본 연구는 중국소비자들이 가진 한국 인터넷 면세점에 대한 구매의도를 파악하고자, 인터넷 면세점의 e-서비스품질과 한류문화에 대한 태도를 주요 변인으로 설정하여 논의해 보았다. 분석 결과를 살펴보면, 첫째, 기존연구와 일치하게 홈페이지 시각적 디자인, 고객서비스, 안정성, 그리고 경제성 및 편리성 모든 인터넷면세점 e-서비스품질 특성요인들이 중국관광객의 구매의도에 긍정적인 영향을 미치는 것으로 도출되었다. 둘째, 한국 인터넷면세점의 e-서비스품질 특성 요인 중 홈페이지 시각적 디자인과 경제성 및 편리성이 구매의도에 미치는 영향에 있어서, 한류문화에 대한 태도가 유의미한 조절효과를 가지고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 결과는 중국 마케팅의 전략적인 관점에서 정부나 면세업체가 양국의 대한 경제적인 정책 및 한류문화 콘텐츠 전략을 수립하는데 도움을 줄 수 있을 것이다.

Consumption practices for self-construction and impression management have been widely studied. However, most research adopts snap-shot, cross-sectional views and focuses mainly on leisure and home settings, giving little attention to the mundane context of workplace. Building on the works of Goffman and Bourdieu, this study takes an over-time view to understand how professionals acquire cultural capital related resources and practices for impression management over their career life. Based on retrospective narrative inquiries (Davies & Fitchett, 2015) and a novel on-route walking-with interview (Richardson, 2015) to capture bodily and other affective resonances, this paper reports on our analysis so far with ten senior executives in Hong Kong, as part of an on-going study. Mutability and agency are key to understand the biographical evolution of cultural capital for impression management. Exclusive resources and practices, such as grooming styles and dining choices, are found as ‘class-markers’ in the workplace (Bourdieu 1984), which also keep changing over people’s career life. With thin cultural capital, junior executives can only rely on extrinsic ‘sign vehicles’ (Goffman 1959) such as appearance and surface diligence to extend their work identity (Belk, 1988; Tian and Belk 2005). Over time, when cultural capital is accumulated through accrued learning and socialization (Bourdieu, 1977; Skeggs, 2004), senior executives climb up the career ladder by building up embodied habitus to differentiate themselves through more intrinsic competence and practices, such as discourse and decisive judgement. The study also reflects the field-specific nature of cultural capital (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) and finds that resources valued in one field could become liabilities or capital shocks in another. Such ‘embodied hysteresis’ is found attributable to the rupture between the changing field conditions (McDonough & Polzer, 2012) and we example how executives struggle with self-field incongruity when switching workplaces. Lastly, the study reveals that the workplace is itself a potent ground for learning embodied competences for workplace consumption and practices. Secondary socialization through observation of the referenced others and continuous self-reflection is found to be a crucial source of acquiring cultural capital for self-presentation.

Foods play important roles in Chinese gift giving behavior; they contain abundant symbolic and semiotics meanings. Typical food products are exchange during festivals, commercial intercourse, and other social intercourse occasion. The purpose of study is to investigate how the meanings and values of food gifts affect gift-giving behavior under Chinese cultural context. Qualitative in-depth interviews are applied, eighteen participants from food gift industry, academic field and consumers are invited in the study, and qualitative data analysis framework is designed based on Sheth’s consumption values theory. We find that food gifts cover function value, emotional value, social value, epistemic value and conditional value. Gift values are explained by givers and recipients during gift-giving process. Gift-giving occasion, gift-giving purpose, relationship between givers and recipients are influence the value of gift. Study provides some practical recommendation for food products design and marketing.

Fast fashion refers to a strategy to respond to the latest fashion trends by short production and distribution lead times, limited supplies and rapid inventory turnover rates. Whilst research on fast fashion mostly investigates producers’ side, e.g. supply chain, scholarship exploring consumers’ side of fast fashion remains limited. In addition, research on fast fashion consumption tends to neglect similarities and differences of consumers (e.g. needs, wants, desires, and demographic characteristics) in different parts of the world, particularly developed and developing economies. The aim of this study is threefold: Firstly, by focusing on the emergent Turkish market and the established Finnish market, it analyses and compares fast fashion consumption of Turkish and Finnish consumers. Secondly, through qualitative and quantitative studies, it reveals the components of fast fashion consumption, which include appearance management, repeat visiting behavior, product use duration, interaction with social media, impulse buying, willingness to pay full price, hedonic consumption, and fashion involvement, and develops a scale for measuring fast fashion consumption. Thirdly, it evaluates the impact of each component and examines the influence of demographic variables on fast fashion consumption. The findings demonstrate both personal and national differences in the components of fast fashion and point to a need for an in-depth, cross-cultural study on ethical and environmental issues related to fast fashion consumption.

