The social self in sustainable luxury services: psychological ownership, identification and willingness to use

Purpose Drawing on symbolic interactionism, this study aims to examine how social expressiveness influences consumers’ willingness to use sustainable luxury services (SLS). It further investigates the mediating roles of identification with SLS and utilitarian well-being, and the moderating role of psychological ownership. Design/methodology/approach The research uses a two-study design. Study 1 uses survey data from Prolific to test the hypothesized direct, mediation and moderation relationships and to assess the measurement model. Study 2 provides field-based evidence using two Facebook advertisements for a sustainable luxury hotel and click-through rate (CTR) as the behavioral outcome. Study 1 was analyzed using structural equation modeling and moderation analysis. Findings Social expressiveness is positively associated with willingness to use SLS, and this relationship is sequentially mediated by identification with SLS and utilitarian well-being. Psychological ownership significantly moderates the relationships among social expressiveness, identification, utilitarian well-being and willingness to use SLS; however, the negative interaction terms indicate attenuation rather than the hypothesized strengthening. In Study 2, the social-expressiveness advertisement generated a CTR more than 40% higher than the non-social-expressiveness advertisement. Originality/value This research extends luxury service research by showing how a socially expressive motive is translated into willingness to use SLS through identification and well-being. It also positions psychological ownership as a boundary condition in a non-ownership service context, while showing that high psychological ownership can reduce the marginal importance of other drivers of willingness. The study thereby offers an extension and refinement of existing luxury service theory rather than treating SLS as an entirely separate theoretical domain.