4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
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Item Drivers of conspicuous consumption amongst black South African professionals(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2024) Koloane, Tshenolo; Saruchera, FannyPrevious inequalities presented to black people within South Africa have resulted in the rise of conspicuous consumption. Developing countries like South Africa are witnessing a rise in the levels of conspicuous consumption of luxury brands. Therefore, this study explores the drivers of conspicuous consumption amongst black South African professionals and delves into the drivers that have been prompted by compensatory behaviour. The theory of buyer behaviour, compensation consumption and conspicuous consumption provided the theoretical grounding of the study. The study adopted a quantitative approach, which involved conducting an online self- administered survey. A total of 234 responses were collected from the research sample. Six hypotheses were tested through the utilization of Structural Equation modelling with the assistance of the SPSS 28 and AMOS software in further deriving the descriptive statistics. The study found that there is a significant relationship between socio-cultural factors, interpersonal effects, informative effects and compensatory behaviour, as well as compensatory behaviour and conspicuous luxury consumption, whilst an insignificant relationship was established for normative effects, income effects and compensatory behaviour. Theoretical implications of the study contribute to the existing body of knowledge on conspicuous consumption driven by compensatory behaviour. Managerial implications provide insights for companies to ascertain the external factors that propel consumers to partake in conspicuous consumption to develop strategies with bespoke messaging appeals to ensure a sustained competitive advantage within the luxury market. The recommendation for marketing practitioners is to utilize the insights gained form the study to develop targeted marketing strategies that appeal to the identified factors motivating conspicuous consumption. Future studies could conduct a comparative study that draws on a comparison between generation X and Y to ascertain whether they are driven by the same factors that are explored in the study to participate in conspicuous consumption.Item Antecedents to conspicuous consumption of luxury fashion goods by middle-income black South Africans(2021) Mthombeni, LebohangSouth Africa is increasingly becoming an important market for luxury goods brands. This is mainly due to the country’s growing middle-income consumer segment which is considered to be upwardly mobile. As a result, South Africa has become an attractive destination for luxury goods brands. Signalling theory suggests that luxury brands – in consumer goods categories such as clothing and cars, are perceived as status symbols and consumed for their status credentials. Furthermore, there is adequate literature claiming that black South Africans exhibit a heightened interest in conspicuous consumption compared to other racial groupings. However, there is limited research addressing the factors driving middle-income black South Africans to consume luxury fashion brands conspicuously. Therefore, there was a need for this study to generate new knowledge in this area of research. Consequently, this study was concerned with investigating the antecedents to conspicuous consumption of luxury fashion goods by middle-income black South Africans. This study employed a survey questionnaire approach and a quantitative methodology for primary data collection. Data was gathered from a sample of 182 respondents across South Africa and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) through SPSS and Mplus software. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to test model fit as well as reliability and validity of measurement instruments while path modelling was used to test hypotheses adopted by this report. Five (5) of the eight (8) hypotheses in this study were supported by statistical results; although, three (3) hypotheses were not supported. Among the major findings made by this report was that social class signalling (SCS) positively influenced conspicuous consumption (CC) while conspicuous consumption (CC) was not predicted by status consumption (SC). This study concluded that conspicuous consumption of luxury fashion goods by middle income black South Africans was motivated by social factors. This report’s key recommendations were for marketing professionals to imbue overt status cues in their brand campaigns to drive consumption of luxury fashion goods. Future studies could investigate whether or not the findings of this study are applicable across racial demographics in South Africa.