The Research Of Effects Of Imitative Consumption On Post-purchase Evaluation

Chinese mainland has a idiom "kind of like",the Taiwan region has a saying "big dog climbing the wall,puppy learning it",and foreign saying is "monkey see,monkey do"。Just leave alone their implied meanings and they all imply the imitation of others.In daily life,imitation occurs when people interact with others,people will intentionally or unintentionally imitate others’ behaviors、gestures and facial expressions during the interaction.Not only that,this kind of imitation can also bring a series of benefits for both.In daily life,lots of people don’t like other people wearing the same clothes like their own,but eating the same food in reataurant is ok.This paper focuses on the study of consumer behavior.In this paper,the product is divided into public consumption and private consumption,when consumers have these two types of products were imitated by others and how would these actions affect the post-purchase evaluation,while using the need for uniqueness as a moderator.Possession is an extension of people themselves,the consumer’s ownership to a certain product can reflect the consumer’s self in some degree.Imitation is the most direct way of flattery,based on the self theory and optimal distinctiveness theory,when the possessions are imitated by others,people feel like a part of the self was copied and balance of the need of assimilation and differentiation was broken.According to expectancy theory and cognitive dissonance theory,it will result in two kinds of post-purchase evaluation:satisfaction and regret,and these effects will be moderated by NFU.Based on above reasons,this paper puts forward the theoretical model and research hypotheses while using the empirical method to validate the model.At last,some findings are concluded as follows:First,when the consumer’s public consumption products are imitated,it will significantly affect post-purchase evaluation:reduce satisfaction、recommend intention and gain regret;When the consumer’s private consumption products are imitated,the effects will be eliminated.Second,just use the need for uniqueness as a moderator variable.When the need for uniqueness is high and the public consumption products are imitated,it will significantly reduce the satisfaction and recommend intention,but not the regret;When the need for uniqueness is low,all effects above will be eliminated.