Luận án tiến sĩ: Dimensions of luxury service personal values in confucian culture – scale development and validation

In the context of service consumption, the personal value perceived by the customer of the luxury segment, which lies at a higher level of expectation, will be formed from different eval

NGUYEN THI CAM LE Student ID: PBAIU16006

DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

DIMENSIONS OF LUXURY SERVICE PERSONAL VALUES

IN CONFUCIAN CULTURE

- SCALE DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION

HO CHI MINH CITY, September 2022

(ALA A LLL

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HCMC

Prof Dr VO TRONG HOAI

Assoc Prof Dr HOANG

THI PHUONG THAO

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF ABBREVIA'TIOINS 5-5-5 << nga Y

LIST OF TA BLES 5Ÿ << 55 S5 S333 t3 303 1 11 0404030311111 se vii LIST OF FIGURES {<< 555555552 S33 3 3 3 1.1 0403030311111 viii

DECLARATION 5-5-5 5< họ Tọa ix ACKNOWLEDGMEENNT 5-5 5 x

ABSTRACTT 5 5-55 0403010100 010404000100001004040308 0000 xi

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION - <5 55-55 S< se S9 S9 S9sEssesesessesesee 1

1.1 Research probÏ€1m ¿- + xxx S3 ST HT TT HH TT HH hư 1

1.2 Research gap BE .crr35ä.ố 3

1.3 Research Objectives nh n HT Hàn HT Hàn Hàn Tàn 6

1.4 Research design and methodOolOgy - ¿- + + + ‡k+k‡‡EeEexrkerrerrrrke 7

1.4.1 Research sctting ch HH TH HH HH 7 1.4.2 Research in (add 9 1.5 Significance of the Study ch HT như 10 1.6 Organization of the dissertation

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIE

Means — End chain theory c5 tt nh ngư 16 LUXULY OVELVICW oe eceeeececeseneeseeeeseesceecseesesecsesaeecsesseeessesaeeeseeeeeeetereaeeren® 19 Definition of ÏUXUIFY - + 1S TT TT TH TT HH HH 19 LUXULY A00 2 Luxury hospitality S€TVIC€S nh n HH 23 Personal values in marketing ¿- + St EkEekEkerrerrrrke 26 Personal values OV€TVICW ¿+ kh T HH HH ngư 26 Personal values of service consumption in Means — End chain model 28

2.4 Construct of Service Personal Values (SPV) -.sccccsserererree 30 2.4.1 Defining the SPV cOnSTUCẨ cty 30

2.4.2 Measuring the SPV construct 32

2.4.3 Application of the SPV construct in recent research 34

2.5 Confucian cultural difference from Western countries in customer perspective 2.5.1 Confucian cultural impact on consumer perSp€CfIVe ¿+5 55+++ 42 2.5.2 Confucian cultural effects on luxury consump(ION ¿5+5 +++<++ 45 2.6 Underlying and defining Luxury SPV construct of luxury service consumption 1n Confucian CuUÏfUTC ¿+ tk SE ST TT TT HT The 47 2.7 Klbnh l0 (:(4‹3535‹£‹£1515 50 CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY - 5-5555 S5 << <eses< 51 3.1 Measurement perspective in social SCÏCIC€S - ¿c5 + Sc‡cccsxsrerer 51 3.2 Generic steps for scale deVeÌopImef - ¿+ ¿St *£‡EvEekekrrererrke 32 3.3 Scale development process of LUXSPV scale for the Luxury SPV construct — %4

3.4 Research paradigm — A mixed — method approach -‹ + 61

3.4.1 Qualitative researCh - cành nH TT TH TH TH Thành rry 64 3.4.2 Quantitative research có th nh nh nH TH HH nàn Hàn rry 68 3.5 SUIMINAFFV 9111 1211 1 1 11 TH TH TH TH TH TH TH TH TH TH Tư 73 CHAPTER 4 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AND FINDINGS 75

PHASE | Construct definition and content domain (STUDY I) 75

4.1 Sampling oo cece 75

4.2 2000000210010 76

443 Focus group điSCUSSIOIS - - ch vn như 76 44 Analysis and NNỚNG Á 77 4.4.1 Data cố 77 4.4.2 Participant charaCfrISfiCS thi 78 4.4.3 Step 1 — The domain of the Luxury SPV construct - ‹-s+-+<+ 79

4.4.3.1 Service values to experiential lIÍS- ¿cà sEkrrkrrrkrrerre 80 4.4.3.2 Service values to social feCOgTIIẨÏO - 5S *EkEEEEkrkrkrrrrkrkrkek 81 4.4.3.3 Service values to social integration 83 4.4.3.4 Service values to self-enhancement

4.4.3.5 Service values to Face-saving consciousness

4.5 Step 2 — Item generation 88

4.6 SUIMINAFV 1191181 1211 1 1 111g TH TH TT T HT TH TH TH 95

CHAPTER 5 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH AND THE SCALE OF LUXURY

SERVICE PERSONAL VALUES CONSTRUCTT 5-5-5 << << =s<s< 96

5.1 PHASE 2 Judging measurement items (STUDY 2) 96 Step 3 — Content adequacy aSS€SSIT€TI - (1 SH rệt 96 5.2 PHASE 3 Refining the scale (STUDY 3, Analysis sample) 101 Step 4 — Exploratory anaÌSS ¿+ + kkShnnnTHTn HT TH TT HH 101 5.3 PHASE 4 Finalizing the scale (STUDY 4, Validation sample) 106 Step 5 — Confirmatory analysis - ch nh nh nh nàn nhện 106 Step 6 — Reliability tesfing - -¿- + ng TH HT HH re 108 Step 7 — Validity testing ccc tàn HT HH HT HT TH HH TH trệt 109 Step 8 — Replication of the scale (STUDY Š) -¿- 5c St seEreresrrrkrrrrrre 114 5.4 SUIMIMATY oo ai 122

CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION OF RESULTS, CONTRIBUTION AND

LIMITATION OF RESEARCH cccccccscssssscsssssssssessssssssssssessssssssssesssssssssseseees 123

6.1 Discussion of research results ccccccesesseeeeeseseseeeeeescseseeeeeeeeseneeneeeeee 123 6.1.1 The LUXSPV scale disCusSiOn tk rec 123

6.1.2 Discussion on Confucian cultural impact on the LUXSPV scale 129

6.2 Research contributions ¿- ¿+22 S+ SE E2 £*£EezErerrrrkrrrererrre 131

6.2.1 Theoretical contrIDutiOIS ¿- ¿252525 S2 ‡£‡£eetztrererrrrkrerree 131 6.2.2 Managerial impliCatiOIS ¿+ + St TH TT re 134 6.3 Limitations and future r€s€arCH ¿+ ¿+ xxx 136 REFERENCES - Ă Ăn 0000101010101010000101010101000004 I

APPENDIX 1 Qualitative research FSUÏ(S - s5 < «5< «55s s4 s54 945 s£ A Appendix 1.1 Focus group confirmation leff€T eeeeseseeeeeeseeeeeeeteeees A Appendix 1.2 Focus group participant consent form

