Social media has grown to such a large extent that it has become a primary source of information amongst consumers online. Consequently, South Africa has seen an exponential growth in the use of Instagram.
The study investigates the effect of Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour on the intention to purchase luxury goods.
Data collected from 364 South African respondents through a quantitative survey demonstrated the extent to which Instagram affected conspicuous consumptive buying behaviours. The survey was distributed via social media and the results were analysed using structured equation modelling.
The study revealed that although Instagram usage intensity effects conspicuous consumptive behaviour, electronic-word-of-mouth (eWOM) credibility does not. This is because respondents considered Instagram as a platform where users deliberately display the positive aspects of their lives as opposed to its objective state. Furthermore, the study revealed users on Instagram display high levels of conspicuous behaviour that they intend to transform into luxury purchases.
Results from the study contribute to luxury marketers and other stakeholders in creating social media strategies and policies whilst providing valuable insight in understanding online conspicuous behaviours.
Social media is born from the introduction of Web 2.0 technologies. Web 2.0 technologies describe sites that emphasise user-generated content, usability and interoperability (Thoumrungroje
In South Africa, the internet has been embraced by South Africans, such that in 2018 more than 54% of the South African population had access to the internet. South Africa is seen to contribute to the growth of social media on a wide scale, reporting 23 million active social media accounts and a growth rate of 20% (Patricios & Goldstuck
The revolution of social media has altered the communication landscape significantly, consequently impacting marketing communications (Alves, Fernades & Raposo
Consumers now have more choice than ever where to buy luxury good because of the exposure of social media marketing (Kaplan & Haenlein
Wilcox and Stephen (
Social media allows a diverse range of factors to influence a consumer such as consumer characteristics, which includes the frequency and intensity of social media usage and peer interactions that affect a consumer’s purchase decision (Taylor & Strutton
The pervasiveness of conspicuous consumption in South Africa has been identified and previously studied, but its relation to the specific context of social media has not been explored (Bongazana
This article, however, aims to study the pervasive use of social media among the growing segment of affluent consumers in South Africa. Thus, the present study investigates the effect of Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour on the intention to purchase luxury goods in a developing country perspective.
The objective of this study was to examine the effect of Instagram on consumer conspicuous consumptive behaviour and consequently their intention to purchase luxury goods. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on Homans (
In accordance with the theory explained here and to answer the research objective, a conceptual framework that delineates the relationships amongst the key variables was developed to identify factors that predict conspicuous behaviour on Instagram: specifically, Instagram usage intensity and eWOM credibility.
The conceptual model.
Traditional mass media, according to Gao and Feng (
Social media is rapidly becoming one of the most time-consuming activities in a person’s life. With the rapid growth mobile devices, interactions on social media are more common (Li, Park & Park
In addition, consumers who spend more time on social media gain more product knowledge (Ismail et al.
The various platforms of social media such as blogs, social networking sites, forums and review sites facilitate the exchange of information between consumers. Although eWOM is a result of word-of-mouth (WOM), the two communication processes possess significant differences. Firstly, unparalleled scalability and speed of diffusion are present in eWOM that are not found in the traditional WOM (Cheung & Thadani
Secondly, the ability of eWOM communications to be archived increases the level of persistence and accessibility of information online as opposed to WOM (Cheung & Thadani
Source credibility is defined as the perception of trustworthiness, expertise and the trust a user has towards his or her social network (Djafarova & Rushworth
Credibility of eWOM, most importantly, has been linked with consumption of conspicuous goods (Ismail et al.
Conspicuous consumption is a behavioural pattern where consumers ostentatiously obtain, use and display goods and services to gain social status, more than to meet functional needs (Hammerl & Kradischnig
As a result of Instagram placing large emphasis on visual character, it creates a fertile environment to promote conspicuous displays. The advent of social media has created a new platform for materialistic displays, and users use the platform to share their purchases and intentions (Ho, Shin & Lwin
Purchase intention is defined as the probability that a consumer will be willing to purchase a product or services. Purchase intention is a concept used to predict consumer behaviour. Schiffman and Wisenblit (
According to Sher and Lee (
Research suggests that the utilisation of social media in emerging markets is steadily on the rise (Patricios & Goldstuck
In order to test the hypothesised relationships amongst variables in the proposed research model, a quantitative survey was conducted. This type of research lends itself to the positivism paradigm, which states that only objective, observable facts can be the basis for science. Quantitative research provided a formalised data structure where the study could measure what people think from a statistical and numerical point of view (Malhotra
Data for the study were collected using snowball sampling. Snowball sampling is an approach characterised by the referrals (Wiid & Diggines
The design of the survey adopted a multi-item approach; each construct was measured by several items to improve validity and reliability. All items in the survey were measured by a five-point Likert-scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The constructs of the study were based on previous literature. Specifically, the Instagram usage intensity scale was adapted from Ellison et al. (
In addition, the study tested the survey for validity and reliability. Factor loadings and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were the criteria used to determine the validity and reliability of the constructs, respectively.
