Motives for status consumption: An empirical investigation based on semi-urban women consumers in supermarket settings in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Consumption of goods and services for the sake of showing status – commonly referred to as ‘status consumption’, has become a persistent phenomenon in many societies, and it is remarked that urban women, in particular, play a more prominent role in this regard compared to their counterparts. In light of this, the specific objective of this study was to assess this phenomenon in the context of ‘semi-urban women consumers utilizing the supermarket setting in Sri Lanka’ on the proposition that they, similar to those from urban areas, also tend to: (1) use certain facilities such as Credit Cards for financial transactions (e-COM), and (2) make frequent visits to reputed supermarkets to purchase common household items (FVST)], and this behavior is associated with a set of distinct motives, namely: ‘Conformist’, ‘Hedonic’, ‘Quality’, ‘Status’ and ‘Uniqueness’, which are cited in the consumer behavior literature as the key determinants triggering status consumption. A set of attitudinal statements explaining the underlying phenomenon of each motive were formulated and was included in a structured questionnaire; then pre-tested for validation, and was administered with a sample of women consumers (n=200) at reputed supermarkets located in the semi-urban areas in the Kurunegala district during April to May 2014. A number of quantitative methods, including Confirmatory Factor Analysis to configure validity and reliability of statements reflecting motives; Chi-Square analysis, and Probit Regression were applied to analyze the data using the STATA statistical software, where the relationships of e-COM and FVST with those motives, individually and collectively, were of special interest. The results indicate that all five motives induce semi-urban women consumers to utilize the supermarkets located in respective areas to purchase household items, with ‘Quality’ was rated as the most important motive in this respect, especially amongst the relatively highly educated women. It, however, implies that, albeit significant correlation between e-COM and FVST, none of which can be used as key indicators to signal semi-urban women’s behavior on status consumption; thus, warrants further research on this issue.