Appendix 1.3 Focus group discussion protocol

Appendix 1.4 Focus group evaluation form

Appendix 1.5 Physician focus group participant demographics wE

Appendix 1.6 Summary of codes in focus group analysis wF

APPENDIX 2 Quantitative research questionnaire M Appendix 2.1 Translation equivalence r€SuÏfS ¿- ¿+ 5+cscex‡zrerererexexex M Appendix 2.2 Expert judgement fOrim - + ¿+ + Ek*#kEEEEEEkrkrkrrrrkrkrkee O Appendix 2.3 Validating scale qu€sfIOnTIAITC - 6 c3 +vEvvxeeerrrerree S

Appendix 2.4 Replication scale queS{IOnTIAITE -¿- (+ S3 £££vsverrerrre U

APPENDIX 3 Expert judgement r€suÏ{S -< 5<<=5<<ss<<ssssseesessssessez Y APPENDIX 4 Exploratory analysis results -<-es<<s<<eseesesssseesez BB

Appendix 4.1 Frequency of the analysis and validation sample - - BB Appendix 4.2 Frequency of replication sample ‹- ¿+ + c+s‡++x+v£erexexexe+ BB Appendix 4.3 EFA outputs of eliminating items process from the initially proposed

SCA Co BB Appendix 4.4 EFA outputs of the final four — factor solution of analysis sample GG Appendix 4.5 EFA outputs of replication sampÌe - ‹- ¿+ csssx+xsrerexree+ JJ

APPENDIX 5 Cronbach’ alpha reSuÏ(S -<-<5<<=5<<5s<<ssssseesessssessez MM

Appendix 5.1 Cronbach’ Alpha results of analysis sampÌe - «+ MM Appendix 5.2 Cronbach’ Alpha results of validation sample ‹- + OO Appendix 5.3 Cronbach’ Alpha results of replication sample ‹- ‹-+ QQ Appendix 5.4 Correlation outputs of validation sampÏe - ¿+ -+=++++x+<+ SS Appendix 5.5 Correlation outputs of replication sampÌe - ¿+ s s++++++=+ TT

APPENDIX 6 Confirmatory analysis r€SuÌ(S -<-5s<<==<<5s<<s<<sssese+ UU

Appendix 6.1 CMV test OufDUS ¿tàn TT TH TT UU Appendix 6.2 CFA outputs of validation sampÏe - -¿- +5 s+x+vcevreeeee UU

pendix 6.3 CFA outputs of second-order factor model of validation sample

pendix 6.4 CFA outputs of replication analysis ¿- ¿5 +5+c+cec+x+zerer

pendix 6.5 CFA outputs of second-order factor model of replication sample

PENDIX 7 x2-difference of constrained models

PENDIX 8 Outputs of competing models

pendix 8.1 Four-uncorrelated factor model

pendix 8.2 One- factor model - ‹- ¿+ + SE k SE T HT ng rệt

pendix 8.3 Null mOdel - ¿+ ¿+ 222223122 E2EEEE2E21 2 1171711 E111 re

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IIS

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

AVE Average Variance Extracted

CFA Confirmatory Factor Analysis

CFI Comparative Fit Index

CMV Common Method Variance

CVI Content Validity Index

CVR Content Validity Ratio

FGD Focus Group Discussion

GFI Goodness of Fit Index

SRMR Standardized Root Mean Residual

SVS Schwartz’s Value Survey

SVSI Service Values to Social Integration

SVPL Service Values to Peaceful Life

SVSR Service Values to Social Recognition

RVS Rokeach’s Value Survey

PA Percentage Agreement

PVQ Portrait Value Questionnaire

Chi-square

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1: The SERPVAL scale cecessssesesesssesesesesesesesneneeesesesesesnsneeneeeaeeceeeeeets 33 Table 2.2: Diversity impact of SPV on customer behaviOr -¿- 5 š++5<c++ 38

Table 3.1: A comparison between qualitative and quantitative resarch 61

Table 3.2: Content adequacy aSS€SSIN€TI( (Street 69 Table 4.1: Sample demographics of focus group - ¿5 5+ c+cec++cerer 78 Table 4.2: Emerged themes and sample codes from focus group analysis 79

Table 4.3: The aggregate of lists of personal vaÏues ¿-¿- + sxsssvcexsecex 91 Table 4.4: Potential measurement items of the LUXSPV scale - 93

Table 5.1: The distribution of jud€S ¿c1 96 Table 5.2: Content validity assessment results for potential measurement items 98

Table 5.3: Participants’ demographics of analysis and validation sample 102

Table 5.4: Cronbach Alpha results for the reduced list of 13 Items of analysis sample Table 5.5: Explanatory factor analysis results for the reduced list of 13 Items of analysis sample TT 105

Table 5.6: Measurement properties of the LUXSPV scale of validation sample 107

Table 5.7: Measurement properties of the LUXSPV scale of validation sample 109

Table 5.8: Validity testing of the LUXSPV scale of validation sample 110

Table 5.9: Correlations among the LUXSPV consfrucfs ¿+ sex 111 Table 5.10: x2-difference test of validation sample ¿- ¿ ¿+5 +c+x+x+cerer 112 Table 5.11: Confirmatory factor analysis results for competing models of validation U50 112

Table 5.12: Participants’ demographics of replication sample 118

Table 5.13: Nomological validity of replication sample

Table 5.14: Replication analysis of the LUXSPV scale of replication sample Table 6.1: Benchmarks between the LUXSPV and SERPVAL scale

Figure 2.1:

Figure 2.2:

Figure 2.3:

Figure 2.4:

Figure 3.1:

Figure 3.2:

Figure 3.3:

Figure 4.1:

Figure 4.2:

Figure 4.3:

Figure 4.4:

Figure 4.5:

Figure 4.6:

Figure 5.1:

Figure 5.2:

Figure 5.3:

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

The theoretical background framework 13 Means — End Chain Model.

Means — End model relating Price, Quality, Value.

SPV construct in the Means — end chain model 31

The LUXSPV scale development process - 5-55 ++c+£ 55 Mix-method approach of research paradigm ¿5+ ce+++c+> 63 Reserach design for focus QrOUPS c:cccceeeeeseeeeeeeestseteteeeeeteeseeeeeee 64 Words cloud of experiential life domain ¿- ¿c5 55s c+cccccee+ 81 Words cloud of social recognition domain - 5-55 sex+ec+x> 82 Words cloud of social intergration domain ‹- 5 5+ £+c+x+xzx++ 84 Words cloud of self-enhancement domain - ¿5-55 c+c+c+++x++ 85 Words cloud of Face-saving consciousness domain - -‹- 87

Words cloud of the Luxury SPV construct domain ‹- -‹- «+ 88

CFA model of LUXSPV scale of validation sample - 108

Second-order model of LUXSPV scale of validation sample 114

Second-order model of LUXSPV scale of replication sample 121

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work All references and citations are made in accordance with the prescribed standards Personal information related to interviewers and survey respondents is encrypted and kept confidential according to ethical standards of behavioral research.

Ho Chi Minh city, September 6, 2022

Author

Nguyen Thi Cam Le

The decision on starting my Ph.D was not easy and made with careful consideration During this journey, I have experienced many undulating waves of challenges that are full of inevitable highs and lows Personally, I have grown a lot and those obstacles have enriched my life with colorful versions.

