“Effects of the Density of Status Distribution on Conspicuous and Inconspicuous Consumption By Low-Status Consumers”
In five studies, we demonstrate that a dense distribution of status in society, in which most people have similar status, increases the happiness and decreases the envy of people who are least well-off, but nevertheless increases their conspicuous consumption. This happens because conspicuous consumption enables people at the bottom of the pyramid to "leapfrog" ahead of more people (hence gain more status) when most people have an average status than when the distribution of status is wide. This effect disappears when consumption is inconspicuous; when non-positional (vs. positional) utility is primed; and when one is compared to friends (vs. rivals).
Citation:
Nailya Ordabayeva and Pierre Chandon (2009) ,"“Effects of the Density of Status Distribution on Conspicuous and Inconspicuous Consumption By Low-Status Consumers”", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 12-15.
Authors
Nailya Ordabayeva, INSEAD, France
Pierre Chandon, INSEAD, France
Volume
NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36 | 2009
Share Proceeding
Featured papers
See MoreFeatured
Faster than Fact: Consuming in Post-Truth Society
Robert Kozinets, University of Southern California, USA
Rossella Gambetti, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Silvia Biraghi, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart
Featured
Data-Driven Computational Brand Perception
Sudeep Bhatia, University of Pennsylvania, USA
Christopher Olivola, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Featured
The Preference for Simultaneity: When Different Events Happen to Different People at the Same Time
Franklin Shaddy, University of Chicago, USA
Yanping Tu, University of Florida, USA
Ayelet Fishbach, University of Chicago, USA