Consumers around the world are increasingly categorized by parallel needs and similar longings which lead to an ever-more homogeneous global market (Chan, Li, Diehl & Terlutter, 2007; van Ittersum & Wong, 2010). The acceleration of global consumer assemblies has concurred with the occurrence and upsurge of global citizens and consumer cultures (Gao, Mittal & Zhang, 2015). Yet, many researchers still claim that cultural differences have to be considered to grasp buying customs of global (fashion) consumers (Tahmid, 2012). The rationale of this paper is to balance out this research gap and to contribute to the current debate of global vs. local (Cleveland, Papadopoulos & Laroche, 2011; Askegaard, Arnould & Kjelgaard, 2005; Arnett, 2002) fashion consumer lifestyle segments with joint or divergent dominant apparel purchase motivations. Motivational factors influencing apparel purchase behavior can be separated into rational, emotional (perceptional) and patronage motives (Diamond, 2005). In the main, Sproles & Kendall´s consumer characteristics approach (1986) provided the conceptual foundation of the present study of fashion consumption motivations (fashion referred to as apparel & clothing), partially modified to suit the peculiarities that mold fashion consumption. The total of 23 motivations is made up of 15 multi-item scales and 8 single items that complement the fashion-specific range of motivational drivers. Especially referring to fashion purchase motivations, countries like Germany and Austria (despite their prosperous market economies) have so far been markedly neglected and even for France, although universally recognized as the leading country for fashion, in-depth research on motivational parameters shaping individual shopping activities is scarce. Likewise, investigations on American (a nation with intense spending capacity) fashion purchase motivations are extremely seldom. The objective of this paper is threefold and expressed through the following three research questions: (1) What are important lifestyle cluster characterized by central fashion motivations? (2) Can representatives for each cluster be found in all countries? (3) Are there country specific differences which point to either global or local fashion consumer segments? The predefined set of fashion consumption motivations was put to test via an online quantitative consumer survey. The questionnaire was delineated in three languages, using a translation-back translation procedure and was thoroughly pre-tested. Altogether, 693 non-student individuals (482 females, 211 males; from 18 to 87 years of age) participated in the survey, equally distributed across countries, ages and gender among the four nations (despite the fact that quota sampling was used). Subjects were asked to evaluate the total of 23 fashion consumption motivations on a 7-point Likert scale. A factor analysis was conducted for each of the established multi-item scales (with a CA value of mostly above .70). Measurement Invariance (Steenkamp & Baumgartner 1998) across the four countries was assessed. Subsequently, a cluster analysis was carried out using the Ward algorithm, incorporating all 23 fashion consumption motivations to acquire a more detailed description of the consumer segments. Five consumer clusters were extracted through Elbow criteria: (1) pragmatic, socially-conscious, brand loyals (n= 195), (2) sustainable fashion shoppers (n=127), (3) detached fashion disinterested (n=128), (4) passionate, luxury-status fashion-leaders (n= 107), and (5) experiential fashion adventure-seekers (n=136). Country-wise, significant differences are manifested between the consumer segments, X²(12, 693) = 69.12, p=.000. Findings portend that consumers in all research countries can be allocated to one of the five clusters. This condition leads to the clear presumption that global consumer fashion consumer segments do exist. Nonetheless, some national divergences become evident. Particularly if a fashion brand or company intends to address a target group affiliating to the consumer cluster 1: pragmatic, socially-conscious, brand loyals, cluster 2: sustainable fashion shoppers or cluster 3: experiential fashion adventure-seekers, national differences need to be taken into consideration. Markedly, a pragmatic positioning appears to be most auspicious to target American and also French consumers whereas a sustainability and ethnocentric orientation seems to be substantially promising to reach German and also Austrian consumers, demonstrating that a complete standardization of a fashion firm´s positioning through the transnational appeal of dominant consumption motivations seems not yet to be advisable. Further implications, limitations and directions for future research are available upon request and will be addressed more thoroughly at the conference.