To reach the destination, 1 am wholeheartedly grateful to my husband and two young daughters for their greatest love, sacrifice, and encouragement I am thankful to them for always being by my side on this journey They strongly motivated me to keep myself inspired to achieve my goals.

I also would like to give my deepest gratitude to my dearest parents who have been silently beside me in my career and education since I was a child until now in the most loving way And my special gratitude also goes to my other beloved family members who always give me sympathy and constant encouragement.

Furthermore, I am extremely thankful to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Vo Thi Quy, who always provided valuable knowledge and gave well-guided advice to me This thesis was keeping on track thanks to her intellectual support.

Last but not least, I also would like to express my gratefulness to my best friends and colleagues as the long road I have traveled would certainly have been bumpier without vital support from them.

ABSTRACT

The global shift of the luxury market across national borders has attracted attention from researchers in recent years Luxury products are no longer a niche sector for only the wealthy They have become a prospering market for a vastly enlarged clientele encompassing the upper-middle class Luxury highlights the complex interplay between the individual and contextual influences and is mainly conceptualized through pleasure and special feelings in comparison with ordinary experiences Luxury service not only carries common service characteristics but also conveys distinctive advantages such as experiential delights and symbolic utilities Hence, the luxury service should emphasize its differences from luxury goods consumption and the influence of cultural basis.

Consumer behaviorists have long recognized the importance of values in consumer psychology Values are at the highest abstract level in the means-end chain model reflecting the hierarchical cognitive order of customers Moreover, personal values are the mind frame of individuals in life and connote strong emotional impacts such as happiness and fun Regarding service usage, the means-end chain model’s highest level is the construct of service personal values, which is initially proposed by Lages & Fernandes (2005) to express the service’s contents associated with the personal values of customers In terms of the extraordinary phenomenon of luxury consumption, luxury service customers deal with maximizing their personal utility to satisfy their desires and psychological goals Hence, overall luxury value perception depends on the cultural setting and the people involved In the context of service consumption, the personal value perceived by the customer of the luxury segment, which lies at a higher level of expectation, will be formed from different evaluations compared to other segments.

Confucianism is a culmination of thoughts of the social philosophy that defines Confucian customers’ individuality and influences their behaviors, standards, and viewpoints Confucian ideology has significantly impacted the lives of people in Eastern culture for thousands of years Furthermore, Confucianism’s philosophy significantly

This thesis utilized the mixed-method approach which focused on a rigorous multi-stage scale development process with five separate studies The qualitative research conducted three focus group discussions while the quantitative approach conformed recommendation of the four-step procedure to develop and validate the measurement instruments The participants were customers who have used luxury hospitality services in Vietnam, where Confucianism is the dominant cultural paradigm.

The findings proposed the new construct of luxury service personal values in line with a newly developed scale, namely LUXSPV, which contains four dimensions: experiential life, self-enhancement, social recognition, and social integration to measure customers’ personal values for luxury service consumption The Confucian cultural impact on the scale was discovered through the qualitative research findings in terms of Service values to face-saving consciousness dimension, however, it was not finally verified in the LUXSPV scale The research findings also supported the positive relationship between the LUXSPV scale, and customers’ satisfaction and positive word- of-mouth.

This study takes a broader view in order to present the personal values which are seen as the desired end in the customers’ cognitive hierarchy for luxury service consumption On the theoretical aspect, the current research provides scholars the awareness of a wide variety of service tiers from the customer perspective, which is an important starting point to enhance a different conceptualization and deep insight into the definition of luxury consumption The research findings also explicate further understanding of the Confucian culture In terms of practical implications, the current

research implies that the personal values constitute the customers’ cognitive lens through which they view the world Personal values reflect customers’ priorities on luxury service consumption Thus, a key to success for both luxury service marketers and operators lies in providing services that enhance customers’ personal values, which allow service providers to intercommunicate with the consumers’ core.

The present study suffers from limitations, which offer the potential for further research The question of the generalizability of research results was raised due to the samples used in this study In specific, the convenience sampling method might incur a limitation in that it is at risk of uncertain confounders In relation to cultural effects, there has been a change in cultural awareness in those Confucianist countries that today have well integrated with Western cultures (e.g., China, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore) This entails the appearance of a generation of customers whose “viewpoints and attitudes are profoundly different from those of their parents” (Moore 2005, p.357) This might affect the impact of Confucian culture on customer perspectives Although such limitations are often unavoidable, the research findings are not detracted from the significance and give

a foundation for future research Further study should perform the empirical verification

of the LUXSPV scale in a wide range of luxury hospitality services concerning different cultural domains.

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research problem

In recent decades, luxury market has been changing with global shifts across national borders Luxury fever, the social phenomenon of a luxury spending boom, has been increasingly significant in the past two decades mainly because of the entry of new consumers into this segment every day (Ajitha & Sivakumar, 2017) The global luxury industry was worth approximately USD915 billion in 2018 and is forecasted to reach about USD1,260 billion by 2024 (D’ Arpizio et al., 2018) The luxury market comprises

a diversity of categories with positive performance across segments In 2018, more than 80% of the total luxury market was led by luxury cars, luxury hospitality, and personal luxury goods (D’Arpizio et al., 2019) Also, the total number of consumers of luxury market has almost tripled over the past twenty years and is estimated to gain tremendous growth in the future (D’Arpizio et al., 2019).

The luxury market today has a significant change in its segments Due to the prosperity and extensive urbanization, the customer base of the luxury market has been broadening in recent years (Ajitha & Sivakumar, 2017) Nowadays, luxury is no longer

a niche sector for only the wealthy and has become a prospering market for vastly enlarged clientele and encompassed the upper-middle class (Truong & Mccoll, 2011) Specifically, the purchasing power of emerging markets has dominated the luxury segment globally in line with the booming of the social upper-middle-class such as China, India, and South East Asia (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2019) In these markets, the wealthy and upper-middle-class are termed “those who move up in society” (Solca, 2016, p.1) to desire the pleasure of sophisticated products, experiences, and lifestyles (Kapferer & Valette-Florence, 2019).

It is obvious that the luxury market is growing and expanding, but ‘rules of the game’ are changing very quickly Accordingly, the rise of the experiential segment (e.g., high-end wine and food, luxury hotels, and exclusive vacations) brings a significant trend of a fundamental shift, from owning to being, in consumer behavior The majority of customers are tending to buy fewer products and purchase more experiences (D’ Arpizio et al., 2019) Luxury consumption tends to pivot towards luxury

experiences rather than possessions, which makes the expression of luxury look very different By 2024, the experiential luxury market is projected about EUR1,1260 billion (Boston Consulting Group, 2020, July 27) For the luxury hospitality industry, the luxury hotel market is projected to reach USD238.49 billion by 2028, and the robust demand for premium hotel services worldwide has driven the market growth (Fortune Business Insights, 2021, Aug 30) Especially, the performance of luxury hotels has been extending and much more diversified within Vietnam In particular, the luxury hotel market plays a notable role in national economic development and is a key segment of Vietnam’s major developing metropolitan cities such as Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, Phu Quoc, Nha Trang, Da Nang Furthermore, the luxury hospitality market has been divided into different regional segments where cultural similarities within a segment such as the Confucian dynamism of Eastern culture are recognized as a salient factor to better serve the customers Hence, Confucian cultural understanding is a leading shift that helps luxury hospitality service providers to fully understand the connotations of congregated data to dominate the Confucian cutural market.

