The Malleable Self-Concept - Relationships between Young Adolescents’ Self-Concept and Bandwagon Luxury Consumption

Abstract

Due to far-reaching relay in the world, a window into bandwagon luxury consumption has opened which doesn’t leave luxuries synonymous to materialism but acts as a signal for affiliation or differentiation. This research analyzes how young adolescents’ interdependent and independent self-concept relates to personality traits which impacts bandwagon luxury consumption. The results from Structural Equation Modeling reveal that status consumption is not of significance to the 13 - 15-year-old children and bandwagon luxuries are consumed primarily inspired by aspirational and current social in-groups and popular culture. A mix of hypothesized results give interesting insights on how young individual makes choices.