The Impact of Transformation Expectations on Conspicuous Consumption: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

Building upon the expectation states theory (EST), we propose a cross-cultural conceptual model to investigate the relationships between five underlying dimensions of transformation expectations and conspicuous consumption. We advocate that (a) consumers who believe they can transform themselves in various aspects through product consumption are more likely to engage in conspicuous consumption, and (b) the relationships between transformation expectations and conspicuous consumption vary across cultures. The delineation of relationships proposed in our framework is provided in addition to suggestions for future research and the major contributions of this paper.