The growth of the luxury market worldwide has promoted research in the luxury service field at a rapid pace (Wirtz et al., 2020) Those of studies primarily focused on investigation of luxury phenomenon and its implications for consumer behavior and marketing management (Hung, 2018) Recent research revealed that there is a psychological relationship between consumer and luxury hotel service consumption (Zhang et al., 2020) Consumers strongly associate luxury accommodation service consumption with satisfying some benefits, goals, and values that are important to them (Manfreda et al., 2022) In an effort to emphasize the prominence of luxury accommodation services, personal values are seen as a frame of mind for customers to appreciate luxury service consumption (Hung, 2018; Wirtz et al., 2020) Personal values are part of human lives and have a strong emotional impact on individuals such as fun and security (Chattalas & Shukla, 2015) They explicate the meaning that consumers are oriented towards inner thoughts and feelings (Vigneron & Johnson, 2004) Also, personal values denote customers’ motivation and aspiration being sought from luxury accommodation service consumption across different cultures (Zhang & Zhao, 2019; Manfreda et al., 2022) Consequently, scholars call for more research on how customers

in the different cultures shape different meanings of the luxury construct based on their perceived personal values (e.g Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019; Zhang et al., 2020).

1.2 Research gap

Luxury services are extraordinary hedonic experiences that are exclusive (Wirtz

et al., 2020) Although scholars have emphasized the upward movement of luxury services in the luxury market recently, the notion of luxury service consumption has not been thoroughly studied (Gurzki & Woisetschlager, 2017) For example, academic research has not clearly clarified the dissimilarity of luxury hospitality from luxury tangible product consumption (Yang & Mattila, 2017) Nowadays, service-dominant logic is the groundwork for both service customers and producers to synchronously participate in the service-producing process Thus, the prominence of luxury services is significant factor that goes beyond the ordinary divide into tangible—intangible nature, and producer—consumer relation (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015) Due to the inseparability and uniqueness in nature, luxury hospitality service is the typical type of enhancing services for customers (Lovelock & Patterson, 2015) In comparison with ordinary services, luxury hospitality service highlights the complex interaction between the individual and contextual impacts and is mostly conceptualized through pleasure and special feeling (Hung, 2018) The extant luxury service literature depicts luxury hospitality service as the typical enhancing customer service type (Wirtz et al., 2020;

Ko et al., 2019), of which luxury accommodation is now encapsulated in a broader definition that combines its objective attributes and the subjective experience being provided to its guests (Manfreda, 2022) Therefore, luxury accommodation such as luxury hotel service has been the principal part of the “experience economy” (Brien et al., 2012).

The personal value system, which is seen as a basis of an individual’s lifestyle, provides a consulting frame for him/her to appraise a good or bad thing, whether or not significance (Lages & Fernandes, 2005; Zhang & Zhao, 2019) This notion drives customers of luxury hospitality services to seek personal values that are compatible with those preeminent circumstances Moreover, customers’ overall evaluation of service usage is correspondent with their perception of personal values, which is conceptualized through the service personal values (SPV) construct of Lages & Fernandes (2005) The

SPV construct is measured by SERPVAL scale and categorized into three broad groups

of personal values: peaceful life, social recognition, and social integration (Lages & Fernandes, 2005) The SERPVAL scale was formulated using the quantitative approach

in mobile service setting in the Western cultural context It reflects hierarchical cognitive structure in the means-end chain model to interpret the decision-making process of customer in service marketing In other words, when a consumer judges and decides to buy a service, there are four hierarchical levels of cognitive structure on evaluating the service, which will be reinstated in his/her own conception These four cognitive levels include service attribute, service quality, service value, and personal values (Chattalas & Shukla, 2015; Nwankwo et al., 2014; Lages & Fernandes, 2005) Because luxury hospitality services’ nature is perishable and intangible, customers also tend to convey unique benefits such as experiential enjoyment and symbolic value (Lu

et al., 2015; Hung, 2018; Zhang et al., 2020) Specifically, personalized living experience in line with luxury hospitality service consumption will “[allow] consumers

to feel a greater sense of beauty, achievement and success and thus [improve] their quality of life” (Kim & Kwon, 2017, p.124) For the reasons given above, customers’ personal values resulted from luxury hospitality service consumption are not accounted

in SERPVAL to measure the SPV construct of Lages & Fernandes (2005).

Culture has a close relationship with customers’ preferences regarding personal values because social norm is a common component in customer psychology (Li et al., 2012; Zhang & Zhao, 2019; Manfreda et al., 2022) Moreover, Confucianism, which originated in China 5,000 years ago, has spread to many other Asian countries such as Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam (Wong & Ahuvia, 1998) Confucianism has constantly remained its influence on East Asian countries, which underpins the social and moral fabric to demonstrate a unique Asian identity (Stanworth et al., 2014) Despite the global modernization, traditional values still strongly impact on the customer behavior in different cultural contexts (Chandrasekara & Wijetunga, 2016) There are cultural differences between Eastern and Western customers regarding luxury consumption While Western society is acquainted with individualism, Eastern culture focuses on the collectivist psyche, thus Eastern customers heavily depend on other- directed symbolic/expressive values, wherein social recognition can be achieved

through luxury consumption (Manfreda et al., 2022) Thus, extraordinary experiences

of luxury hospitality services vary on a cultural basis For example, individualistic

French customers evaluate luxury hotel services according to abstract concepts such as freedom, space, or time while collectivist Chinese customers rely on concrete concepts such as ornate decorations and green spaces (Lu et al., 2015; Yang et al., 2017) Besides,

luxury hospitality service consumption is interpreted as luxurious experiences and

depends on the interaction between service context and customer Therefore, overall luxury value perception in Confucian cultural setting combines dissimilar judgments on

sub-dimensions (Manfreda et al., 2022) Confucian customers show priorities ofpersonal values that seem to have more influence on behavioral outcomes than others

(Zhang et al., 2020) For example, Confucian customers have a greater tendency to conspicuously consume luxuries and expect that luxury hotel consumption can enhance

their individual’s or group’s face (Hung, 2018) Furthermore, Confucian consumers

strongly depict their individuality or illustrate their social standing by engaging in conspicuous consumption of luxury hotel services (Li et al., 2012) Also, scholars reveal that conspicuous consumption in hotel setting still remains insufficiency of

understanding the means and end of such behaviors (Manfreda et al., 2022) Moreover,although social conformity is proved as a prominent factor that Confucian consumers

look for in general conspicuous consumption, Hung (2018) claimed that social

differentiation and self-concept are the key motives of Chinese conspicuousconsumption in the luxury hotel setting Hence, SPV is the core facet that helps

customers judge whether luxury service attributes are consistent with their personal values for selecting a luxury hospitality service (Li et al., 2012) However, the Confucian cultural aspect of luxury service consumption has not been examined in the

