Consumer Behaviour in Purchasing Expensive Products: An Empirical Investigation

Abstract

Luxury cars, fashion, high quality electronic products and jewelry are high priced items and the sentimental value attached to the product may well surpass the actual utility of the product. The study examines the impact of social influence, perceived quality, perceived risk and brand loyalty on the perceived value and intentions to purchase high priced luxuries. The online survey was conducted quantitatively. Following the data collection, the response data were subjected to the methods of reliability testing, correlation measures, and structural equation modelling. It was established that perceived value is increased by social influence, brand loyalty, perceived quality and reduced by perceived risk. This is the value that has the highest predictive power of intent to buy. This was proved to be the most important intervening variable on the other variables, which include social influence, perceived quality, and brand loyalty to the purchase intent. In this way, it contributes to the body of research on luxury consumption and proves the importance of the perceived value.