Measuring the impact of beliefs on luxury buying behavior in an emerging market

Purpose Demand for luxury brands is increasing at a very fast pace in emerging markets like India. But very few quantitative studies have been conducted to explore the reasons behind this sudden surge in demand. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of beliefs on consumer buying behavior for luxury fashion brands in the Indian context employing theory of planned behavior and to develop a comprehensive understanding regarding motivating factors behind luxury goods consumption. Design/methodology/approach Researcher-controlled sampling techniques (judgment and snowball sampling) were employed to collect data from actual users of luxury fashion brands in New Delhi (India). Statistical tests including confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied for data analysis. Findings The findings show that all three beliefs – attitudinal belief, normative belief (NB) and control belief – were positively and significantly related to attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control (PBC). NB was found to have a positive impact on PBC as well as actual consumer purchasing behavior for luxury fashion brands. Originality/value This research contributes to the extant literature by bringing to light new findings that could help provide meaningful insights to the academicians and marketing practitioners.