1. Paper presented in the 4th International Forum on PR and Advertising, Amherst, MA, USA.
Impact of Human Value, Consumer
Perceived Value on the Motivation of
Symbolic Consumption
Jing Liu, Chengjun Wang, Yang Liu, Jie Qin
City University of Hong Kong

2. Conceptualization
Customers are “value-driven” (Levy, 1999)
Two approaches in consumption process:
Human value refers to the inherent value system of human
beings which works as a independent force in influencing
consumption attitude;
Consumer perceived value is the self-reported result of
customers who evaluate the product, in which both human
value and branding, market strategy works together.

3. Human Value System
Human values: Priority of Human Needs
(Maslow 1946, 1954)

4. Measurement of Human value
A list of values in previous consumer surveys (Beatty et al., 1985; Kahle,
1983; Kahle et al., 1986) was adopted:
(1) excitement (to experience stimulation and thrills)
(2) warm relationship with others (to have close companionships and
intimate friendships)
(3) self-fulfillment (to find peace of mind and to make the best use of
your talents)
(4) being well-respected (to be admired by others and to receive
recognition),
(5) fun and enjoyment in life (to lead a pleasurable, happy life)
(6) security (to be safe and protected from misfortune and attack)
(7) self-respect (to be proud of yourself and confident with who you are)
(8) a sense of accomplishment (to succeed at what you want to do).
* a seven-point scale with 1 for “not important at all” to 7 for “extremely
important”.

5. Social Value
Maslow (1946; 1954), Bruce and Jagdish (1991, p. 161)
Five consumption values influencing consumer choice behavior:
functional value, social value, emotional value, epistemic value,
and conditional value.
Social value is defined as the perceived utility acquired from an
alternative’s association with one or more specific social groups.
Holbrook and Corfman (1985) demonstrated, with consideration
of the threefold mix of extrinsic and other-oriented (active)
dimension, social value is manifested by status, which mainly
concerned about success, impression and management.

6. Symbolic consumption and social value
Symbolic consumption is crucial in the construction
of meaning and location of social status in daily life, in
which people make consumption choice not only
from the utility but also from the symbolic meaning of
the product.
All consumption has symbolic meaning, that’s why
we study the motivation of symbolic consumption
which is the key component of consumption attitude.

7. Measurement of the Motivation
of Symbolic Consumption
(1) I tell my friends as soon as I buy an apple product.
(2) I show my friends as soon as I buy an apple
product.
(3) I often bring my apple to public places.
(4) I like to bring and use my apple in public.
(5) I always quickly recognize those who use apple in
crowds.
*A seven-point-scale is used. 1 for “totally disagree” to 7 for
“totally agree”.

8. Hypotheses 1
H1a The value of self-accomplishment is positively
related to symbolic consumption.
H1b The value of self-esteem is positively related to
symbolic consumption.
H1c The value of belonging/love is positively related
to symbolic consumption.
H1d The value of safety is positively related to
symbolic consumption.

9. Consumer value
Consumer value entails subjective hierarchical preferences based
on individuals’ situation-specific comparison of one object with
another.
Typology of consumer value
(Holbrook, 1994; 2006; 1985)
Extrinsic Intrinsic
Self-oriented Economic value Hedonic value
Other-oriented Social value Altruistic value

10. Four dimensions of consumer values
Sweeney and Soutar's (2001, p. 210)
(1) Emotional value, the utility derived from the feeling or
affective states that a product generates
(2) Social value (enhancement of social self-concept), the utility
derived from the product’s ability to enhance social self-concept
(3) Functional value (price/value for money), the utility derived
from the product due to the reduction of its perceived short
term and longer term costs
(4) Functional value (performance/quality), the utility derived
from the perceived quality and expected performance of the
product

11. Hypotheses 2
H2a The emotional value is positively related to
symbolic consumption.
H2b The social value is positively related to symbolic
consumption.
H2c The price value is positively related to symbolic
consumption.
H2d The quality value is positively related to symbolic
consumption.

12. Hypotheses 3
Mediation: social and psychological discrepancy.
H3a The discrepancy between the actual and the expected
income is positively related to symbolic consumption.
H3b The discrepancy between the actual and the expected
education level is positively related to symbolic
consumption.
H3c The discrepancy between the actual and the expected
psychological status is positively related to symbolic
consumption.

13. Methods
Survey, November 2010.
Randomly selected undergraduate students , City
University of Hong Kong.
80 classes selected, 24replies (20 permissions and 4
rejections)
350 questionnaires, 301 retrieved, 288 valid.