Summary of reliability and validity analysis.
Construct | Number of items | Cronbach’s alpha | Range of factor loadings |
---|---|---|---|
Instagram usage intensity | 6 | 0.892 | 0.631–0.832 |
Instagram eWOM credibility | 4 | 0.877 | 0.766–0.771 |
Instagram conspicuous consumption | 5 | 0.931 | 0.821–0.887 |
Instagram intention to purchase | 4 | 0.947 | 0.881–0.918 |
eWOM, electronic-word-of-mouth.
The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was used to assess if the measure of the scale was reliable and a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of more than 0.7 was considered significant for this study (Wiid & Diggines
The study received ethical clearance from the University of Fort Hare’s Research Ethics Committee. Ethical Clearance Number: VIL151SMAD01.
The demographic characteristics provided in
Demographic information of respondents.
Measure | Frequency | % |
---|---|---|
Female | 196 | 54 |
Male | 168 | 46 |
18–24 | 117 | 32.1 |
25–34 | 159 | 43.7 |
35–44 | 59 | 16.2 |
45–54 | 24 | 6.6 |
55–64 | 4 | 1.1 |
65+ | 1 | 0.3 |
30 min or less | 109 | 29 |
30 min – 1 h | 91 | 25 |
1 h – 2 h | 76 | 21 |
2 h – 3 h | 58 | 16 |
3+ h | 33 | 9 |
The hypotheses of this study were tested by means of structural equation modelling. The research model was tested using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24. The overall fit for both the measurement and structural models measured showed a
Summary of goodness-of-fit values.
Fit index | Value |
---|---|
Degrees of freedom | 148 |
Normal theory weighted least squares chi-square |
512.318 |
Root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) | 0.0534 |
Chi-square corrected for non-normality |
554.498 |
90% confidence interval for RMSEA | 0.0429; 0.0638 |
Normed fit index (NFI) | 0.97 |
Non-normed fit index (NNFI) | 0.985 |
Parsimony normed fit index (PNFI) | 0.84 |
Comparative fit index (CFI) | 0.987 |
Incremental fit index (IFI) | 0.987 |
Relative fit index (RFI) | 0.966 |
,
In an attempt to analyse the structural relationships between the variables in the empirical model, the structural model was used. Various fit indices were computed to measure the fitness of the model. A root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) value of 0.053 reported for this study is statistically significant regarding its structural fit as it is above the accepted RMSEA of 0.05. The normed fit index (NFI) and non-normed fit index (NNFI) reported 0.970 and 0.985, respectively, which is strong evidence of good fits for a structural model. The other reported statistics also proved to be a good fit for the structural model and were recorded as follows: parsimony normed fit index (PNFI) 0.840, comparative fit index (CFI) 0.987, incremental fit index (IFI) 0.987 and relative fit index (RFI) 0.966. These statistics were close to 1, which indicates a good fit for the structural model. Therefore, it can be concluded that the model is significant and regarded as a good fit.
Structural model.
The maximum likelihood estimation method was employed to estimate the path coefficients of the structural model. These path coefficients explained the correlation strength between variables. The path parameters through estimation analysed the findings of the data collected and determined that only the Instagram usage intensity was strongly correlated to conspicuous consumptive behaviour. However, it also determined that Instagram eWOM credibility has a weak influence on Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour. Moreover, through estimation, the path parameters also determined the degree of influence, which conspicuous consumptive behaviour had no intention to purchase luxury goods. The degree of association between variables was depicted by
Relationship between Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour and intention to purchase luxury goods.
Hypothesis | Path coefficients | Reject hypotheses | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
H1: Instagram usage intensity has a significantly positive influence on conspicuous consumptive behaviour. | 0.495 | 7.261 | 0.0001 | No |
H2: Instagram eWOM credibility has a significantly positive influence on conspicuous consumptive behaviour. | 0.025 | 0.408 | 0.683 | Yes |
H3: Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour has a significantly positive influence on intention to purchase luxury goods. | 0.906 | 16.173 | 0.0001 | No |
eWOM, electronic-word-of-mouth.
