CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Essiz, Oguzhan |
|---|---|
| Title | Socio-Emotional Dynamics of Luxury Brand Management: A Mixed-Methods Examination of Consumer Reactions to Social Responsibility and Nonverbal Communication Signals |
| Summary | Luxury brand marketing is a dynamic and experiential practical domain. Nonetheless, empirical research in this domain is lacking, with notable gaps in understanding the influence of social responsibility and the role of nonverbal communication strategies. Amidst the increasing adoption of sustainability practices in the luxury industry and the widespread use of nonverbal signals in luxury advertising, the overarching aim of this research is to enhance our scholarly knowledge of luxury brand communication at the consumer level. In the first essay, I profile the value-based characteristics of sustainable luxury consumers by developing a predictive conceptual model grounded in the theory of consumption values. Specifically, I explore how value perceptions impact the persuasive power of social responsibility communication and consumers’ purchase intentions for sustainable luxury products. In doing so, I deploy a hybrid partial least squares structural equation modeling–artificial neural network approach with complementary importance-performance map analyses to study a preregistered sample of 894 luxury consumers in the United States. Results of the first essay demonstrate that functional, emotional, epistemic, conditional, and green consumption values exhibit significant positive impacts on sustainable luxury purchase intention, except social values. Further, I elucidate a theoretically grounded mediator (conspicuous ethical self-identity) and a moderator (green advertising receptivity) that buffer the link between consumption values and purchase intention. I also uncover cross-generational disparities, in which Millennials–compared to Generation X–display greater conspicuous ethical self-identity as well as higher levels of green advertising receptivity and purchase intention. In the second essay, I explore how, why, and when the intensity of an expresser’s smile, a fundamental nonverbal communication signal, can impact the effectiveness of luxury advertising. Thereby, I develop an integrated conceptual model based on the social-functional account of emotions and the stereotype content model of social judgments. Principally, I demonstrate that a neutral expression (vs. a slight and broad smile) from the expresser leads to higher levels of actual brand engagement, ad attitudes, and purchase behaviors. This effect is driven by a serial processing mechanism: enhanced competence judgments and perceived ad credibility that emerge when the expresser features a neutral expression. I further elucidate two boundary conditions: the lay rationalism level of observers and the eye gaze direction of the expresser. As a result, the detrimental effect of smile intensity on competence perceptions is attenuated for low-lay rationalistic observers, who base their decisions on feelings, while the neutral expression facilitates higher ad effectiveness when paired with a direct gaze (vs. an averted gaze). I support these findings using preregistered cross-national samples from the United States and China, across different luxury product types, fictitious, and real brands. Evidence comes from field data on Instagram print ads (N = 435), two large-scale field experiments on Meta (Ntotal = 233,301), four pilot tests (Ntotal = 282), and two controlled online experiments (Ntotal = 590). Throughout both essays, I employ a mixed methods approach and multi-analytical strategies to test my hypotheses. The integration of both essays offers a comprehensive account of how luxury brands can navigate the complex landscape of consumer expectations. Finally, I conclude the two essays by detailing their contributions to theory, methodology, and marketing practice, along with future research agenda. |
| Supervisor | Nichols, Austin Lee; Senyuz, Aysu |
| Department | Economics PhD |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/essiz_oguzhan.pdf |
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