In this research, given the recent spurt of luxury brands featuring their products in the metaverse, we examine if the use of luxury brand items to enhance one’s virtual avatar augments the gamer’s sense of confidence, empowerment, and actual performance. We conduct two studies to test the same. In our first study, we simulated a gaming environment on an online survey portal and asked participants to choose their avatar features. We provided them with a branded item (luxury/regular). Consequently, we asked them to indicate their level of confidence, and empowerment. They were asked to play a game to record their actual performance. In our second study, we asked participants to choose their avatar on an online game on their mobiles and similarly provided them with a branded item (luxury/regular). We then measured their confidence, and empowerment and observed their actual performance.

In this research, we investigate the influence of Chinese consumers’ generation on the perception of “Made in China” luxury. This issue is of utmost importance for the Chinese government as Chinese consumers have now become the first luxury consumers in the world while China remains a non-legitimate dwarf in luxury manufacturing. To bridge this gap, we carried a quantitative survey involving 300 Chinese luxury consumers and tested the effect of consumers’ age on Chinese luxury products perceived luxury. Potential mediators are considered in our analyses, including consumers’ ethnocentrism and innovativeness, materialism, and cultural orientations (i.e., preference for individualism and tradition). The data are currently being collected. Our results will be discussed at the 2023 Global Marketing Conference in Seoul if this research is selected for presentation. They should help position current and future “Made in China” luxury brands and target Chinese luxury consumers.

This research investigates the influence of age in luxury counterfeit consumption in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. More specifically, a pilot quantitative survey conducted in the United Arab Emirates demonstrates that GCC consumers’ age has a positive influence on counterfeit luxury consumption, which runs counter the general consensus observed in the counterfeiting literature. Based on 25 in-depth interviews, a follow-up qualitative study explores this unexpected result using the functional theory of attitudes. It shows that the experience of the region’s major socio-economic changes in the last 40 years may explain the shift on how consumers understand the value of things, and therefore the existence of a positive correlation between age and counterfeit consumption in the GCC countries. This article contributes to the field of luxury counterfeit research and expands theoretical understanding on consumer responses of different age groups to counterfeit consumption. Our analyses corroborate the relevance of the functional theories of attitudes in explaining both luxury and counterfeit consumptions. Social-adjustive function is dominant for young people, however, the attitudes, which serve the social-adjustive function, are less likely to drive counterfeit consumption. Further, the research refines the existing model, suggesting that the value-expressive function served by different attitudes was relevant on both age groups, but depending on the values which are expressed, it influences the counterfeit consumption. The findings are of significant interest for public policy makers, luxury brand managers fighting counterfeiting, and more generally to any managers dealing with GCC nationals.