14. Results
Table 1 Factor Analysis of Human Value Scale
Component
Self-accomplishment Belonging Safety and Fun and
and esteem and love enjoyment excitement
Q1 (9 accomplishment)
.830
Q1 (4 self-fulfillment) .756
Q1 (5 be respected) .693
Q1 (8 self-respect) .676
Q1 (7 security ) .887
Q1 (6 enjoyment) .701
Q1 (1 belonging) .896
Q1 (3 relationship) .701
Q1 (2 excitement) .934
*KMO .873 (df = 36, p = .00)

15. Table 2 Factor Analysis of Perceived Consumption value
Component
Emotional Social Functional Functional
value Value Value 1(Price) Value 1(Quality)
Q8 (7 desirable)
.842
Q8 (6 enjoyable)
.836
Q8 (9 feel good)
.788
Q8 (8 relaxing)
.787
Q8 (10 fun)
.753
Q8 (5 consistent)
.574
Q8 (17 impression)
.893
Q8 (18 achieve acceptance)
.861
Q8 (16 good relationship)
.842
Q8 (15 recognizable)
.795

16. Table 2 Factor Analysis of Perceived Consumption value (continued)
Q8 (13 worthy)
.799
Q8 (11 price reasonable)
.754
Q8 (12 valuable)
.753
Q8 (14 economical)
.729
Q8 (4 quality bad) recode
.838
Q8 (1 quality trustable)
.625
Q8 (3 quality satisfactory)
.621
Q8 (2 quality good)
.612
*KMO .919 (df = 153, p = .00)

17. Table 3 Regression Predicting Symbolic Consumption from Discrepancy of
Expectation and Reality, Human Value and Consumption Value
Unstandardized Coefficients
Independent Variables B Std. Error t Sig.
(Constant) 20.256 1.208 16.766 ***
Discrepancy of psychology .069 .096 .719 .473
Discrepancy of education .458 .272 1.686 .093
Discrepancy of income -.156 .300 -.520 .604
Gender -1.258 .779 -1.615 .108
Grade -.577 .408 -1.415 .158
Emotional value 2.122 .374 5.671 ***
Social value 1.353 .373 3.622 ***
Price value .159 .370 .430 .667
Quality value 1.116 .370 3.020 **
Self accomplishment and respect -.605 .366 -1.653 .099
Safety and enjoyment -.385 .379 -1.017 .310
Belonging and warm relationship -.166 .363 -.458 .647
Fun and excitement .903 .364 2.480 *
* p < .05 ** p < .01 *** p < .001

18. Interpretations
Significant effects concentrated on the layer of consumer
perceived value, only the positive effect of functional value
2(price) on the motivation of symbolic consumption has not been
supported.
Neither the demographic/psychological status nor human value
and is significant in the model except for the dimension of fun and
excitement.
it is not the current nor the expected demographic (income,
education) and psychological status moderate the effect of
human value on the motivation of symbolic consumption.
It is the perceived consumption value which is evoked by the
branding, product design working in the process of mediating the
effect of human value on the motivation of symbolic consumption.

19. Discussion
The layer of consumption value is supported to be
significantly related to symbolic consumption.
The result confirms the validity to predict symbolic consumption
based on individuals’ consumption values.
The significant effect of emotional value implies that the affective
factors may predict the consumption of products as symbols.
And the positive effect of social value reveals that there is much
possibility that symbolic consumption is indeed adopted by
individuals to enhance their social status and attract attention in
public.
The price value is not supported to be related to symbolic
consumption. It implies that when individuals consume products
as symbols of status or attention, they probably consider much
less about the price than the quality and the brand impression.

20. Why not significant
Discrepancy Variables
Defect of the measurement of discrepancy variables.
For example, expected psychological status.
Human value variables
Extracted from the psychological needs model developed by
Maslow. The specific definitions of safety, enjoyment, self
accomplishment and other dimensions are not clarified, which
results in the deficiency of the correspondent measurement.
Measurement focusing on the abstract level of psychological
needs, which wanders around the underlying belief system of
human being.

21. Further test for discussion
Table 4 Correlations of human value and consumption value
Respect and
self-accomplishment Safety and fun Belonging
Excitement
emotional value Pearson Correlation
.177** .081 .148* -.043
Sig. (2-tailed)
.003 .172 .013 .475
social value Pearson Correlation
-.112 -.150* -.091 .128*
Sig. (2-tailed)
.060 .012 .127 .031
Functional value Pearson Correlation
.034 -.103 .030 .114
Sig. (2-tailed)
.572 .083 .617 .055
functional Pearson Correlation
.083 .129* .085 -.047
value2(quality)
Sig. (2-tailed)
.166 .030 .156 .429
N 283
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

22. Inconsistence of social value defined by human values
system(Maslow, 1946&1954; Holbrook, 1985) and that by
consumer perceived value scale(Sweeney & Soutar, 2001).
Sweeney and Soutar (2001, p. 210)
Social value means one appreciated one brand or product as
it would enhance one’s social self-concept or to improve
one’s social status.
Conceptually consistent while actually not the same thing.

23. Thanks For Your Attentions.