A Study On The Influence Of Power And Self-construal On Undergraduates’ Conspicuous Consumption

Objectives:With the development of economy and unique shame culture of Chinese people, conspicuous consumption is gradually becoming an important motivation and representation of consumption.At present, the phenomenon of conspicuous consumption is more and more prevalent. By analyzing the correlational researches on conspicuous consumption, this thesis,with two variables,sense of power and self- construal,focuses on the influence of these two variables on individual conspicuous consumption,and the relations among experiments,which tries to complete the intensive study on the operation pattern and process of this consumption and to enrich the correlational studies. Methods:With conspicuous consumption as the dependent variable,this research takes the method of 2(high sense of power VS low one)by 2(interdependent self- construal VS independent one)and has undergraduate as the subjects.It,at first,wants to arouse the sense of power of different levels,then activates different types of self-construal, and tries to draw a conclusion whether there is any different among different levels of conspicuous consumption. In the end,with the way of doing research,it investigates the influence of different level of sense of power and different types of self-construal on individuals’ conspicuous consumption. Results:The experimental data of this study were analysed by SPSS20.0,The results of analysis showa significantmain effect of sense of power on conspicuous consumption,F=7.29,P=.009<0.01,and a significantmain effect of self- construal on conspicuous consumption, F=28.69, P=.000 < 0.001, further analysis of the interaction shows that sense of powerand self-construal are significantly,F=4.11,P=.047<0.05. Conclusion:Firstly, a sense of the power of high and low has significantly difference on consumers ’ conspicuous consumption.Specific performance,when the consumers is in the high power state, showed more significantly conspicuous consumption than in the low one.Secondly, different types of Self-construal have significantly difference on conspicuous consumption, which has been embodied in the experimental phenomena that when customers are guided by the interdependent self- construal, their consumption behaviors intend to be more inclined to conspicuous consumption than the situation when the independent selfconstrual is the leading factor to them.Thirdly,different senses of power also have diverse impact on conspicuous consumption on the condition that customers are controlled by different types of self-construal.Specifically, when the individual is controlled by interdependent self-construal, no matter what level of power he/she is in, he will behave more like conspicuous consumption. On the contrary, he will behave in the opposite way.