SERPVAL scale to reflect a culmination of thoughts of Confucianism

Despite the measurement of SPV has gained lots of attention from scholars recently, the related scales’ dimensionality and generalizability have put a limit on the

ordinary services and Western cultural boundaries Since its introduction in 2005,

studies on SPV have not yet covered the diversity of service industries nor distinguished between cultures In particular, the SPV has not carried luxurious-related elements of luxury services to manifest the highest degree of personal values with complex

requirements (Hung et al., 2011; Truong et al., 2010; Zhang & Zhao, 2019) Moreover,

studies on SPV under the cultural-based effects are underrepresented in the literature (Thuy et al., 2016) The important level of a specific personal value tends to vary in line with the culture that sculpts an individual’s frame of mind (Durvasula et al., 2011) and type of the service (Hung, 2018) Consequently, further research is demanded to explore

more new components of the original SPV construct associated with the cultural and

luxury service nature (Lages & Fernandes 2005; Thuy & Hau 2010; Durvasula et al.,

2011; Zhang & Zhao, 2019)

Hence, there is a remarkable gap that retains in existing knowledge of how tomeasure customers’ personal values — the highest layer in consumers’ cognitive

hierarchy in congruence with luxury hospitality service consumption under Confucian customer perspective From the marketing view, practitioners demand models to inspect

and explain the manner that consumers become conscious of luxury hospitality services

in association with customers’ self in different cultures (Zhang et al., 2020; Wirtz et al., 2020) In an attempt to shorten this theoretical gap, the pivot of further research should

be repositioned on the customer—centric rather than the product-centric towards

understanding how luxury is constructed by customers’ personal values It is alsoconsistent with recent calls for more research for a better understanding of how

customers’ personal goals shape the meaning of luxury (e.g., Manfreda et al., 2022; Seo

& Buchanan-Oliver, 2019; Zhang & Zhao, 2019; Gurzki & Woisetschlager, 2017).Thus, the current study aims to fulfill the identified gap by capturing the distinctiveness

in measuring customers’ personal values and investigating the Confucian cultural effects on luxury hospitality service consumption It could deepen our understanding of how personal values explicate differences between luxury and ordinary hospitality

services, which are also governed by cultural influences

1.3 Research objectives

The overall objective of the current study is to understand the customer’s personal

values that are associated with luxury service consumption in Confucian culture This

current study is conducted to achieve the following specific research objectives:

e First, to base on the SPV construct of Lages & Fernandes (2005) to define a new

construct of service personal values for luxury hospitality service consumption.

e Second, to explore the domain of the new construct in specifying whether it is a

unidimensional or multidimensional construct

e Third, to develop a measurement scale for the underlying construct in measuring

customers’ personal values toward luxury hospitality service consumption in the

Confucian culture

1.4 Research design and methodology

1.4.1 Research setting

The setting of current study was luxury hospitality industry in Vietnam, a

Confucian culture Vietnam has become a leading tourist destination due to its natural and cultural diversity It has been recorded an enormous growth in tourism of Vietnam

in recent years (World Bank, 2019) According to World Bank report in 2019, the

number of tourism trips in Vietnam has quadrupled over the past decade with 15.5

million international arrivals and 80 million domestic trips in 2018, thereby boosting the luxury hospitality sector Moreover, foreign tourists travel to Vietnam from various

countries The proportion of Asian travelers formed 81% of the foreign visitors in 2019,

of which Chinese and Korean tourists hold the two largest number of travelers with

about 5.2 million and 3.2 million, respectively (Grant Thornton, 2019) The annual

growth rate of visitors from Europe, America, Oceania, and Africa rose by 13.4%,10.2%, 0.4%, and 19.8%, respectively, in 2019 As the higher number of travelersstaying at luxurious hotels expands gradually year by year, opulent accommodation is

a potential segment The luxury segment is leading the market of the hotel industry,

which has been significantly increased in terms of both the occupancy and revenue perroom (Mordor intelligence, 2022, April 16) The performance of luxury hotels has been

extending and much more diversified within Vietnam In particular, the luxury hotel market plays a notable role in national economic development and is a key segment of

Vietnam’s major developing metropolitan cities such as Ho Chi Minh, Ha Noi, PhuQuoc, Nha Trang, Da Nang In these cities, a variety of luxurious hotels of reputable

brands are built and invested such as Hilton, InterCon, JW Mariott, Accor, Six Senses,

Amanoi, Vinpearl and so on In 2019, the average occupancy rate at 5-star hotels inVietnam remained at a high proportion of 75.6% It was evaluated that more than 442four-star and five-star hotels were opened in Vietnam for the period 2015 — 2019, and

150 luxury hotel properties were set to be open in 2020, with an average annual growth

rate of 21% since 2015 (Grant Thornton, 2019, July 11) Being different from mass

tourism, tourists of the upmarket frequently travel in small groups with distinctive requirements for uniqueness and unusual experiences to get a memorable journey Over

the period from 2020 to 2021, COVID-19 pandemic has shut down travel betweencountries Thus, Vietnam’s hospitality industry sharply declined and almost relied on

domestic tourists However, the post-pandemic outlook of the luxury hotel industry in Vietnam is still optimistic with the engagement of many prestigious international

operating brands

Previous studies (e.g., Jain et al., 2015; Zhang & Zhao, 2019) pointed out that

the growth from emerging economies entails the emergence of upper-middle-class of middle-aged individuals who are considered to be new successful generations in

society These new clients usually possess high education, good carriers, and are eager

to be internationally integrated and express themselves through luxury consumptions (Deloitte, 2018) The booming of the middle class in Asia not only determines the continent’s future but also has a vigorous global effect According to World Bank report

in 2019, Vietnam is one of the countries that have the highest rapid rise in the middleclass (World Bank, 2020, July 29) Vietnam’s population was estimated at about 97million in 2018 and projected 120 million by 2050, of which emerging middle-classaccounted for 13% of the population in 2018 and was anticipated to hit 26% by 2026.Furthermore, Confucianism is an ideology that has a profound and long-lasting

influence on Vietnamese society It is the foundation of moral education for people, greatly contributes to the organization of the state, maintains the social order, economic

development, literary writing in the monarchial dynasties such as the Ly Dynasty, theTran Dynasty, the Le Dynasty, and the Nguyen Dynasty (Nguyen, 2009) Thus,

Confucianism has strongly shaped the way of life, behavior, morality, and human interaction in Vietnamese society (Monkhouse et al., 2013) Besides, Confucian

dynamism is consistent between the individual and societal levels (Hofstede & Bond,

1988; Robertson & Hoffman, 2000; Monkhouse et al, 2013) Given the above characteristics, the current study’s research setting is considered appropriate and

necessary in the circumstance that both researchers and marketers have been trying to

intensify knowledge about luxury consumption and extend the luxury market’s customer base.