The results of the study proved that Instagram usage intensity significantly influenced conspicuous consumptive behaviour (
In order to achieve the research objectives, an assessment of the hypotheses was undertaken to examine the model proposed by the study. A path coefficient range between −1 and +1, with a
The influence of Instagram conspicuous consumptive behaviour on purchase intentions has rarely been researched. However, consumers’ social media usage and eWOM’s influence on conspicuous consumption have been studied (Taylor & Strutton
Results from the structural equation model revealed that Instagram usage intensity significantly influences consumers’ conspicuous consumptive behaviour. This finding is in line with similar previous research studies that revealed the same findings (Taylor & Strutton
The study aimed to test Instagram user credibility against conspicuous consumptive behaviour. Results revealed that Instagram eWOM credibility does not significantly influence conspicuous consumptive behaviour. This is in contrast to the results found by Thoumrungroje (
Although users on Instagram do not necessarily allow other users on Instagram to influence their conspicuous consumptive behaviour, there is still a high usage. It is possible that users feel that content on Instagram is fabricated. This is corroborated by numerous studies, stating that individuals tend to display the consumption of conspicuous goods as they present favourable images and prestige, which gives positive feedback to other users (Bahtar & Muda
Empirical research from this study revealed that consumers who exhibit conspicuous consumptive behaviour are likely to turn it into purchase behaviour (Chu et al.
This study contributed to the theoretical and empirical body of knowledge in both the fields of Business Management, Marketing Management and the Luxury goods industry. The results of the study confirm and extend both social media and consumer behaviour literature by empirically presenting the influence of social media on consumers’ decisions. The study bridged the existing knowledge gap in current literature by simultaneously considering the usage intensity of social media and the user eWOM credibility present online on conspicuous behaviour. This is important as social media has become a dominant phenomenon in both research and business alike.
Contributing to consumer psychology, the study aimed to understand the influence of eWOM on consumer behaviour by considering factors such as usage, credibility, trustworthiness and factuality of users. In addition, through examining a dominant social media platform, namely Instagram, the study introduced an additional element of behavioural intentions: willingness to act on information provided on Instagram. The study further explained the interconnected dimensions of conspicuous behaviour on intention to purchase.
Findings from this study provide several implications from a managerial perspective, particularly with respect to positioning and message strategies in the social media environment. Social media has effectively changed marketing and the way businesses conduct themselves online (Berthon et al.
Therefore, it is recommended that businesses need to be more purposeful in developing social media strategies that take consumers’ need for conspicuousness into consideration. Brands have a better opportunity to achieve more effective and consistent results if they appeal to a consumer drive to be viewed in a certain manner. Consistent with luxury consumption, emphasis should be placed on tenets of conspicuous consumption such as quality, exclusivity and popularity. Luxury brands should consider using celebrity and social media influencers as the benchmark in online luxury trendsetting. Posting influencers in their products and using Instagram’s integrated promotion boosting tools to maximise reach can consequently appeal to the need for consumers to emulate celebrities.
Recent decades have witnessed the great penetration of global brands into emerging markets and such a trend calls for more focused branding strategies, adapting to consumer needs of different segments in emerging markets (Huang & Wang
In conclusion, the results from the present study can conclude that Instagram is largely influential on a consumer’s conspicuous consumptive behaviour which is in line with current literature on the topic. The main contribution to the literature is how marketers view the value of social media marketing as the influence to purchase luxury goods does not stem from eWOM as consumer do not deem each other reliable but stems rather from the dependency and usage intensity of social media. Furthermore, the study revealed that consumers on Instagram have conspicuous behaviours that positively influence their intention to purchase luxury goods, with Instagram being the most influential. As a result of these findings, luxury brand marketers and advertisers are recommended to encourage consumers to give feedback about the products or services of the brand in an effort to identify luxury consumption trends.
However, this study did hold its limitations in that it only focused on Instagram. The research study does not include other social media platforms such as YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, which also have a significant presence in South Africa. Future research might attempt to conduct a survey on other social media platforms, as this would develop a theoretical rationale to better understand social media conspicuous consumptive behaviour on intention to purchase luxury goods.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in the writing of this research article.
N.M., K.V. and L.C. contributed equally to this research article.
The study was funded by the National Research Foundation (NRF) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.