Conspicuous consumption orientation: Conceptualisation, scale development and validation

In this paper individual differences in conspicuous tendencies are examined. A new definition of the construct is proposed and, through critical evaluation of the extant literature, the need for a proper scale is posited. Then an extensive exercise is taken up to develop and validate the scale. The 11-item scale is found to be uni-dimensional, to have a factor structure that is generalisable across student and non-student samples, and has acceptable internal and test–retest reliabilities. The scale's validity is attested to by its theoretically tenable relationships with other personality measures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  C. R. Snyder,et al.  Product Scarcity by Need for Uniqueness Interaction: A Consumer Catch-22 Carousel? , 1992 .

[2]  J. P. Peter Reliability: A Review of Psychometric Basics and Recent Marketing Practices , 1979 .

[3]  Alladi Venkatesh,et al.  Postmodernity: The age of marketing , 1993 .

[4]  Brian Wansink,et al.  Increasing Cognitive Response Sensitivity , 1994 .

[5]  T. Judge,et al.  Five-factor model of personality and transformational leadership. , 2000, The Journal of applied psychology.

[6]  Benjamin R. Mandel Art as an Investment and Conspicuous Consumption Good , 2009 .

[7]  Jason W. Osborne,et al.  Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. , 2005 .

[8]  M. Mcgrath,et al.  Gender differences in gift exchanges: New directions from projections , 1995 .

[9]  Sitanath Majumdar,et al.  Conspicuous Consumption: Is That All Bad? Investigating the Alternative Paradigm , 2010 .

[10]  D. Marlowe,et al.  A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology. , 1960, Journal of consulting psychology.

[11]  Ronald E. Goldsmith,et al.  A validity study of a measure of opinion leadership , 1991 .

[12]  Sitanath Majumdar,et al.  Of Diamonds and Desires: Understanding Conspicuous Consumption from a Contemporary Marketing Perspective , 2006 .

[13]  Heribert Gierl,et al.  Are scarce products always more attractive? The interaction of different types of scarcity signals with products' suitability for conspicuous consumption , 2010 .

[14]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  A general approach to representing multifaceted personality constructs: Application to state self‐esteem , 1994 .

[15]  P. Hirsch Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of Cultural Industry Systems , 1972, American Journal of Sociology.

[16]  Debra Ann Grace,et al.  Conspicuous donation behaviour: scale development and validation , 2009 .

[17]  Gianni De Fraja,et al.  The origin of utility: Sexual selection and conspicuous consumption , 2009 .

[18]  Jeri Benson,et al.  THE IMPACT OF ITEM PHRASING ON THE VALIDITY OF ATTITUDE SCALES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN , 1985 .

[19]  D. Holt Does Cultural Capital Structure American Consumption , 1998 .

[20]  J. Podoshen,et al.  Materialism and conspicuous consumption in China: a cross-cultural examination , 2011 .

[21]  Grant Mccracken The history of consumption: A literature review and consumer guide , 1987 .

[22]  Jon A. Krosnick,et al.  The Reliability of Survey Attitude Measurement , 1991 .

[23]  T. Veblen The Theory of the Leisure Class , 1901 .

[24]  Gerbert Kraaykamp,et al.  Subjective Well-being in Rural India: The Curse of Conspicuous Consumption , 2010, Social indicators research.

[25]  Lawrence C. Soley,et al.  Measuring Responses to Commercials: A Projective-elicitation Approach , 2006 .

[26]  Michael Lynn,et al.  The Psychology of Unavailability: Explaining Scarcity and Cost Effects on Value , 1992 .

[27]  Richard Elliott,et al.  Exploring the Symbolic Meaning of Brands , 1994 .

[28]  Aron O'Cass,et al.  Exploring consumer status and conspicuous consumption , 2004 .

[29]  Avraham Shama,et al.  Coping with Staglation: Voluntary Simplicity , 1981 .

[30]  Richard G. Netemeyer,et al.  Handbook of Marketing Scales , 1999 .

[31]  Gilbert A. Churchill A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .

[32]  Kathleen C. Gerbasi,et al.  Short, homogeneous versions of the Marlow‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale , 1972 .

[33]  Gad Saad,et al.  The effect of conspicuous consumption on men’s testosterone levels , 2009 .

[34]  Mark Gottdiener,et al.  The Mirror of Production , 2020 .

[35]  R. Belk Possessions and the Extended Self , 1988 .

[36]  Anthony J. Onwuegbuzie,et al.  The Impact of Midpoint Responses and Reverse Coding on Survey Data , 2001 .

[37]  N. Wong,et al.  Personal taste and family face: Luxury consumption in Confucian and western societies , 1998 .

[38]  P. Filiatrault,et al.  The Attitudes Underlying Preferences of Young Urban Educated Polish Consumers Towards Products Made in Western Countries , 1997 .

[39]  David W. Gerbing,et al.  An Updated Paradigm for Scale Development Incorporating Unidimensionality and Its Assessment , 1988 .

[40]  Robert K. Gable,et al.  The Impact of Positive and Negative Item Stems on the Validity of a Computer Anxiety Scale , 1990 .

[41]  Theo M.M. Verhallen,et al.  Scarcity and consumer choice behavior , 1982 .

[42]  John C. Mowen,et al.  The separateness‐connectedness self‐schema: Scale development and application to message construction , 1997 .

[43]  Lee J. Cronbach,et al.  Studies of acquiescence as a factor in the true-false test. , 1942 .

[44]  Russell W. Belk,et al.  Three Scales to Measure Constructs Related to Materialism: Reliability, Validity, and Relationships to Measures of Happiness , 1984 .

[45]  K. Arrow,et al.  *Conspicuous Consumption, Inconspicuous Leisure , 2009 .

[46]  Paurav Shukla,et al.  Conspicuous consumption among middle age consumers: psychological and brand antecedents , 2008 .

[47]  Kelly Tepper Tian,et al.  Consumers' Need for Uniqueness: Scale Development and Validation , 2001 .

[48]  Katsunori Yamada,et al.  Macroeconomic implications of conspicuous consumption: A Sombartian dynamic model , 2008 .

[49]  M. Lynn,et al.  The desire for unique consumer products: A new individual differences scale , 1997 .