1.4.2 Research scope

e Target population: customers who use the luxury hospitality services in the

Confucian culture Target respondents are customers who have used luxury

hospitality services at least one time within the past three months in Vietnam

e Periods of research: The research’s duration was from 2018 to 2020 with five

main phases as follows:

- Phase 1 (from September 2018 to February 2019): theoretical overview

- Phase 2 (from March 2019 to April 2019): qualitative research

- Phase 3 (June 2019): expert research

- Phase 4 (from July 2019 to early November 2019): 1st quantitative research

- Phase 5 (from second half of November 2019 to February 2020): 2nd quantitative research.

e Research methodology:

The scale development procedure follows a rigorous process to ensure establishing

a measure that is reliable and valid for the SPV construct This enhances the evaluation

of Confucian customers’ personal value for luxury service consumption The study uses

a mixed-method orientation which was designed in two main stages:

v The qualitative phase uses the focus group discussion (FGD) method to identifies

prominent themes that leads to forming a new conceptual framework to expand

the categories of existing SPV construct.

vx The quantitative phase includes expert research and quantitative research In

specific, the expert research assessed the content adequacy for selecting suitablemeasurement items which are compitable with specific components of the

proposed conceptual framework resulted from the previous qualitative research.

The quantitative research explores and verifies the new components in line with

the assessments of construct validity and reliability to develop the new scale for measuring the expanded SPV construct The new scale is formalized by

examining a variety of analytical research techniques such as assessment ofreliability (Cronbach Alpha), Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), confirmatory

factor analyses (CFA), common method variance (CMV), and x2-differencetests Moreover, the replicating quantitative research is also conducted to make

further support the newly developed scale.

1.5 Significance of the study

The current study provides better understanding of customers’ personal values

which is a crucial way to comprehensively define luxury service in different cultures

Thus, this study is beneficial for both academic research and managerial perspective in various ways:

First, this study makes significant theoretical contributions to those of previouswork as follows:

As management science has pushed personal values forward to become the

leading notion of prioritized research areas, the current study contributes to the extantliterature with a new construct, Luxury SPV, which is an expansion of the current

understanding to explore the Confucian customers’ personal values for luxury service

consumption

In addition, the newly developed scale, LUXSPV, provides researchers with a

tool to quantitatively measure the customers’ attainment of the end-states for luxuryservice consumption, which are conveyed through the measurable concept of personal

value.

The current study investigated personal values being seen as the cognitive

representations of self, which are in association with luxury service consumption from

the Confucian customer perspective This conveys the differences between Western and Eastern cultures, which have not been outlined in previous studies Hence, this study

offers the distinction of the personal values-based construct relating to luxury services

in Confucian culture

Second, the current research will benefit marketers in deciding which marketing strategy should be employed by revealing and quantifying the psychological aspects of

individual customers associated with luxury service consumption

The new categories of the new scale provide some guidance on luxury service

business strategies The current study explicates that customers desire differentiation or

personalization in luxury services In this regard, this research gives some awareness to

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luxury service providers on how effective marketing strategies should be focused onsatisfying these customers’ goals.

This study pushes new paradigms which are beneficial for luxury service providers to better understand about psychological dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures in contemporary society to shed new light on Confucianism The

findings implicate that Confucian culture has undergone many changes to reflect the

contradictory nature of modern society Based on that, some Confucian cultural values have been strengthened while others have reduced their influence on consumer behaviors Therefore, this study proposed practical implications for marketing

managers in related fields to deeply understand customers and appropriate tactics toconquer customers in the Confucian culture

In sum, the current study contributes the better understanding of the personalvalue-based construct to the extant literature and provides marketing strategies for

practitioners in relation to luxury service consumption.

1.6 Organization of the dissertation

The dissertation comprises six chapters Chapter 1 provides a brief overview ofthe current research and highlights the research significance This chapter introducesthe research problem, research objectives, research questions, and methodology that

were investigated in the dissertation Chapter 2 presents the theoretical background

related to luxury consumption, personal values, and Confucian culture within servicemarketing Also, this chapter gives special attention to extant research which is relevant

to customers’ personal values in Confucian culture to express a theoretical lack of consistency in measuring the personal value of customers in luxury service consumption Chapter 3 proposes the research methodology used in this study This

chapter presents a four-phase rigorous process which is described in eight specific steps

for developing a measurement scale Chapter 4 provides an analysis and discussion on

qualitative research findings in line with phase 1 of the scale development process.Chapter 5 goes through the quantitative approach that was conducted in three

quantitative studies in the next three phases, which are consistent from step 2 to step 8

in the scale development process Finally, the study discusses about the research results,

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suggests the implications for marketing researchers and practitioners, and states itslimitations in methodology to put forward further research in Chapter 6.

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CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Theoretical background

Theories play an important role as a foundation for the researchers to build

research models in the literature Kerlinger defines theory as “a set of interrelatedconstructs (concepts), definitions, and propositions that present a systematic view of

phenomena specifying relations among variables, with the purpose of explaining and

predicting the phenomena” (Kerlinger, 1973, p.9) In the current study, the theoreticalsummary shows that there are three main background theories including: (1) Self-

concept theory; (2) Social comparison theory; and (3) Means — End chain theory The set of background theories that establish the theoretical framework used for this thesis

is illustrated in Figure 2.1 as follows:

Self-concept

Consequences

Figure 2.1: The theoretical background framework

Source drawn by author

In the above theoretical framework, the Means-End chain theory is the main andmost important theory that plays a fundamental role in explaining the relationship

between the cognitive evaluation of luxury service consumption and personal values in

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customer behavior In specific, the current study lies in enlarging MEC theory's latitude

by integrating self-concept as a micro-component In the current research's

conceptualization, the means represent product knowledge or service attributes, and the ends represent aspects of consumers’ self-knowledge that vary in different situations Thus, the MEC model becomes enhanced with individualism, symbolism, and

experiential aspects This approach provides a new consumer-centric perspective on

existing MEC and opens new avenues for further research Furthermore, the current study uses social comparison to determine the accuracy and appropriateness of the

thoughts, feelings, and behavior of the customers When luxury services' customers areable to compare themselves favorably with others through downward social

comparison, they feel good about themselves Thereby forming the basis for the concept

of self-worth related to the consumption of luxury services represented by the LuxurySPV construct The main argument of each theory is presented in the following content.2.1.1 Self- concept theory

Self-concept theory mentions a throughout idea in terms of any facet that composes an entity of human being encompassing physical, emotional, social, and spirit

(McConnell, 2011) The Self-concept is “typically my self-conception is a vague butvitally felt idea of what I am like in my best moments, of what I am striving toward and

have some encouragement to believe I can achieve, or of what I can do when the

situation supplies incentives for unqualified effort” (Turner, 1968, p.98) Gecas (1982)stated that the Self-concept is also multidimensional to reflect individual aspects and

relates to several other “self” constructs due to the psychological “cognitive revolution” such as self-esteem, self-awareness, self-evaluation, and self-image.

