KOREASCHOLAR

Since there are intimate relationships between customers and customer equity, this study aims to explore the effects of covert and overt narcissistic consumers on luxury brands’ customer equity. The authors confirm the significance of the previous qualitative study on the two types of narcissists in regard to luxury consumption and customer equity by using quantitative methods.
Narcissism basically means a self-loving tendency in one’s mind. People with narcissism overly respect themselves and act in an egotistical way(Lasch, 1980). Some scholars state that there are distinctions in narcissists in that they can be either overt or covert. Covert narcissists are hypersensitive, feel inferiority, pursue social power and honor, crave compliments, have strong jealousy, feel dissatisfaction with work and society, have fragile egos, and a likelihood of conscience contamination. People with covert narcissism also try to avoid damage both physically and emotionally. Overt narcissists pursue social success, lack depth, ignore and devalue others, have strong aspirations, and passion for ethics, social politics, and aesthetic issues. They believe in their own grandiosity, which causes direct expression of exhibitionism, self-importance, and a preoccupation with getting the attention and admiration from others(Hendin & Cheek, 1997; Park & Kang, 2013; SALMAN AKHTAR & Thomson Jr, 1982).

• Seong-Yeon Park(Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea)
• Yeu-Jin Kang(Ewha Womans University, Republic of Korea)