A Study On The Effects Of Reference Group On Conspicuous Consumption Motivation Of Our Country Inhabitants

Compared to the traditional Chinese thrifty consumption, with the level of economic development, farmers are getting a certain purchasing power; the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption has become increasingly popular. A number of rural people which become rich first are imitation of the city to pursue unique, brand preferences, pay attention to self-pleasure. Yet even in middle-income, or even in those low-income groups who just solved the food and clothing, there are also obvious tendency of conspicuous consumption.At present Marketing in the theory of conspicuous consumption is still very weak. The current study focused on the general concepts of conspicuous consumption more than the motivation of consumer behavior. Consumer behavior theory emphasizes, Motivation is the driving force of all human behavior, motivation is the state of internal driving force and excitation force to promote acts of progress towards a goal (Sheth JN and Mittal B, 2004).The unique Chinese culture of collectivism and consumer psychology drive conspicuous consumption behavior becoming the importance of consumer motivations and manifestations (LU Li, Fan Xiucheng and Zheng Yuxiang, etc., 2006)On the other hand, Compared to the Western that who emphasis on individual self, Asians pay more attention to the social self. They attach importance to the relationship between self and others; Chinese culture with a long history is the culture representatives of Oriental collectivism. The features of Chinese rural people who live together and make much of the characteristics of human ethics make their consumption patterns being a group behavior. Their decision-making was more likely affected by the surrounding.Although research shows that conspicuous consumption may accelerate economic (Li Shihua, 2006).Studies have also analyzed that conspicuous consumption may have a negative impact on the national economy from a macro point of view. From the perspective of Promotion of national healthy consumption especially for farmers such a vulnerable consumer groups, guiding them establish the correct concept of consumption have a far-reaching practical significance Based on this purpose, this research integrates some studies about the conspicuous consumption motivation, and combined with this research subject ---- the consumption habits and its particularity of Chinese farmers groups. I summarize conspicuous consumption motivation factor as the social status, conformity, seeking a unique, face and self-pleasure five elements.According to primary data collection and the empirical testing in rural consumer groups, I explore the structure of motivation of conspicuous consumption. And presents the rural residents out of clusters neighbors, and pay attention to the characteristics of reference group influence, empirical study of the three dimensions of reference group influence, informational impact, utility impact and influence the performance of the various dimensions of value for groups of farmers conspicuous consumption motive whether the relationships exist, and conspicuous consumption for each dimension of the impact of degree of motivation to explore deeper conspicuous consumption behavior of transmission mechanism.The results show that informational reference group influence on the conspicuous consumption of the whole motive only exist limited impact, it not only has positive effects on the conformity motive but also have weak positive influence on the social status and self-pleasure-seeking motives .This further shows that conspicuous consumption behavior in farmer groups have a big different from ordinary household goods with reasonable consumption. Motivation of conspicuous consumption on non-functional requirements for specific goods become diversified, and complication.Utilitarian affection have a significant impact on Conspicuous Consumption Motivation, significant positive effects on the motivation of social status and face, negative effects on self-motivation and the pursuit of unique pleasure motives, and weak effects on the herd motivation. On the side of rural residents seeking a unique, self-pleasure motivation, the conspicuous consumption is mainly reflected the desire of their own psychological. Their purpose is to show their personality, image, enjoy their own pleasure or with their families to enjoy, experience and high product quality values. These motives are not affected by reference groups, on the contrary, utilitarian motives on the dimensions of these two will be weak even negative.Value-expressive impact on the Conspicuous Consumption Motivation in a complex level. Value performance on the social status of the path did not pass the test, which has negative influence on motivation of pursue unique, has positive influence on motivation of face, has more significant effect on motivation of self-pleasure, and also has a significant positive effect on herd. This conclusion in Conspicuous Consumption Motivation level explain the point from Zheng Yuxiang and Yuan Shaofeng (2008), the value-expressive of Reference Group inhibit part of the Conspicuous Consumption Motivation, while has positive effect on some other parts, such as motivation of self-pleasure.From the point of consumption behavior, to deal with the Conspicuous Consumption Motivation in a rational way, the consumers in order to emphasize the relationship between their own groups with specific reference groups, from the motivation level of "voluntary" subject to consumer ideas and behavior of others, which is a tapical of Conspicuous Consumption Motivation. In the economically more developed countries or regions of most commodities are "symbols" of the world today, the Country Inhabitants whose food and clothing is no longer a problem begin to show Conspicuous, purchase and consumption of those "symbols" of goods, they concern not only the only the product itself, but also attaches to the body of the social attributes of goods, commodities or symbolic relationship with the other groups.From the perspective of business management, it can help in the understanding of high-end consumer goods industry, business and concerned about the Conspicuous Consumption Motivation and psychological characteristics, so that they could guide the consumer behavior, targeted marketing to establish their own advantage. With the development of economic level of Country Inhabitants in, their Demand for goods and services is no longer confined to product functionality to meet, but also hoping to product intrinsic symbolic or psychological reference group expects to meet higher demand. Understanding of Country Inhabitants in the conspicuous consumption trend plays a major role in the Subdivision of high-end brand in the country consumer market effectively, attracting target consumers, then lead Consumer demand to get a competitive edge.