Research Gaps

With the major markets for luxury brands no longer limited to the developed countries in the West, this expansion to “new rich” markets in the East, such as China, has created a subject that is receiving much attention (Sherman, 2009). The research areas of interest that have emanated from the covert motivating factors relate to consumer consumption, consumer perception and commitment exhibited toward luxury brands (Sung & Choi, 2010; Wang et al., 2010; Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Zhan & He, 2012). Despite the considerable volume of research in this area, much remains to be understood about the motivational relationships that underpin the purchasing intentions for luxury fashion brands (Okonkwo, 2009). Berthon et al. (2009, p. 45) indicated: “they (luxury brands) are poorly understood and under-investigated”. Opportunities to research luxury brands in China do exist, and comment has been made regarding the lack of understanding, despite a significant recent expansion of an already established market, as described in the introduction to the thesis (Berthon et al., 2009; Miller & Mills, 2012b).

In considering various motivating factors, consumer-brand relationship has become an emerging topic that is attracting continuous attention (Xi & Peng, 2010). Fournier (1998) claimed that the relationship between customers and their brands possess similar

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characteristics to interpersonal relationships: for example, the relationship between partners and friends. However, this assumption demands fundamental change in assessing the shift in the associations between consumers and their brands (Sung & Choi, 2010). There is substantial evidence that the nature of consumer-brand relationships encompass differences to the relationships between humans, although insights from the literature specific to interpersonal relationships have proven useful for understanding the dynamic and complex relationships between consumers and their brands, especially with a long- term view (Fournier, 1998; Wang, 2002; Sung & Campbell, 2009).

Research in the field of brand commitment has tested various relational concepts, including brand trust (Morgan & Hunt, 1994), purchase involvement (Sung & Choi, 2010) and brand affect (Song, 2012). Despite the increased effect of brand commitment in relationship marketing research, a majority of the studies has considered brands simplyas the objects of buying and consumption in the consumer-brand relationships (Sung & Campbell, 2009; Sung & Choi, 2010), particularly at the luxury brand level. Antecedents of brand

commitment were identified as those that were directly related to the product brands, and the impact of the antecedents of brand commitment was assumed as linear while the potential for any effects among the predictors was ignored (Sung & Choi, 2010). Although the construct of brand commitment and its antecedents have been assessed in marketing and consumer behaviour literature, empirical evidence on the extent of the impact of these four predictors on brand commitment to luxury brands in a single model is limited (Sung & Campbell, 2009; Sung & Choi, 2010) (as detailed in section 2.6, section 2.7, section 2.8 and section 2.9). Most studies of relationship commitment and its antecedents were contextualised in business-to-business marketing rather than its business-to-consumer equivalent (Gounaris, 2005; Caceres & Paparoidamis, 2007; Sung & Choi, 2010). In this model, there still needs clarification as to whether the predictors interact with one another in determining the level of commitment in the consumer-brand relationship (Sung & Choi, 2010). This extended brand commitment model has not been tested in the Chinese context. Therefore, it raises new questions and provides new research opportunities to test brand commitment in this increasingly important arena.

Drawing on the seminal work by Allen and Meyer (1990) and Fullerton (2003, 2005), studies on brand commitment tend to focus on conceptualisation (Allen & Meyer, 1990) and measurement (Fullerton, 2003; 2005). Even as brand commitment has emerged as an important consumer-brand relationship construct, there is currently only limited knowledge

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about what generates commitment relationships and what behavioural consequences may be in this context (e.g. purchase intentions and willingness to pay a premium price) (as detailed in section 3.3.3 and section 3.4.2). For instance, brand commitment may be influenced by product or brand characteristics, product quality or symbolic meaning, and may impact on the purchasing intentions toward the luxury brands (Avichai, 2012; Zhan & He, 2012).

The impact of functional, emotional, social and symbolic values, alone or in combination, on brand commitment and consumers’ behavioural intention is subject to recalibration

because consumers’ concepts of luxury and luxury brands is also fluid and based on need (Choo et al., 2012) (as discussed in section 2.9). Since the global economy has developed, the luxury markets have ceased to be homogeneous as a consequence of rapid expansion and have gradually become mature in most markets (Choo et al., 2012).

In order to confirm the conceptual model as stable in the emerging marketplaces, it is necessary to examine the luxury brand value from the consumer perspective in China, as the location represents an area of increasing importance in luxury goods consumption (Tynan et al., 2010; Hennigs et al., 2012a). These luxury customer values are expected to have differing impacts on purchasing intentions given that brand commitment can vary in terms of strength and that stronger positive feelings toward luxury fashion brands can generate higher purchasing intentions (Hung et al., 2011; Bian & Forsythe, 2012; Zhang & Kim, 2013). This study will investigate the extent to which these luxury customer values explain the Chinese consumer’s willingness to pay a premium price on luxury fashion brands (as discussed in section 2.9.5). In addition, this will help to understand how luxury customer value (functional value, social value and symbolic value) and brand commitment are interrelated in contributing to purchasing intentions and a willingness to pay a price premium for luxury brands (as discussed in section 2.9.5).

The previous literature has cited differences between luxury purchase intentions in mature markets such as Italy and France, as opposed to the luxury purchase intentions in emerging markets such as in China, India and Russia (Amatulli & Guido, 2011). More specifically, previous research has pointed out that Western consumers purchase luxury brands mainly to demonstrate consistency with their individual styles, while the consumers from Asia buy them primarily to display wealth (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Gao et al., 2009; Atsmon & Dixit, 2009; Zhan & He, 2012). However, some unexpected findings counter these

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stereotypical ideas, with the Chinese consumer also buying to demonstrate moral

obligation to the group consistent with the overriding collectivist culture (Bian & Forsythe, 2012). Furthermore, quality and performance recognition, rather than symbolic value, are seen as more important motivations for purchasing luxury products to Chinese consumers (Li et al., 2012). This study will attempt to fill important research gaps relative to luxury consumption behaviour for Western luxury brands and test them in the Chinese market.