The effects of status motives on consumer behavior

Humans possess a fundamental motivation to signal social status, which has been defined as a higher perceived position compared to others that garners an individual more respect and admiration (Bellezza, Gino, and Keinan 2014; Dubois and Ordabayeva 2015; Dubois, Rucker, and Galinsky 2012). Attaining and signaling high social status is an important, fundamental human motivation that can affect consumer behavior (Bird et al. 2005; Bird, Smith, and Bird 2001; Durante and Griskevicius 2016). The current dissertation contributes to the literature on the antecedents and downstream consequences of status-signaling motivations. Although the majority of the literature on status signaling suggests that such motivations enhance conspicuous indulgence (e.g., spending to signal wealth), Essay 1 demonstrates that status motives can lead to displays of self-control (e.g., choices of healthier foods and self-control enhancing technologies instead of indulgent foods and entertainment technologies). This finding is important because consumers often struggle to engage in self-control (Brendl, Markman, and Messner 2003), and this work highlights one motivation, status signaling, that consumers can use to prompt such behavior. Furthermore, this finding helps marketers understand the nuance in using status-signaling appeals to sell non-luxury products, which may ultimately increase their sales. Essay 2 introduces a novel antecedent to status signaling. Specifically, it demonstrates that parenthood predicts status-signaling behavior, in that parents are more likely than non-parents to engage in conspicuous (vs. inconspicuous) luxury consumption. This occurs in part because parents believe that their social status will impact their living children. This research contributes to a growing literature on the cognitive processes behind the consumption behaviors of parents. The findings in this essay are an important addition to extant literature because parents are assumed to be warm, protective, helpful, and generous (Hodges and Park 2013) – traits that seem at odds with a desire for conspicuous consumption, which is often born out of a desire for personal gain (Dubois and Ordabayeva 2015; Lee and Shrum 2012; Torelli, Monga, and Kaikati 2012). By highlighting this novel, counterintuitive antecedent to status signaling, this work also reveals how firms may better anticipate parents’ product preferences.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference