When social media users post their opinion on social media, they might expect to receive a favorable evaluation from others (e.g., ‘like’ on Facebook and ‘heart’ on Instagram). On the contrary, when users read and evaluate other’s posts, they are less likely to care about others. What’s more, if users spend more time on social media, posting would make them more care about others. This research answers the question ‘Does social media interaction alter the way we perceive value and affect different choice? Three studies show 1) how social media interaction affects consumers’ luxury value perception and the mediating role of social media self-view (interdependent vs. independent self), 2) how main effect and mediated relationship are different between two groups divided by participants’ time spent on social media (high vs. low: ±1 SD) and 3) how the type of social media interaction (post vs. “like”) affects handbag choice between social and functional luxury-superior option.

Introduction Luxury industry, in addition to feelings, started to provide reasons for consumers to justify their consumption. Also, it helps them to avoid social risks by offering inconspicuous luxury products. For example, ‘Mandarin Oriental Barcelona’ suggests luxury holiday package for people running Barcelona marathon, London cocktail bar ‘Bart’ serves cocktails designed to 'facilitate focus and encourage relaxation', ‘Tiffany’ has dropped the spelled-out brand name from its fashion jewelry line in favor of simple “T”. (Trend watching 2017) Then, what changed consumers' interest? Interestingly, the current expectations of luxury consumers have a lot in common with the features of interdependent self-construal. The "we" effect of social media can explain this trend. Literature review and Conceptual framework Social Media usage and Interdependent Self-Construal Although earlier research in cultural psychology conceptualized self-construal as culturally determined (Markus and Kitayama 1991), more recent research suggests that independent and interdependent self-construal can also be made temporarily accessible. The most frequently adopted priming procedure to induce self-construal is the procedure by stories about we or I. (Gardner, Gabriel, and Lee 1999; Mandel 2003; Krishna, Zhou, and Zhang 2008; Hong and Chang 2015). We suggest that Social media usage can induce interdependent self-construal because social media users read stories and watch videos of others. Prior findings indicated that participants in interdependent self-construal condition have an equivalent number of thoughts about themselves and others. (Lee, Aaker, and Gardner 2000). Social Media, Interdependent Self-construal, and Consumers’ Luxury Value Perception Consumers’ perceptions of luxury value appear to be determined mainly by Functional, Individual, and Social aspects (Wiedmann, Hennigs, and Siebels 2009). Recent luxury marketing researchers compare conspicuous consumption and inconspicuous consumption, two types of social aspect consumption (Han, Nunes, and Dreze 2010; Eckhardt, Belk, and Wilson 2015). They are interested in Functional luxury value, added to Individual luxury value because small utilitarian additions to a hedonic luxury are often valued more than their stand-alone value (Keinan, Kivetz, & Netzer 2016). These two trends seem to have nothing in common. But when the concept of self-construal is adopted, they have something in common. Namely, interdependent selves, which focuses on others, are the one who cares about both inconspicuousness and utilitarian aspects. We suggest that because of the features of interdependent self-construal, consumers more using social media tend to have a different priority regarding luxury value perception than consumers less exposed to social media. We explore the mediating role of relational interdependent self-construal in this model (Triandis 1989; Cross, Bacon, and Morris 2000). Also, luxury brand company’s social media marketing efforts (Kim and Ko 2012; Godey et al. 2016) have different features. We expected that each social media marketing activity has a different impact on luxury value perception. Interdependent Self-Construal, Reason, Functional luxury value We propose that because of interdependence priming effect of social media, participants who are exposed to social media (social media priming group) tend to rely on both reason and feeling, which in turn set an equivalent value on Functional luxury value (cognitively superior) and Individual luxury value (affectively superior) (Hong and Chang 2015). Interdependent Self-Construal, Social Risk, Inconspicuousness The authors propose that because of interdependence priming effect of social media, participants who are exposed to social media (social media priming group) tend to avoid social risk than participants who are not exposed to social media (no priming group). Study 1: The effect of social media on the balance between self and others. A total of 709 respondents (389 females) participated in this study via Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) They were randomly assigned to one of the two conditions (with social media manipulation vs. No manipulation) The impact of ‘one-time social media use’ Following the previous study (Hong and Chung 2015), we conducted a 2 (social media manipulation: No vs. Yes) x 2 (thought type: self vs other) mixed ANOVA with social media manipulation as a between-subject factor and thought type as a repeated measure. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =293.54, p<.000). However, the interaction between social media manipulation and thought type was not significant. (F (1,707) = 0.128, p<.721). So, the result shows that one-time social media use doesn’t manipulate interdependent self-construal. The impacts of ‘chronic social media use’. To check whether chronic social media use can manipulate interdependent self-construal, we conducted a 2 (time spent on social media: Low vs. High) x 2 (thought type: self vs. other) mixed ANOVA. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =293.81, p<.000). The interaction between time spent on social media and thought type was significant. (F (1,703) = 6.65, p<.000). Also, we conducted a 2 (communication on social media: Low vs. High) x 2 (thought type: self vs. other) mixed ANOVA. The main effect of thought type is significant (F(1,707) =300.76, p<.000). The interaction between communication and thought type was significant. (F (1,704) = 5.764, p<.000). So, the result shows that chronic social media use manipulates interdependent self-construal. Also, we computed three types of groups, the others-dominant, the balanced, and the self-dominant by modifying past research (Kitayama et al. 2009; Wu, Cutright, and Fitzsimos 2011, Hong and Chang2015). A chi-square test revealed that participants who spent more time and had more communication on social media had more balanced thought type (32.6%, 31.0%) than participants who spent less time and had less communication on social media (24.8%, 24.0%) Study 2: The effect of using social media on luxury value perceptions (SEM) A total of 255 respondents (85 females) participated in this study through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The participants were between 18 and 65 years old and lived in the U.S., and the modal age group was 25-34 (43.9 %), followed by 35-44 (25.5%). We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using maximum likelihood estimation with Promax rotation. The goodness of fit statistics is: 𝒙𝟐=707.14, df =377, P<0.0005, 𝒙𝟐/df =1.876, CFI=0.95, and RMSEA =0.059. The final CFA model fits well with the data (Hu and Bentler, 1999; Hair et al., 2010). After confirming the measurement model, SEM with maximum likelihood extraction was estimated to test Hypothesis. The goodness of fit criteria of the model meets the proposed thresholds in previous studies: 𝒙𝟐=677.97, df =374, P<0.0005, 𝒙𝟐/df =1.813, CFI=0.95, and RMSEA =0.057 (Hu and Bentler, 1999; Hair et al., 2010). The SEM model showed each social media activity has a different effect on each luxury value. Interaction positively impacts the functional luxury value (β=0.38, p<.000) but negatively impacts the individual (β= - 0.27, p<.000) and social luxury value (β= - 0.34, p<.000). Entertainment/WOM has a positive effect on individual luxury value (β=0.39, p<.000) and on social luxury value (β=0.32, p<.000). Customization positively impacts the social luxury value (β=0.26, p<.000). We could also find Entertainment/WOM and Customization did not influence the functional luxury value. Only Entertainment/WOM positively impacts relational interdependent self-construal (β=0.32, p<.000) Relational interdependent self-construal positively impacts on individual value (β=0.24, p<.000) and social value (β=0.27, p<.000). We conducted a mediation analysis. Among social media activities, only Entertainment/WOM had a significant positive effect on Relational Interdependent Self-Construal. Study 3: the effect of social media on self-construal and choice between functional value and individual value superior options 454 Responses (304 females) collected via Mturk to stimulate the environment of social media. Respondents are primed on interdependence by social media usage while control group respondents are not primed. The authors checked the validity of the self-construal manipulation effect of social media. Respondents were given a choice task, designed by adopting previous method (Hong and Chang 2015). They were told to imagine that they were going to buy a hand bag. Handbag X is superior on functional (cognitive) dimensions whereas handbag Y is superior on all individual (affective) dimensions. Participants are asked to indicate their choice between two Handbags Choice. A chi-square test revealed that the effect of social media manipulation is not significant on the handbag choice (𝑥2(l) 0.371, p<.309). However, the effect of interdependent self-construal on the participant's’ handbag choice was significant (𝑥2(l) 5.85, p<0.01). As predicted, participants with a higher Interdependent self-construal primed by social media have a smaller preference gap between Functional luxury value and Individual luxury value (F:73.2%-I:26.8%=46.4%), than participants with lower Interdependent self-construal participants (F:82.7%-I:17.3%=65.4%) Study3 supports the results of previous two studies. As individuals communicate more and spend more time on social media, they are more likely to prefer equally for Functional luxury value and Individual luxury. Study 4: the effect of social media on self-construal and choice between conspicuous and inconspicuous options. After the self-construal manipulation with social media, respondents were given a choice task. The choice was designed by adopting previous method (Han, Nunes, and Dreze 2010). Respondents were told to imagine that they were going to buy a handbag. One option has an inconspicuous design whereas the other option is conspicuous design. Participants are asked to indicate their choice between two handbags. Social media manipulation and Handbags Choice. All three chi-square tests revealed a significant or marginal effect of social media manipulation on participants handbag choice with the same pattern. ( 𝑥2(1) = 6.328, p > .032; 𝑥2(1) = 3.086, p > .079; 𝑥2(1) = 1.933, p > .098) As predicted, participants in social media manipulation group prefer the inconspicuous option to the conspicuous option (59.3%>40.7%; 58.9%>41.1%; 60.4%>39.6%) than participants in control group (47.3%, 52.7%; 50.5%, 49.5%, 53.8%, 46.2%). Interdependent-self construal and Handbags Choice. All three chi-square tests revealed a significant effect of interdependent self-construal on participants handbag choice with the same pattern. ( 𝑥2(1) = 4.2, p > .047; 𝑥2(1) = 4.79, p > .029; 𝑥2(1) = 6.11, p > .013) As predicted, participants with higher Interdependent self-construal primed by social media have a equivalent preference about the inconspicuous option and conspicuous option (50%, 50%; 50.8%, 49.2%; 52.4%, 47.6%) than participants with lower Interdependent self-construal(59.6%, 40.4%; 61.1%, 38.9%, 63.9%, 36.1%). Study4 shows that one-time social media exposure can reduce conspicuous consumption. However, as individuals communicate more and spend more time on social media, they become more likely to prefer equally for conspicuous option and inconspicuous option. Contribution In luxury brand marketing, this study sheds light on the balance between two motivations, luxury for self and luxury for others (Kapferer, Jean-Noël, and Vincent 2009) using the concept of self-construal. This research also contributes to the literature on consumers’ luxury value perception (Hennigs et al. 2012; Wiedmann et al. 2009). In general marketing subjects, it adds to the increasing literature on consumer risk and choices between affective and cognitive options. For the luxury brand industry, this study can give marketers a practical idea about choosing social media marketing activities and designing new products. For example, if luxury brand companies promote customers posting opinions on websites, they should know that their activities might advertently affect their sales because interaction negatively influences on individual and social luxury value.