Women aged between 36 and 55 are the main players in the cosmetics market in Taiwan in recent years. Particularly, the sector of anti-ageing cosmetics has grown continually with the support of women at the ages, who have stronger purchasing power than others. Furthermore, the changes of the channel structure in Taiwan have an impact on cosmetics consumption. Department stores have been the leaders of the high-end cosmetics market for a long time. Nevertheless, Taiwanese middle-aged women no longer only purchase cosmetics products in the department stores, but also shop around the pharmacy chain stores, like Cosmed, Poya and Watsons, which expand rapidly in Taiwan recently, buying OTC (Over-the-counter) cosmetics brands and products. It is convenient for women to attach with cosmetics products since the widespread shops available for consumers to pop in and consume a wide range of cosmetics products with more affordable prices (Kantar Worldpanel, 2013). The current research examines the cosmetics shopping and consumption of middle-aged women in the Taiwanese cultural context. The phenomenological interviews were conducted with a purposive sampling with 6 Taiwanese middle-aged women ranging in age from 40 to 60, who used cosmetics on a daily basis, varied in duration, between 1 to 2 hours. The sample size is kept deliberately small as phenomenological interviews are designed to elaborate the richness (Baker et al., 1992) of individuals’ lived experiences, feelings and perceptions of cosmetics consumption. Each interview was conducted online using the social media, Skype, through a webcam. The purpose of the interview was described to the informants as an exploration of women’s cosmetics consumption and how it affected their experiences in their daily lives. They were encouraged to share their own experiences freely. The unstructured interviews started with a question, “What comes to your mind when speaking of cosmetics?” enabling participants to start the dialogue with their most familiar topics and be free to define the meanings of cosmetics in their own words (Liu et al., 2012). In the process of data analysis, 6 principal themes emerged to give more explanations in detail of how middle-aged women in Taiwan strategically manipulate cosmetic shopping to construct, maintain, change, and give meanings to the sense of self in transformational levels during their lifetime course. In addition, due to the widespread of pharmacy stores in recent days, it is found that the middle-aged women’s had changed their shopping behaviours in accordance with the change of retail stores. For example, Karen likes to shop around the pharmacy stores looking for open counter brands which are made in Japan and buying products with the signs showing that are ranked number 1, instead of shopping at the department stores, where she used to go. Moreover, Amy also likes to go to the pharmacy stores which are close to where she lives. There are many new-opened stores, such as Cosmed, Watsons, and Poya rapidly expanded in the rural area that make it more convenient for residents to shop in. She also prefers to buy facial cleansing products which are made in Japan and ranked number 1. As the structure of channel and lifestyle have changed with time, consumers’ cosmetics consumption is changing as well. The research finds that wearing cosmetics has become habits for the Taiwanese women aged between 40 and 60 since they have been using cosmetics for more than 20 years. The meaning behind their “used-to habits” with cosmetics is that consumer’s possessions - cosmetics, have become their extended self and being strategically manipulated to accompany them experiencing through every path of their lives, including pursuing their ideal, hoped-for possible selves, escaping from their negative, feared possible selves, managing their relationship with the social self, and developing their past-present-future self within the historical context.

Building on a sociological perspective, this study empirically examines how transformation expectations relate to conspicuous consumption and impulse buying by comparing Eastern (Thai) and Western (U.S.) consumers to scrutinize how consumers from completely different cultural and economic profiles diverge from each other with respect to their product/service expectations and their purchase and consumption tendencies. While Thailand represents a small developing economy, the U.S. denotes a large developed nation. Furthermore, Thai culture is characterized by a relatively high uncertainty avoidance, large power distance, femininity, and collectivism, whereas American culture is viewed as an individualist, masculine, risk-taking, and small power distance one (Hofstede, Hofstede & Minkov, 2010). The relationships set forth in this study are woven together based on the expectations states theory (EST), which generally bridges consumers’ expectations with their actions (i.e., the behaviors of buying impulsively and consuming conspicuously in this study). Our focal construct, transformation expectations, is treated as a second-order construct, consisting of four dimensions: “self-,” “relationship,” “hedonic,” and “efficacy” transformations. We postulate that transformation expectations positively influence conspicuous consumption and impulse buying, and that the relationships are moderated by culture. The data were collected from consumers in Thailand and the U.S. using a self-administered survey by means of quota and purposive sampling techniques. Our final sample size consists of 347 Thai consumers and 320 American consumers. The findings in this study show support for all hypothesized relationships. Both Thais and Americans tend to consume more conspicuously and purchase more impulsively when they have higher expectations that a product enables them to transform their lives. Surprisingly, the test of the moderating effect of culture showed a stronger relationship amongst Thai consumers. This finding contradicts to previous empirical evidences suggested in the literature. Future study thus should replicate and/or extend this study to confirm and validate the results so that appropriate marketing strategies can be tailored to fit diverse groups of consumers across the globe.