Scholars regard consumers’ possessions as parts of customers’ selves (James,

1890; Belk, 1988) Specifically, James (1890, p 291-292) declared that is “a man’s Self

is the sum total of all that he CAN call his not only his body and his psychic powers, but his clothes and his house, his wife and children, his ancestors and friends his

reputation and works, his lands, and yacht and bank-account All these things give him

the same emotions If they wax and prosper, he feels triumphant; if they dwindle and die away, he feels cast down, - not necessarily in the same degree for each thing, but in

much the same way for all.” Based on the declaration of James that our possessions are

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summed to denote who we are, Belk (1988, p 140) raised the Extended-self concept,

as “the major categories of extended self as body, internal processes, ideas, and

experiences, and those persons, places, and things to which one feels attached” In other words, “possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of our identities”, and

experiences play the most notable part among supplementary extended-self sorts forexpressing extended-self (Belk, 1988, p 140)

The self-concept has been studied for decades The results confirmed that consumer behaviour is strongly affected by need of expression of self-identity According to Jakob (2020), there are three types of self-concept including actual, ideal,

and social self-image, which are reflected by consumer behaviour In specific, the actualself-concept expresses a person’s current image that is currently perceived from his orher current state Differently, the ideal self-concept of a person is a future potential self-concept that is constituted by the attainment of the desired image Separately, the social

self-concept is an individual’s reflected image being shaped by others that an individual believes that it might be attached to him In terms of luxury consumption, the self- concept theory enables scholars to explain the luxury consumption from the customers’

self (Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019) Thus, previous research clarified the importancerole of personal values of luxury consumption for enhancing the customers’ self-

concept (e.g., Wong & Ahuvia, 1998; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004; Shukla & Purani,

2012; Ko et al., 2019; Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019) In particular, the extended-selfconcept is indicated as an important factor of brand luxury index scale (Vigneron &

Johnson, 2004) The self-concept is also the salient factor to explain the customers’ desire for symbolic value of luxury consumption (Han & Huyn, 2018) To sum up, the concept of self influences to the customer choices and expresses the desired values of

consumers.

2.1.2 Social comparison theory

Social comparison theory is stated by Wood (1996) as “the process of thinking

about information about one or more people in relation to the self’ This theory has long

been studied and proven correct in a variety of human contexts such as customer satisfaction of project management (Haverila & Fehr, 2016), customer perceived value

on the retail banking industry (Vera & Trujillo, 2013a) Social comparisons also occur

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when a first-class airline service customer has priority in check-in counter Accordingly,the comparison with other people in line with self-evaluation status give the customerthe self-enhancement awareness (Dréze & Nunes, 2009).

Status comparison is one of the social comparison modes, in which superior status is defined as the social position of a person in relation to his or her recognition,

prestige, and social power The comparison with others naturally occurs regardless of

whether the customer intends to do or not, which demonstrates the important role of the superior status (Drezé & Nunes, 2009) The upward comparison can occur when a person compares himself or herself to someone who has a higher position On the other

side, downward comparison appeared when he/she looks down on people whose lower

status For example, customers of business class airline services usually make a downward comparison because they are served more premium services than those who

share the same flight Based on that, high-end service customers enhance their

self-appraisal and self-esteem (Osaki & Kubota, 2016) Moreover, previous studies explained that social downward comparison stems from the customers’ perception of the product’s superiority and affects customer loyalty (Gerber et al., 2018) More

specifically, due to social downward comparison for the business airline services, thesoft service benefits such as special rights for check-in counter, waiting list, and

customized connections are seen as effective ways to bring customers the positive

feeling of superior status (Osaki & Kubota, 2016) In the same vein, Kotler et al (2013)proved that product superiority, which enhances social downward comparison, is an

important attribute for both tangible and intangible goods.

In conclusion, social comparison which is explained as a customer’s tendency tocompare themself to others is a crucial factor of customers’ buying process and stronglyimpacts the customers’ behavioral outcomes

2.1.3 Means — End chain theory

The Means-End chain theory, which denotes individuals’ inspiration to attaintheir end goals, has a long history of research Specifically, previous research has shown

that the principle of means-end chain exposes a knowledge structure of a customer that enhances him/her to perceive his/her personal relevance to products (Richter &

Bokelmann, 2018) The initial approach of the means-end chain was exploited by Kelly

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(1955), who firstly classified psychological factors in hierarchically ordered categories

of the psychology of personal constructs shaping the action of an individual Both given information and inferred beliefs are seen as the basis for consumers to evaluate and understand products (Graeff, 1997) Gutman (1982) proposed the main assumption of

the means-end chain is that a certain product appeals to customers as it bears relevant outcomes and finally assists them in expressing their life values Subsequently,

self-the means-end chain exposes a knowledge structure that connects a product’s attributes with consequences of its consumption such as product quality and values, which finally attains to customers’ personal values (Gutman, 1991) Therefore, means-end chain

manifests how a particular product is personally appropriate to its consumers

Figure 2.2: Means — End Chain Model Source: author, adapted from Gutman (1982)

Ives et al (1983) broadened the chain levels of Gutman’s (1982) model.Accordingly, the chain level of the expanded model was classified into subcategories,

of which concrete and abstract attributes of products are at the lowest level, functional and psychological consequences are at the next level, and finally, instrumental and

terminal personal values are at the highest level of the chain The explication of three

constructs consisting of attributes, consequences, and values of the model is addressed

in the following sections:

Attribution

Product attributes are depicted as “a quality proper to a characteristic of a person

or thing” (Lorimer & Lechner, 1995) Scholars claimed that a product/service’s

attributes convey its features and should be examined throughout a continuous sequence

which is derived from the concrete to abstract manners of these attributes (Reynolds &

Gutman,1988; Rokeach, 1973; Walker & Olson, 1991) The concrete attributes expose products’ physical characteristics or tangible features such as shape, color, weight, and even price (Vriens & Hofstede, 2000) On the other side, abstract attributes represent

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the intangible characteristics of products such as brand name, store image, and style(Lin & Yeh, 2013) Moreover, the discrimination between concrete and abstract forms

of attributes is strongly associated with distinguishing the objective qualities from the subjective ones of a certain product (Grunert & Bech-Larsen, 2005).

ConsequencesConsequences have a more abstract meaning and are at the intermediate level of

the chain They reflect the customers’ perception of benefits or costs related to particular attributes Therefore, consequences are a product’s characteristics that are constituted

from the interaction between its various attributes and the usage of the customer, whichare usually not directly and separately perceptible from each other (Vriens & Hofstede,

2000) Lin (2002) confirmed that consequences can be viewed in the manner of positive

or negative feelings They are manifested after consuming process or way of behaving

of customers in certain situations (Valette-Florence & Rapacchi, 1991) Concerning

consequences’ subcategories, functional consequences are formed in the consuming period and are seen as direct and tangible results of attributes such as ease of use, comfort, and convenience of product use (Valette-Florence & Rapacchi, 1991; Vriens

& Hofstede, 2000) On the other side, the psychological subcategory of consequences

is intangible and indirect psychological outcomes of the product attributes They stem

from functional consequences and have more abstraction especially when customers consume products that connote the sophistication of personal image or social status

(Valette-Florence & Rapacchi, 1991)

Values

Value, which plays as the most abstract construct in the cognitive chain, consists

of two subcategories — instrumental and terminal values (Rokeach, 1973) Of which,

instrumental values (e.g., resourcefulness and ambition) are seen as indispensablemanners of performing of an individual to attain the terminal values (e.g., prosperity)

which are desired goals or the end states of existence being sought in life (Zinas &

figures) lead to functional consequences of the dish (i.e visual appearance) which then turned to acquire personal values of social recognition and accomplishment (Krichhoff

et al., 2011) Relating to service consumption, many studies were conducted to apply the theory in various service settings such as business marketplace services (Xiao et al., 2017); airlines service (Osaki & Kubota, 2016; Kim & Park, 2016); recycling (Bagozzi

& Dabholkar, 1994); courses (Goldenberg et al., 2000), indigenous tourism experiences

(Wu et al., 2020), and outcome-based contracts of purchase (Schaefers ett al., 2021).