Expensive handbags, in particular, luxury designer handbags are incredibly popular among fashionable women. This is why many fashion houses such as Chanel and Hermes offer handbags as another product line as part of their accessories category (Juggessur, 2011). Some retailers claim that owning a luxury designer handbag worth more than £1,000 can make financial sense to middle-class women, who may not spend as much on clothing, but view an expensive luxury designer handbag as an investment piece which can be used every day, adding a touch of glamour (Juggessur, 2011). The global handbag market encompasses exceedingly dynamic players and an expanding consumer base, which is expected to flourish due to increasing demand from emerging markets and strong performances by the international luxury brands (Digital Luxury Group, 2013). The top 10 markets for luxury handbags, collectively gathered over 120 million online searches, demonstrating substantial global demand for the world’s most covetable luxury items (Digital Luxury Group, 2013) (see Figure 1) . Figure 1: demand of luxury handbag globally (Digital Luxury Group, 2013) The country subjects are UK and Indonesia. Despite the fact that both of Indonesia and UK are reflected as positive luxury market (Digital Luxury Group, 2013; Euromonitor, 2014), both of the countries have differences which may lead to different motivation of luxury purchase. Indonesia is emerging market, while UK is a mature market. The rise of emerging market makes difference. Back then, individualist country is more refer to western developed countries, while collectivistic country is refer to eastern developing countries (Hofstede, 2011; Shukla, 2012). Nowadays, emerging countries are catching up with developed countries (Nielsen, 2013). Increasing exposure to global media and the depiction of western lifestyles in local media seem to have increased the desire for high-quality goods and services among consumers in emerging markets (Belk, 1999). With regards to luxury products and services, studying the consumption patterns in emerging markets is particularly important due to the phenomenal growth of luxury consumption among consumers in these markets (Shukla, 2012). For example, according to Bain and Company (2012), 85 per cent of all luxury stores will be opening in emerging markets over the coming decade. Moreover, recent studies highlight the significantly strong influence of the materialism trait with luxury consumption in emerging markets (Lertwannawit and Mandhachitara, 2011; Podoshen et al., 2011). As predicted by BCG (2010), in 2015, emerging-market cities will account for around 20 per cent which is $2.6 trillion of the total global consumption of clothing and house as a priority of future expenditures. The key consumer base for luxury goods has long since left Europe, moving West to the United States, but also East to the Gulf States and Asia, and South to Latin America, particularly Brazil (Business of Fashion, 2014). Luxury companies are no longer focusing for mature market. However, luxury goods enable consumers to satisfy their material as well as socio-psychological needs to a greater degree than regular goods (Vigneron and Johnson, 2004; Wiedmann et al., 2009). Luxury brands are one of the most profitable and fastest-growing brand segments, yet at the same time, the social influences associated with luxury brands are poorly understood and under investigated (Shukla, 2010; Wiedmann et al., 2009; Tynan et al., 2010). Increasing exposure to global media and the depiction of western lifestyles in local media seem to have increased the desire for high-quality goods and services among consumers in emerging markets (Belk, 1999). With regards to luxury products and services, studying the consumption patterns in emerging markets is particularly important due to the phenomenal growth of luxury consumption among consumers in these markets (Shukla, 2012). From those passages, it can be inferred that emerging market countries are the targets of luxury brand companies to invest in the market. Culture is changing: The rise of Emerging Market As previously discussed in the second chapter, when the political, societal, and economic environments change, people's cultural values also change. Thus, many cultural theories should be updated and re-evaluated periodically. Hence, Wu (2006) said that Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Dimension theory is no longer applicable. Additionally Saiq et al. (2014) said that Hofstede’s Individualistic Dimension work is too old and can’t be effectively implemented in the era of rapidly changing environment, convergence and globalization. The arguments by Wu (2006) and Saiq et al. (2013) is supporting Bian and Forsythe (2012) which argue that culture is changing as a consequence of the increasingly global economy especially in emerging market, converging in the direction of greater individualism. As a result, collectivist societies might adopt some individualistic elements, but this would not change their societal identity or their social label as a collective society (Bian and Forsythe, 2012). The contrasts between few contemporary studies of luxury value perception in Individualistic vs. Collectivistic Country (Bian Forsythe; 2012, Li et al, 2012; Shukla and Purani, 2012) (see Table 1) are leading to confusion in understanding value perception on luxury purchase between individualistic country vs. collectivistic country. For an instance, according to Li et al. (2012), a collectivistic country (China) has high consideration of functional value dimension for luxury purchase, but according to Shukla and Purani (2012), a collectivistic country (India) has low consideration of functional value perception for luxury purchase. Another example, according to Bian and Forsythe (2012), an individualistic county (US) consider high personal and social value dimension for luxury purchase, but according to Shukla and Purani (2012), individualistic country (UK) consider low personal and social value dimension on the luxury purchase. The study results were