Factors Influencing Conspicuous Consumption: Questionnaire Development

This report discusses the development of a questionnaire to investigate the factors that influence conspicuous consumption in terms of socio-demographic characteristics, cultural values, and shopping motivation. The questionnaire is made up of three sections which contain open-ended and close-ended kinds of questions, majorly asking about the respondents’ views and experiences on conspicuous shopping. The report also covers the literature review on conspicuous consumption and the step-by-step procedure followed in designing the questionnaire.

BRIEF REPORT ON QUESTIONNAIRE DEVELOPMENT
May 21, 2018

Introduction
Conspicuous consumption is an example of consumer behaviors practiced by people of different
ages, social status, religions, and races. It is a kind of shopping behavior where the participants
buy things competitively and extravagantly with an intention of showing off or suggesting
superiority in the social and economic class (Patsiaouras, 2012). In the modern world, social
success is usually measured by how many material goods a person acquires (O'Cass, 2018). This
research focuses on investigating the factors that influence conspicuous consumption in terms of
socio-demographic characteristics, cultural values, and shopping motivation.
Literature Review
In the modern society, people want to be respected in terms of their social economic classes. To
achieve their objective, they usually decide to engage in activities that would somehow attract
attention from other people. Conspicuous consumption is just an example of the kind of
behaviors that aim at luring people into the perception of being rich. Many researchers have
developed an interest in investing this kind of trait. Conspicuous consumption is majorly
characterized by using goods of a higher quality which is sometimes impractical (Phillips, 2018).
In the survey conducted in 1996 on consumer expenditure, it was discovered that race influences
conspicuous consumption in such a way that Blacks and Hispanics tend to spend more on
conspicuous goods as compared to whites (Charles, 2009).
The characteristic of people focusing on others instead of themselves brings about this kind of
shopping behavior (Kim, 2015). It has been noted that age is one of the determinants of shopping
behaviors. Gender is also among the great determinants. Women are known for loving to shop
for fun and prestige as compared with men. Chances of a man showing off his expensive
accessories are minimal as compared to those of a woman doing the same.
The Structure of the Questionnaire
As mentioned widely in literature, people get into conspicuous consumption for a public show of
prestige and luxury. In the present days, this kind of shopping behavior has become very
common, not only by wealthy people and celebrities but also for people belonging to the
economy class. This research was conducted to gather facts on the effects of socio-demographic

attributes, cultural beliefs and shopping motivation on the consumer’s decision to engage in
conspicuous shopping. A questionnaire was developed as a tool for gathering data from
consumers. In the survey, wealthy-looking people were targeted as the respondents so as to give
a clear insight of conspicuous consumption.
The questionnaire is made up of three sections which contain open-ended and close-ended kinds
of questions, majorly asking about the respondents’ views and experiences on conspicuous
shopping. The first section covers the respondent’s information on the places they shop and the
last time they shopped. This information helps in knowing the frequency and the places where
consumers buy their things. The place of shopping also provides information on the shopping
behavior of the respondent. The section also asks the respondent on the prestigious thing that
he/she bought most recently. Furthermore, the respondents’ motivation and the intention of
buying luxurious things is also captured. Lastly, the section inquiries from the respondent on
their views about conspicuous shopping and whether they know what it means.
In the second section, there are a total of eight questions, which include both open-ended and
close-ended. The open-ended questions are meant to give the respondents a chance to provide
their own answer apart from those given by the researcher. Moreover, they can express
themselves in more detailed language, giving the researcher clearer information about the
questions (McLeod, 2014). Some of the questions in this section adopt the Likert scale of one
(Strong agree) to five (Strongly disagree). Others were multiple choice questions giving the
respondent a chance to choose one answer.
Finally, section 3 of the questionnaire intends to gather the demographic data of the respondents.
The Information includes age, gender, name, physical address, race, religion, and phone number.
The respondent is at liberty to choose whether or not to fill the blanks on the data type labeled
‘optional’. The demographic information is important for this research since it is one of the
factors under research, which influence conspicuous consumption. The respondent’s private
information like name and telephone number are also labeled ‘optional’ so as to maintain his/her
trust regarding privacy and confidentiality.

Step in Questionnaire Designing Procedure
We followed the typical procedure of designing a questionnaire. First, we identified our research
problem and objectives of the survey. In this case, the problem was to determine how socio-
demographic characteristics, cultural values, and shopping motivation influence consumer
choices on conspicuous shopping. Our target population was a group of people who look wealthy
from the outward appearance. Finally, we chose an order which the questions would be arranged,
making sure to gather the demographic data last.
In the questionnaire introduction, we introduced the respondent to the objective of the study. We
then gave them a free will to ask for any clarification, contact details and adjustment of the
completion time. The privacy and confidentiality of the respondents’ information were assured
and we finally asked them to give appropriate answers in provided spaces.
In the first section, we asked the respondent on the places they usually shop, the last time they
shopped, the luxurious thing they bought last and the motivation behind buying it. We also asked
on the conversance with the conspicuous consumption subject and their opinions about it. In
section two, we majorly presented questions following the Likert scale of one (strongly agree) to
five (strongly disagree). The questions based on the main topic and our intention was to gather
information concerning the respondents’ conspicuous shopping behavior. Given that our target
population was a group of wealthy-looking people; our assumption was that more than half the
respondents would fall under conspicuous consumers. It is on this basis that we set the questions.
Finally, we asked for the respondents’ demographic data in the last section; age, gender, and race
being our factors of interest. We finished by expressing our sincere gratitude to the respondent
for having volunteered to fill the questionnaire.

Bibliography
Charles, K., 2009. Conspicuous Consumption and Race. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 124(2), p.
56.
Kim, S., 2015. The influence of three Fundamental Factors on Conspicuous Consumption. Faculty of
Business, 33(2), p. 8.
Lin F.H, Tsai S.B, Lee Y.C, Hsiao C.F, Zhou J., Wang J. & Shang Z., 2017. Empirical research on Kano’s
model and customer satisfaction. PLOS ONE, 12(9), pp. 1-22.
McLeod, S., 2014. Questionnaires. [Online]
Available at: http://www.simplypsychology.org/questionnaires.html
[Accessed 20 May 2018].
O'Cass A. & McEwen H., 2018. Exploring Consumer Status and Conspicuous Consumption. Journal of
Consumer Behavior, 4(1), pp. 25-39.
O'Cass, A., 2018. Exploring Consumer Status and Conspicuous Consumption. Journal of Consumer
Behavior, 4(1), pp. 25-39.
Patsiaouras, G., 2012. The Evolution of Conspicuous Consumption. Journal of History Research and
Marketing, 4(1), pp. 154-176.
Phillips, R., 2018. Conspicuous Consumption. Economics, 3(2), pp. 89-95.
Satish K. M. & Rajesh P., 2014. Business Research in India. Journal of Management Development, 28(4),
pp. 68-74.