ABSTRACT This study examines how self‐related orientations, including self‐monitoring, self‐directed pleasure, and self‐identity, drive consumers' inconspicuous luxury consumption. The quantitative phase (Study 1) gathered data from luxury consumers in China via a professional survey panel. PLS‐SEM was utilized to examine relationships between variables, cIPMA to assess the importance and performance of predictors, and fsQCA to identify configurational patterns. The qualitative phase (Study 2) involved semi‐structured interviews, offering deeper insights to complement the quantitative findings. The quantitative results indicate that association with elite and privacy in luxury consumption are the primary motivations for inconspicuous luxury consumption. Self‐monitoring enhances elite association, while self‐directed pleasure fosters privacy motivation, and self‐identity reinforces both. The cIPMA highlights the central roles of privacy in luxury consumption and self‐monitoring, whereas the fsQCA uncovers four causal configurations underlying inconspicuous luxury consumption. Qualitative findings further reveal that inconspicuous luxury consumption arises from the interaction of social structure, psychological motivation, and behavioral strategies, as individuals guided by cultural capital and self‐oriented aesthetics translate emotional needs and rational restraint into understated, self‐consistent consumption expressions. This study theoretically reveals the impact mechanism of self‐related orientations on consumer behavior, specifically inconspicuous luxury consumption, enriches the relevant literature, and provides luxury brands with personalized marketing strategies to effectively address consumer needs, amid growing concerns over wealth inequality and social stratification.
Zhang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.