The luxury appeal: the relationship of motivation and perception to purchase intent with a focus on the Michael Kors brand

Abstract

The luxury industry has experienced a rapid growth over the years despite the decline in the economic performances of many countries. Luxury goods were originally thought of as status and wealth signalers as proposed by Veblen in his Theory of Conspicuous Consumption (Bagwell, et al., 1996). However, as the industry continues to grow and more consumers are setting their eyes on the products, an important question arises: what contributes to consumers‟ purchasing intent toward luxury goods? The study investigates the different factors that make up luxury purchase intent. These factors are attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and non-personal evaluation. These factors are further divided into motivation or values and brand perception. By using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the study will analyze how the different values or motivation and different perception influence one‟s likelihood to purchase luxury goods. In addition to that, the study will focus on the luxury brand perception and purchase intent towards Michael Kors. To do this, both qualitative and quantitative methods of research will be done in the form of interviews and survey instrument, respectively. The survey results were tested and analyzed using linear regression analysis and Pearson correlation statistical test.