supporting a statement of Shukla (2012) that culture is not static and it keeps changing Table 1: The contrast between study results about value perception across culture Impact on the Future Brand Strategy Consumer value plays as critical role at the heart of all marketing movement and hence undoubtedly deserves attention of every consumer scholars (Holbrook, 1999) especially, in the next decade, customer is predicted as the key orientation of luxury business (BCG Report, 2014) (see Figure 2). The current crisis in luxury marketing area is encouraging companies to look more deeply into the links between consumers and luxury brands (Godey et al., 2013). Consumption of luxury products is based on two main reasons: the purchase for one’s self, for pleasure and purchase as a symbol of success (Godey et al., 2013). Nevertheless, whatever the perspective chosen, the brand remains the main vehicle for connecting with the consumer (Godey et al., 2013).To understand the right brand strategy, the purpose of this study is to identify the constructs of perceived peer communication in social media activities of luxury fashion brands, and to evaluate the influence of those activities on purchase intention in the UK and Indonesia. This research will propose a strategy to enhance brands' performance by defining specific factors relating to purchase intention. Moreover, the findings will enable luxury brands to forecast customer purchasing behaviour. The full conceptual model of this study can be found on Figure 2. Figure 2: The conceptual model of the study Methodology Steenkamp and Baumgartner (1998) suggest using a structural equation modelling approach for cross-culture study. SEM analysis has been successfully applied by many scholars to measure luxury value perception (Bian & Forysthe, 2012; Shukla, 2012; Casidy, 2012; Monkhouse et al., 2013; Hennigs et al., 2013). The structural equation design of this study is illustrated on Figure 3. The method of self-completion questionnaire allows for a greater geographical coverage than face-to-face interviews without incurring the additional costs of time and travel and they are particularly useful when carrying out research with geographically dispersed populations (Seale, 2012). Self-completed questionnaires were distributed to thirty students with snowball sampling by online survey to each country (UK and Indonesia) and twenty valid samples were utilised from each country. Criterion sampling strategy reviews all cases that meet predetermined criteria (Patton, 2002). Both criterion and snowball sampling techniques were components of a purposeful sampling strategy designed to identify participants with this criteria: A. Originally from and live in Indonesia or originally from and live in the UK. B. Having experience in purchasing at least one of luxury handbag. Figure 3: The structural equation design of the study Result There are significant differences of value perception on luxury handbag between Indonesian consumers and UK consumers. Indonesian consumers are highly influenced by Social Value Perception while British consumers are less influenced by Social Value Perception when buying luxury handbags. British luxury handbag consumers are more focusing on the Functional Value Perception which is not much considered by Indonesian consumers. However, consumers from both countries are highly influenced by Personal Value Perception.

Storytelling has become increasingly of interest for marketing and management in the last years and promises both aesthetic design and effecting consumers’ perception of fashion brands positively. Nevertheless, the complexity of story design, still being rather focussed by the humanities, and its effective adaption for luxury fashion brands regarding value perception and related behavioural consequences are still poorly understood and have not been explored so far. We seek to fill this research gap. In our study, we chose a luxury brand’s existing story and applied story concepts of narratology to rearrange plot, characters, and style first. In a second step, we examined the effect of applying the story concepts by testing the perception of three different groups (no story, original story, and rearranged story). Using PLS path modelling, we proved our hypotheses empirically. Our examination suggests that an application of narrative concepts for creating fashion brand stories has a measurable impact on consumer’s reception and behavioural outcome. On the one hand, this involves dimensions of luxury value, such as financial, functional, individual, and social consumer perceptions as well as an overall likability perception of the brand. On the other hand, this perception obviously impacts consumption habits regarding luxury fashion as much as it is related to recommendation behaviour, willingness to pay a premium price, and purchase intentions. Our findings strongly advice to consult established theories, concepts, and models of the humanities for storytelling in marketing and management. While measuring specific elements already proves their applicability, it will be a major task for theoretical and qualitative research to discuss existing material for the demands of marketing and management as well as (fashion) brands. Even for professionals in brand management, our study advices to have a closer look on traditional storytelling concepts to create effective campaigns. The particular value of our study is to present and empirically verify design elements of storytelling with respect to theoretical narrative approaches, which may have specific impact on certain luxury values and their causal effects on luxury fashion consumption. Our results reflect remarkable implications for luxury brand management as well as future research in luxury fashion, brand management, and marketing storytelling. A luxury company may stimulate purchase behaviour with a storytelling campaign. Nevertheless our study proved that a rather appropriate design, respecting research approaches of narratology, is able to increase the impact on consumers’ perception and behavioural outcome.