Posto, logo existo: uma análise dos fatores influenciadores do consumo conspícuo nas redes sociais considerando a regionalidade

Abstract

Consumption decisions are influenced by the peculiarities of each person, as well as by the objectives they aim for with consumption, especially conspicuous consumption, which is about making visible (to someone) what is consumed. Thus, conspicuous consumption is the public display of consumption (Assimos et al., 2019). Several isolated factors are pointed out by the literature as antecedents or as a consequence of this phenomenon, without a proposition of a unified model that identifies patterns that lead to this practice. Furthermore, considering the identity of each people, is regionality capable of influencing this behavior? Therefore, this research aimed to analyze which motivating factors most influence conspicuous consumption. To answer this research question, 18 hypotheses were proposed addressing four dimensions: social identity, material conditions, feelings towards the individual and feelings towards the audience. The proposed questionnaire obtained 637 valid responses, which were collected from September to November 2022. The results found showed the constructs of need for belonging, social ascension, materialism, hedonism, envy, empathy, self-esteem and altruism were significant and able to influence the intention for conspicuous consumption. The search for social approval, income and regionality, however, were not significant in the proposed theoretical-hypothetical relationships. Among the findings of the research, the demystification that income is a necessary condition for the occurrence of conspicuous consumption stands out, which reinforced the idea of ostentation, showing that this type of consumption can be practiced by all social classes. Furthermore, the positive influence of empathy and altruism on conspicuous consumption shows how much a 'movement for good' is influencing this display of realized consumption, showing that when the focus of the display of consumption is to help others, it is enhanced, modifying the perverse view of consumption pointed out by Veblen and showing that conspicuous consumption is no longer as imagined and that it has changed significantly since the time of its proposition, in 1899. Finally, the research also showed that regionality, for the investigated sample, did not obtain a significant influence on conspicuous consumption behavior. This shows that the region of residence, within the geographical aspect of regionality, has been suppressed by the phenomenon of globalization and the proximity of social networks, not being able to influence conspicuous consumption.