This study was undertaken to examine the knowledge about food culture and intakes of traditional food in Korean and Japanese elementary school students. In 2012 and 2013, a total of 265 students were surveyed, consisting of 73 Korean fifth graders and 192 Japanese sixth graders. The questionnaire comprised of queries on general items, the recognition and sampling of traditional and celebration foods, the knowledge about the partner country's food culture, and the frequency of consuming the partner country's foods. As a result of this study, the frequency of consuming their own country's traditional foods for Korean children (3.1 out of 5.0 points) and Japanese children (3.2 out of 5.0 points) was similar to each other. Japanese children reported to eat Korean foods (2.9 points) more frequently than those of Korean children to eat Japanese foods (2.4 out of 5.0 points) (p<0.001). However, the Korean children reported to have more experience on given typical Japanese foods than Japanese children reported about Korean foods. Further studies are needed for the perception on traditional foods in Korean and Japanese children. The results of this study can be used as a basic data to succeed and develop traditional food cultures.

본 연구는 사회경제적 지위(socioeconomic status: SES)가 문화적 자기효능감에 미치는 직접적인 영향을, 문화예술 콘텐츠 소비향유와 문화예술 지식을 통해 각각 간접적으로 미치는 영향들과 비교 분석하였다. 이를 통해 사회경제적 지위가 어떤 경로로 통해 문화적 자기효능감을 극대화시킬 수 있는지를 살펴보았다. 본 연구는 전국 단위의 성별·연령별 비례할당에 의한 무작위 표본(N=547) 추출에 근거하여 실증 분석하였다. 연구결과, 첫째 사회경제적 지위는 문화적 자기효능감에 정(+)적 영향을 미쳤을 뿐 아니라, 문화예술 콘텐츠 소비향유와 문화예술 지식을 매개로 하여 문화적 자기효능감에 간접적으로도 정(+)적 영향을 미쳤다. 둘째, 사회경제적 지위가 문화적 자기효능감에 미치는 이들 직간접적인 영향 사이에는 유의미한 크기 차이가 없었다. 셋째, 그러나 사회경제적 지위가 문화예술 콘텐츠 소비향유 활동을 증가시키고, 이것이 문화예술 지식을 높일 경우 문화적 자기효능감은 앞서 직간접적 영향보다 더 크게 증강된다는 사실을 발견하였다. 이는 단순히 사회경제적 지위만으로 문화적 자기효능감이 극대화되지는 않는다는 것을 시사한다. 즉 문화예술 콘텐츠 소비향유 활동과 문화지식의 증가가 같이 수반돼야 한다는 것이다. 끝으로 이론적·현실적 함의를 논의하였다.

