The Consumption Style Of Chinese White-Collar Class And Its Influence Factors Analysis

Since the reform and opening up, China has moved from the shortage society to surplus society. During the transition period, China’s consumption shows a "myth" or "Two-Track" characteristic. The overall consumption is weak and the luxury consumption is strong. To explore the Chinese consumption, I selected the white-collar class as research object, because the white-collar class has always considered avant-garde consumption and the number of white-collar will rapidly increase in China. In this paper, I want to answer three questions through empirical research:1) what are the characteristics of Chineses white-collar class?2) What affects the consumption of white-collar? Does the education background have special effect?3) Propose some suggestions on consumption policy.In this paper, the white-collar is defined as those who work in market-oriented enterprises, such as joint-stock enterprises, joint-ventures, foreign-funded enterprises and private enterprises. They engage in non-manual jobs and get salaries from employers. Meanwhile, I define the consumption style, which is affected by similar consumption attitudes, as the complex of the consumption level and consumer behaviors. In empirical investigation, the consumption style includes three aspects:1) consumption level, including per capita consumption expenditure, consumption structure and consumption of durable goods.2) Consumer behaviors, including the consumption of clothing, diet dining, housing, transportation, leisure and recreational activities and new consumer behaviors.3) Consumption attitudes. This research takes the method of questionnaire and received3818questionnaires in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Lanzhou. This research has shown that the white-collar class has the following characteristics:1) white-collar have high per capita consumption expenditure, of that housing, diet dining and clothing is the main expenditure, and per white-collar family has1.66computer,0.38piano and0.98car.2) Consumer behaviors. In the aspect of housing,58.2percent white-collars have purchased real estate which is more than50square meters and33.6percent white-collars will buy house in five years. In the aspect of clothing, white-collars tend to the large shopping mall to buy clothing and they most concern whether the clothing is convenient and comfortable, whether the price is proper. In the aspect of diet dining, white-collars most concern whether the diet is healthy and safety, whether it is nutrient and convenient. In the aspect of transportation, white-collars go to work by car or bus. In the aspect of leisure, the top three leisure activities for white-collars are watching TV, staying at home and reading newspaper and book. In the aspect of emerging consumer behaviors, white-collars are willing to try new means of consumption.3) Consumption attitudes. In the term of material consumption, white-collars focus on modern thrift concept. In the term of social consumption, white-collars’attitude are not obvious. In the term of timing consumption, white-collars pay attention to living within their means. Overall, the white-collar class do not have the avant-garde consumption features, because their consumption is more rational, neither ahead nor lagging behind. Factors that affect the white-collar consumption are:1) Macro-level factors, including economy, consumption policy and information technology.2) Micro-level factors. The crosstabs analysis and multiple linear analysis show that income, age and education have significant effect on the consumption of white-collars. Finally, I believe that China’s consumer policies today are too microcosmic and intervened by government. I propose that government should establish long-term mechanism to boost consumption. The measures are included keeping stable of CPI, improving the social security and welfare systems and expanding the proportion of white-collar class.