Drivers of conspicuous consumption amongst black South African professionals

Abstract

Previous 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.