Background & Research Objectives The ever-changing nature of fashion and multicultural consumption motives shape and challenge the contemporary global fashion world. To some extent, it has been experienced that individuals across countries engage in similar fashion movements simultaneously. Therefore, it may be assumed that there partially exists a homogenized, transnational global consumer segment when it comes to the purchase of clothing items. Nevertheless, on the other hand, there still remain several divergences in the consumption behavior of fashion products around diverse parts of the world (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010). It is universally agreed that consumers engage in shopping with specific decision-making modes and styles which make the search for a common instrument that is able to describe the purchase orientation of fashion consumers across cultures quite problematic and challenging. Indeed, according to the buyer´s cultural backgrounds, fashion consumption motives and the benefits searched for when buying an apparel product could be very different (Tahmid, 2012).Today´s fashion consumer is characterized by a continuously evolving set of complex wants and needs that can be satisfied by a wide variety of competing alternatives (Pandey & Dixit, 2011). The different aspirations and motivations which consumers express are generally shaped by various shopping outcomes which they are prone to achieve (Yurchisin & Johnson, 2010).Motivation is described as an internal state that activates goal-oriented behaviour. It refers to the processes that lead people to behave as they do. It occurs when a need is aroused that the consumer wishes to satisfy. The need creates a state of tension that drives the consumer to attempt to reduce or eliminate it. This need may be utilitarian (i.e., a desire to achieve some functional or practical benefit) or it may be hedonic (i.e., an experiential need, involving emotional responses or fantasies). Marketers try to create products and services to provide the desired benefits and help the consumer to diminish this tension (Solomon, 2013).It is advocated that fashion consumption is made up of two major categories of drivers, namely social consumption motives and individual consumption motives which both represent psychological determinants. Those psychological factors influencing apparel purchase behavior can be separated into rational, emotional (perceptional) and patronage motives (Diamond, 2005). Rational motives replicate a pragmatic orientation, such as quality- or price consciousness in purchase behavior. In contrast, emotional drivers include, amongst others, motivations linked to physical vanity and fashion consciousness, adventure-, gratification- and pleasure seeking, materialism, status and conspicuousness, impulsive and compulsive consumption. Patronage motives, on the other hand, reflect habitual buying and for instance are connected to brand-consciousness and store loyalty (Diamond, 2005). By profiling international apparel consumers based on their individual decision-making styles and modes, more meaningful ways to identify and understand different cross-cultural customer segments are offered. As a result, fashion industries are able to target each customer segment with more focused marketing-strategies, based on their motives and aimed-for benefits linked to purchasing clothing products.This topic raises a number of important questions for researchers and practitioners. To the authors´ knowledge no empirical contributions to compare and contrast prevalent motives of apparel consumption in Western nations exist. Hence, in order to fill this research gap and broaden this important research area, this explorative study focuses on the identification and discussion of similarities and differences in buying characteristics between the USA, France, Germany and Austria by analyzing valuable motives that have not yet been empirically examined in a cross-cultural fashion context. Methodology Starting with a review of existing literature regarding generic consumer decision making motives, like e.g. Sproles & Kendall (1986), Mokhlis (2009) and Hiu, Siu, Wang & Chang (2001), an initial classification into rational, emotional and patronage motiveswas undertaken for the field of fashion, which later on was expanded using the results of a qualitative pre-study conducted with 50 interviewees in New York to gain first insights as a basis for the proximate, main empirical research. In compliance with triangulation theory in social science (see e.g. Cohen & Manion, 2000), which advocates data collection from manifold sources, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research was carried out in the core study, consisting of expert interviews and an online consumer survey. Due to a lack of existing literature foundation, the main research is explorative and not based on specific hypotheses. In the first section, a qualitative analysis of the mentioned motives was done using NVivo on the grounds of 16 expert interviews with fashion marketing communication and design experts in the four research countries. The second part of the empirical study was conducted via a quantitative consumer survey, to enable a Web based questioning through Lime Survey. To minimize possible language barriers, the questionnaire was delineated in three languages, translated from English into French and German by bilingual professionals in order to ensure best possible quality, precision, accuracy, reliability and validity of the empirical study. For this specific type of quantitative research, a stratified random sampling procedure was applied. Altogether, 693 individuals (482 female and 211 male subjects) participated in the online survey, 174 in USA, Germany and Austria respectively, and 171 in France. The total non-student sample included participants with a mean age of 28.4 years. Subjects were asked to evaluate 22 rational, emotional and patronage motives derived from literature and the pretest on a 7 point Likert scale. Cross-cultural similarities and differences were revealed throughout the examination process. An analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) on the mean values and a subsequent Post-Hoc Tukey Test disclosed significant variations between the four nations for 15 out of the 22 tested motivational determinants influencing fashion consumption behavior. In a first step, the authors refrained from using a factor analysis, in order to retain more detailed information. Findings demonstrate that American consumers pay the most attention towards price-value relations and cheap deals, compared to the remaining countries. They additionally consider quality attributes the least when deciding upon which fashion products to buy. In contrast to the other nations, American consumers are most pragmatically oriented when deciding upon which apparel items to purchase. Furthermore, they engage the least in spontaneous clothes shopping in the spur of the moment. An investigation of the preferred brand segments per country supported these outputs by highlighting the statistic that American consumers buy significantly less apparel from the upper-middle price segment than Austrian, German or French consumers. Accordingly, in comparison to the other nations, American consumers purchase the most value/discount fashion. Moreover, outcomes illustrate that French consumers have a higher tendency of buying garments from the same stores and boutiques than Austrian and German consumers. Correspondingly, Austrian and German consumers feel significantly less confused by over-choice of apparel offerings than French consumers. To that effect, in terms of country of origin being a characteristic that impacts fashion consumption, findings prove that French consumers value national heritage of clothing more than Austrian and German consumers. Indeed, they tend to also pay more attention to buying apparel that originates from the home country. Outcomes further pinpoint that compared to Austrian and German consumers, Americans and French utilize fashion significantly more to make a positive impression on others, feel socially belonging and accepted as well as to be part of a reference group. In contrast to Austrians and Germans, Americans are more likely to adjust their wardrobe to the specific expectations and norms of their working environments. In addition, results indicate that French consumers devote more consideration towards dressing in accordance to their job conventions than Austrian and German consumers. Interestingly, Austrian and German consumers value physical vanity significantly more than American and French consumers. French consumers, however, employ fashion the most as a means of boosting satisfaction with one´s self-image, compared to the other research nations. Detailed results of the empirical study will be thoroughly discussed in the presentation in order to explicitly highlight specific common and divergent archetypes and patterns between the research countries. Additionally, final key outcomes, in-depth implications as well as limitations and directions for future research will be addressed in the conference.

