The motivation behind purchasing luxury fashion brands

Abstract

Although research has been done exploring individuals attitudes towards luxury brands (Bernard Dubois, 1994; Stegmann, Denize, & Miller, 2007), which contributes to an indviduals purchasing decision, there is very limited research that focuses on the motivational aspect of the purchase decision. The aim of this study is to delve into these internal and external motivational aspects such as familiarity with luxury brands and attitudes towards luxury brands and explore their affects on one's motivation to purcahse a luxury fashion item. Gender differences in these areas are also explored. This was done quantiatively via an online survey which was distributed through the University of Malta registrar and was administered to seventy -two Univeristy students (n=27). Results show that purchasing for top quality, purchasing out of brand admiration and purchasing for aesthetics are common incentives. Analysis also shows minimal significance between gender and familarity with luxury brands, attitudes towards luxury brands, liklihood to purcahse and finally gender and motivations behind purchase.