營銷學課程dissertation-如何批判性評價研究dissertation
Marketing- A Critical Introduction MN5051
Course work essay number 1- critically evaluate a research paper

Antecedents of luxury brand purchase intention：奢侈品牌的購買意愿的動機
By
Kuang-peng Hung and Annie Huiling Chen
Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University, Taipei City, Taiwan：臺灣銘傳大學
Norman Peng
Westminster Business School, University of Westminster, London, UK：倫敦威斯敏斯特大學
School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, London, UK：倫敦大學
Rungpaka Amy Tiwsakul
School of Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, and
Chun-lun Chou
Department of Business Administration, Ming Chuan University, Taipei City, Taiwan

Journal of Product & Brand Management Volume 20 • Number 6 • 2011 • 457–467 459：產品與品牌管理期刊

在這篇文章中，我將批判性地評價“奢侈品牌的購買意愿的前因”這篇研究dissertation，該dissertation發表在產品與品牌管理雜志，主要調查了中國消費者購買奢侈品品牌的動機。
In this essay I propose to critically evaluate the above research paper: “Antecedents of Luxury Brand Purchase Intention”, published recently in the Journal of Product & Brand Management. The paper reports a study which investigated the motivations of Chinese consumers to purchase luxury brands. http://ukthesis.org/dissertation_writing/Marketing/

The authors explain that interest in luxury brands has grown as the brands themselves have achieved huge popularity internationally. In particular, many Western luxury brands achieve major sales in Asia. The industry as a whole is said to be worth some US$ 180 billion, so much is at stake. Companies would like to know more about consumer motivations in this area. Previous research has focused on many aspects of luxury brand consumer behaviour, but the authors claim in this paper that they are focusing on the issue in a different way to these previous studies. Specifically, they are trying to find out if vanity, social context and perception are major elements in the motivation to buy luxury brands. Another way in which this study is different is that most previous research focuses on Western markets, and this study looked at consumers who bought luxury brands in Taiwan, PRC. The authors claim that, in general, consumer motivations around luxury brands purchase are poorly understood, and they cite other researchers such as Berthon et al (2009) to support this view. Taiwan was chosen as the main site of the research, because, as the authors claim, the “Greater Chinese market is seen as one of the main areas responsible for the boom in luxury brand consumption” Datamonitor, 2007; Lu, 2008; Okonkwo, 2009; Wu and Delong, 2006), and Taiwan is one of the fastest growing luxury markets in Asia (Chadha and Husband, 2007; Christodoulides et al., 2009; Wong and Ahuvia, 1998) (Hung et al, 2011, p.460). #p#分頁標題#e#

The authors define a luxury brand as a “branded product that is carefully crafted, unique, and conspicuous” (Hung et al. p. 458), and they cite previous researchers such as Berthon et al. (2009), Han et al. (2010), and Nueno and Quelch (1998) in support of this definition. Many luxury brands are not well known outside their country of origin, so this research study focused on those that are well known internationally. This was necessary so that research participants could talk about the same brands.

本文回顧了以前在該地區的研究，可能會因為各種不同的動機購買奢侈品牌。
The paper reviews previous research in the area and comments that luxury brands may be bought because of a variety of different motivations. One important reason is to express a sense of identity. As the authors state, “The central position is that is that consumers use possessions to formulate and alter their identities, in order to fit their own projections of who they are and aspire to be” (Hung et al,. p. 458). However, what this means in the West may be different to what it means in the East. The West is known for being more individualistic in its culture. On the other hand, in the East, self identity may be more closely linked to family, social role and wealth.

因為研究的理論意義，dissertation作者重點是奢侈品購買意愿，而不是實際的購買行為。
The authors focused the study on purchase intention rather than actual purchase behaviour because of the theoretical implications. They wanted not only to understand what Chinese people are buying but to understand what they felt and thought about their buying behaviour. This could possibly be a weakness of the study, since what people say about their behaviour may be different to the way they actually behave.

The method of the study consisted of a questionnaire survey administered to over 1000 participants in Taiwan. The questions were designed to test a number of hypotheses that the researchers had derived from previous theories. The assumption of the study is that it is possible to quantify and measure deep attitudes and motivations by analysing the responses of consumers to survey questions. This is also a possibly problematic aspect of the research, since, as the paper authors concede, there is no reason so suppose that the consumers who answered the questions were typical of all luxury brand consumers. In addition, it is a matter of opinion whether consumer motivations are best understood from survey questionnaires or other research methods, such as observation, interviews or group discussions.    

The findings suggested that social influence is important in luxury brand purchase intention. This supported previous findings. In other words, we buy luxury brands not just for our own personal satisfaction but also because we want others to see what we have. Luxury brands have an important role in denoting social status and identity, so they act like an international symbolic language. However, the idea that brands have a symbolic role seemed different in Asia to the West. Finally, some personal vanity seems to be involved in luxury brand consumption. This might seem obvious, but it is unusual for a research study to analyse this aspect. This is an important issue for social policy around luxury brands, and it begs questions such as ‘are luxury brands good for social life? Do they promote greed and jealousy?’ In my view the study was right to focus on this issue since people do not generally want to speak about it. Although luxury brands are an important source of wealth, income and employment, it is perhaps right that we also think about the way they influence our attitudes towards each other.    #p#分頁標題#e#

References ：參考文獻

Berthon, P.R., Pitt, L., Parent, M. and Berthon, J-P. (2009), “Aesthetics and ephemerality: observing and preserving the luxury brand”, California Management Review, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 45-66:美學與短暫性：觀察和保護的奢侈品牌

Chadha, R. and Husband, P. (2007), The Cult of the Luxury Brand: Inside Asia’s Love Affair with Luxury, Nicholas Brealey International, London

Christodoulides, G., Michaelidou, N. and Li, C-H. (2009), “Measuring perceived brand luxury: an evaluation of the BLI scale”, Brand Management, Vol. 16 Nos 5/6, pp. 395-405.:測量品牌奢侈品：對BLI規模的評價

Datamonitor (2007), “Global luxury retailing 2007 – Market analysis report”, available at: ac428abfd49540b2ab6a3b4b573da084 , /industries/ research/?pid¼DMVT0388&type¼Report (accessed 9 February 2010)

Han, Y.J., Nunes, J.C. and Dreze, X. (2010), “Signaling status with luxury goods: the role of brand prominence”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 74, pp. 15-3

Lu, P.X. (2008), Elite China – Luxury Consumer Behaviour in China, John Wiley & Sons, Singapore

Nueno, J.L. and Quelch, J.A. (1998), “The mass marketing of luxury”, Business Horizons, Vol. 41 No. 6, pp. 61-8.

Okonkwo, U. (2007), Luxury Fashion Branding: Trends, Tactics, Techniques, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, NY

Wong, N.Y. and Ahuvia, A.C. (1998), “Personal taste and family face: luxury consumption in Confusion and western society”, Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 5, pp. 423-41.

Wu, J. and Delong, M. (2006), “Chinese perceptions of western-branded denim jeans: a Shanghai case study”,
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 238-50.：中國對西方品牌的牛仔褲喜愛：上海案例研究，中國時尚市場和管理