Purpose – It is well known that chemyon, referred to by Westerners as face, naturally penetrates the daily life of Asians and influences their cognition, emotion, and behavior. Studies related to chemyon have been conducted in marketing and consumer behavior fields (e.g., luxury products or brands, service failure and recovery, brand preferences, consumer decision making, wedding ceremony, gift giving). A bulk of studies demonstrate that chemyon influences consumption behavior in Asian consumers. Although chemyon significantly influences consumption behavior of Asian consumers, it is also a cultural phenomenon that is not completely explained within the Western viewpoint. Whereas a number of researchers have approached cross-cultural studies of Asian and Western consumers, a limited number of studies have examined it from the perspective of chemyom. The purpose of this study is to compare the phenomenon that chemyon (face) not only affects the consumption behavior of Asia and the West universally (pan-culturally), but also distinctively (culture-specifically). That is, the purpose of this study is to describe that chemyon (face) is not only a culture-specific phenomenon but also a universal phenomenon in the consumption behavior of Asian and Western consumers, even though the extent that chemyon (face) impacts consumption behavior is differentiated. This study aims to understand commonalities and differences between Asian and Western consumption behavior in terms of chemyon (face), and to suggest how to enhance marketing effectiveness in a global market based on understanding the consumption behavior of Asia and the West. Research design, data, and methodology – Using systematic literature review and meta-analysis, this study investigates consumption behavior of Asian and Western consumers from the perspective of chemyon (face). Systematic literature review was used to compare face (chemyon) consumption of Western consumers with that of Asian consumers. To verify systematic literature review, meta-analysis was also accomplished. Results – First, the influence of face (chemyon) on consumption behavior is observed in Western consumers as well as Asian consumers. Second, Asian consumers are more influenced by face (chemyon) than Western consumers. Conclusions – Overall, chemyon (face) can affect the consumption behavior of Asians as well as the consumption behavior of Westerners.

Purpose - This study aims to identify the reasons behind the conspicuous consumption of Veblen products, viz. fashion designer wear, diamond and gold jewellery, and high-end cars, to examine how conspicuous consumption varies between Aryan and Dravidian cultures. Research design, data, and methodology - The researchers meticulously review the relevant literature, administered a well-structured questionnaire, and conducted personal interviews on various influential factors relating to the consumption of Veblen products. The convenience sampling technique was used to gather data, with a total sample of 200, equally selected from eight cities of both North and South India the collected data was analyzed through ANOVA and Z-Proportion tests. Results - Indian consumers’ conspicuous consumption significantly varies among the Veblen products selected for the study, between the Aryan and Dravidian cultures. Regarding conspicuous consumption of branded accessories, 65 percent of Aryan culture Indians responded positively as against only 45 percent of the Dravidian culture Indians. Conclusions - This ingenious study proffers valuable insights about the conspicuous buying behavior of affluent class consumers in India, which are lucrative for both the corporate sector and academia.