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- Title
'Louis Vuitton or Gucci?'.
- Authors
Jia Liu; Roujie Wang
- Abstract
This study attempts to investigate the Internet's role in influencing Chinese international students' luxury consuming behaviour, as well as the relationship between luxury ownership and identity construction. The data presented were generated by sixteen semi-structured individual interviews, which were mostly conducted in London between June and July 2011. The study finds that although most participants possess products made by internationally recognized brands, their definition of luxury, and attitudes toward luxury has a large amount of differentiation. Despite the traditional criticism that the Internet's mass influence runs inconsistent with high-end brands' exclusive features, many of the key findings serve as evidence to illustrate how the digital platform facilitates luxury advertising and luxury shopping from consumers' perspective, covering topics such as online peer communication and online shopping. Additionally, besides media influence, this study also finds that symbolic capital, peer pressure, the face value, and Western influence are also potential elements to encourage Chinese overseas students to pursue upscale products. Overall, this dissertation highlights the significance of studying Chinese overseas students' luxury consumption behaviour from the dual perspective of online communication and identity construction. By relating China's increasing luxury consumption power with its current economic status, it also addresses some hotly debated social phenomenon, such as China's unsettled social classification and economic divide between the rich and the poor.
- Subjects
LUXURY; INTERNET; IDENTITY (Psychology); FOREIGN students; CONSUMPTION (Economics)
- Publication
Quarterly Journal of Chinese Studies, 2014, Vol 2, Issue 4, p18
- ISSN
2224-2716
- Publication type
Article