, social value and symbolic value in an emerging luxury market context, expanding upon previous studies through the dependent conceptualisation of luxury customer value. This study establishes a new research model which provides a greater insight into brand commitment, its antecedents and outcomes. This study affords a basis for future luxury brand consumption research in the Tier 2/3 cities in mainland China, as the market emerges from the Tier 1 context presented here.

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