社会阶层分化对中国消费者大、小众奢侈品品牌消费偏好影响的实证研究

伴随中国以消费为主导的市场经济和“奢侈品平民化”趋势，奢侈品市场出现了大、小众奢侈品品牌并存的局面；中国消费者因所属社会阶层差异也表现出了不同的奢侈品消费行为和模式。本项目基于社会阶层理论，首次从中国不同社会阶层消费者和品牌分类的视角，对中国社会较高和较低阶层消费者的奢侈品品牌消费动机和目标作出假设，提出相对于较低阶层消费者，较高阶层消费者在购买奢侈品时更追求奢侈品品牌的多样性、更偏好小众奢侈品品牌，对消费小众奢侈品品牌更满意；相反，较低阶层消费者对品牌多样性要求较低，偏好大众奢侈品品牌，并对消费大众奢侈品品牌更满意。本项目还将探寻较高（低）阶层消费者对小（大）众奢侈品品牌消费偏好机制，即消费者诉求与奢侈品品牌价值相吻合所产生的自我与品牌相联系的心理机制。本项目采用定性与多种实证相结合的研究方法对假设进行验证。以研究成果为基础，对中国企业品牌策略制定以及中国社会的奢侈品健康消费提出建议。

Accompanying the trend of consumption-driven market economy and “democratization of luxury”, both mainstream and niche luxury brands coexist in the luxury goods market. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers exhibit different luxury consumption patterns based on their social classes. Drawing from social class theory, this project aims to explore the luxury consumption motives of consumers, for the first time, from the higher social class and lower social class and to examine how social class influences consumer preferences for mainstream vs. niche luxury brands. Specifically, the project proposes that higher-class consumers tend to seek variety when purchasing luxury products, prefer niche luxury brands, and become more satisfied with niche luxury brands after purchase. In contrast, lower-class consumers show less variety-seeking, prefer mainstream luxury brands, and become more satisfied with mainstream luxury brands. The project also investigates the mechanism underlying the proposed effects such that niche (mainstream) luxury brands elicit a higher level of consumption desires congruency for consumers from the higher (lower) social class, which engenders higher self-brand connection. The project employs both qualitative and quantitative research methods to examine the above hypotheses. The project provides practical guidance on Chinese brand strategy management and healthy consumption on luxury goods in China society.