Luxury Brand Purchase Intention in Chinese Millennials: The Moderating Effect of Consumer Ethnocentrism

In China, the generation born in the 80’s and 90’s called Mimmenniams, became the main consumer and the Millennials have gradually become a major force in the huge Chinese luxury brand market. This generation is characterized by a mix of “self-directed” and “other-directed” personality so, this complex characteristic is revealed in the consumption behavior especially in the purchase behavior of luxury. Therefore, it is increasingly important to understand the psychology and consumer behavior of the millennial generation. The present study empirically tested causal relationships between the social identity function of attitudes, consumer ethnocentrism (CET) and global luxury brand purchase intention in the younger generation. The results showed that both attitudes serving a social-adjustive function and a value-expressive function have a significant positive impact on purchase intention of luxury. The results of the moderation effect of CET have multiple meanings. CET has not only a low negative impact on purchase intention of luxury directly, also weakens the positive influence of the social-adjustive function on purchase intention. However CET does not moderate the relationship between the value-expressive function and purchase intention. These results will help global luxury brand companies develop marketing strategies for Chinese millennial. Through this study, we suggest it’s very important to consider the complex or dual aspects of the generation for understanding the consumption behavior of Chinese Millennial.