Motivational factors influencing millennials to purchase and consume luxury brands : the influence of actual and ideal self-congruity on brand attitude

Abstract

The thesis explores motivational factors that influence young consumers’ brand attitudes towards luxury brands. Former research in this field is rather small-scale and the objective of this research was to provide new insights regarding how different luxury value perceptions affect consumer motivation. Particularly the effects of actual and ideal self-congruity were in central focus of the study in order to find out how and to what extent these factors influence millennial consumers when formatting attitudes towards luxury brands. Furthermore, additional factors of materialistic value and status value were examined in regards of how and to what extent they affect consumer motivation. In order to answer the research question and to test the two hypotheses, a quantitative study was conducted by creating and distributing a survey among a multinational sample of university students and young graduates via social media and email. The findings indicate that ideal self-congruency influences millennial consumers to a larger extent than actual self-congruity when forming attitudes towards luxury brands. The effect is even more enhanced when a consumer places importance on materialistic value and/or status value. Both managerial and theoretical implications can be generated from the research. The results are of interest theoretically as the variables’ effect on each other has not been studied previously, and for luxury brand managers who need guidance in choosing the right marketing and branding strategies when targeting young consumers.