A study of product conspicuousness, self-congruity and on-line purchase behavior.

60 p.Researchers in consumer behaviour have established that if a product is conspicuously consumed (that is, consumed in public) and is socially visible, consumers are likely to use the visibility of the product to communicate symbolically something about themselves to others. In this thesis, the concept of conspicuous consumption is investigated and its definition is expanded to include not only products that are consumed (used) in public, but also products that are purchased in public even though they are intended for private use. The author postulates that the symbolic representation of a product manifests itself and affects the user's intention to purchase whenever it is socially visible, whether during consumption or purchase. Two experiments are conducted to study how the self congruity and purchase intention of respondents with regard to a number of privately and publicly consumed products changes when respondents are placed in public or private purchase situations and when they make their choice on the computer compared with a written form. Results from both studies support the author's argument that in the case of privately consumed products, consumers make different purchase decisions when the product is presented to them in public and in private. -​Master of Busines