In summary, the means-end chain displays customers’ cognitive hierarchy which

utilizes personal values as the top layer The chain provides insights into how customersmake consumption decisions through cognitive paths Based on the cognitive structure

of the chain, the highest abstract level expresses customers’ self-centered assessments

in terms of personal values, whereby consumers are oriented towards inner thoughts

and feelings from luxury consumption

luxury consumption Kapferer & Bastien (2017) declared that luxury originates in the

royal time periods which has social stratification to distinguish the royal nobility offamily members, the kings, and priests from others In the century of the seventeenth,

luxury implied rare items such as perfumes, Caribbean spices, pearls, and crystal which were almost extraordinary commodities so that they were only tasted by elite people

(Berthon et al., 2009) After that, in nineteenth century, industrialization was firstlyutilized for the production of some luxury brands such as silverware and glassware inEngland and France (Chevalier & Mazzalovo, 2008).The luxury business had strongly

grown and broadened the customer bases as well as reputation of well-established

brands in the next century (Berthon et al., 2009) Nowadays, luxury products are more

accessible for some of the populaces and a large proportion of the middle-class “who are no longer at a financial distance from luxury” (Atwal & Williams, 2009, p 339).

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The term “luxury” derives from the term ‘luxus’ in Latin to indicate a lifestylethat is lavish, excessive, or an indulgence with the implication that it is sumptuous,

luxurious, and opulent (Duboi et al., 2005) The concept of luxury has become more appealing nowadays “Luxury” is used to mention products, services, and a certain specified lifestyle, however, there is no consensus on a universal definition among

academics (Ko et al., 2019) Luxury usually connotes products/services that are in short

supply and restrictive to access, which manifests the privilege of the royal, the elite, and wealthy classes in society (Duboi et al., 2005) Webster (2002) defined luxury as “non-

essential items or services that contribute to luxurious living; an indulgence orconvenience beyond the indispensable minimum” Many scholars claimed that it is

relatively subjective to define luxury as its degree is rated by consumers about where is

the end of ordinary and lead to the beginning of luxury (Özbölũk, 2020;

Kauppinen-Raisanen et al., 2019; Tynan et al., 2010; Vigneron & Johnson, 2004) Thus, luxury has

different forms corresponding with dissimilar people and is swayed by an individual’s mood and experiences In specific, Morley (2013, p 216) declared that luxury “is a word without any precise idea, much such another expression as when we say Eastern

and Western hemispheres: in fact, there is no such thing as east and west; there is nofixed point where the earth rises and sets; or, if you will, every point on it is at the same

time east and west It is the same with regard to luxury; for either, there is no such thing,

or else it is in all places alike” Moreover, the main characteristic of luxury is providingpleasure from a desired object (Berry, 1994) Luxury consumption brings to customers

the esteem from others and entitles them satisfaction in psychological and functional

demands Hence, a luxury that is distinguished from non-luxury products mainly relies

on its factor of those psychological benefits (Özbölũk, 2020; Kauppinen-Räisänen et

al., 2019)

Concept of ‘New Luxury’

Luxury is an expensive and well-known brand for the taste of the elite (Calefato,2014) It is quite bounded in terms of the main characteristics that make the goods and

services considered luxurious or “things you have that I think you shouldn’t have” (Twitchell, 2003, p.43) Due to the industrial revolution, suppliers have the competency

to inspire the elitist way of generating products that are premium and affordable Thus,

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luxury goods are now a broad range of commodities and services to meet various

ever-increasing demands They span from the sector of food and wine to the industries of

fashion and car as well as penetrate into the world of travel (Reyneke et al., 2011; Shin

& Back, 2020) Moreover, the social differentiation in human need continues to exist,

thus the luxury industry plays a great part to provide an important way for an even called “equal” society (Liang, 2017) Nowadays, luxury is the product that people want,

so-could, and should have, no matter what their age and income level (Calefato, 2014; Shin

& Back, 2020).

A definition of luxury to broaden the idea of ‘old luxury’ to ‘new luxury’ wasfirstly given in the Collins English Dictionary (1999, p.876), is as “something that is

considered an indulgence rather than a necessity” However, the fully notion of ‘new

luxury’ is clearly mentioned in the book “Trading Up” in 2008 of Boston ConsultingCompany researchers Accordingly, the term “new luxury” expresses products that are

not necessary too limited in quantity and rare in the manufacture Besides, it outlined business strategies for the ‘new luxury’ stream to enhance profit by focusing on the middle-class of emerging markets where customers are willing and even keen on paying

premium prices to express themselves Previous scholars stated that customers’experiential understanding of luxury govern their notion of luxury because luxury

emphasizes the specialty of hedonism and the experiential essence (e.g., Truong et al.,

2009; Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2019; Özbölũk, 2020) Based on this view, the book

“The Luxury Strategy” states that “‘new luxury’ has become a source of enjoyment for

more and more people, it has brought new consumers in a truly global fashion.”

(Kapferer & Bastien, 2012, p.312) This is reinforced by Ghosh & Varshney (2013),which pointed that traditional luxury means “happy — few”, but with the development

of high-end industry, it is not limited to the elite of society

In conclusion, the meaning of luxury does not need to be entirely synonymous

with traditional luxury or embedded by marketers Alternatively, it has been discovered

that luxury is a subjective concept allowing consumers to link their own meaning to

define what should be considered as luxury (Shin & Back, 2020) Today, luxury is determined by a customer’s hedonistic experience of it (Pino et a/, 2019) Consequently, consumers and their experiences play an important role in interpreting

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their behaviours for luxury consumption (Kauppinen-Räisänen et al., 2019; Özbölùk,

2020) Hence, research on luxury consumption should focus on consumer-centric in

order to get a better understanding of the meaning of luxury.

2.2.2 Luxury values

Because of the increased demand for luxury, research has focused on luxury

consumption to examine the effects of luxury value on customer behavior in the modern

society Veblen is seen as the first scholar who settled the new area research on luxury consumption and his seminal work is published in the book “Theory of the Leisure Class” (1899) Veblen (1899) declared that the major motivator for luxury consumption

is enhancing social status It means that people pay for luxury products to display the

signal of wealth and to rise up on the social ladder Consequently, the “Veblen effect” proposes that there is an increasing demand corresponding to the rising price of a luxury

product because people are prone to evaluate that the more luxury the owner has, the

more they are being wealthy and social influence.

Veblen’s (1899) argument was then further consolidated by Leibenstein (1950)

with the introduction of the “snob” and “bandwagon” effect to incorporate theinterpersonal values into the “Veblen effect” In particular, the “snob” and

“bandwagon” effects are defined as the major motivator for customers to seek social

status through luxury consumption (Leibenstein, 1950; Veblen, 1899) The “snob

effect” expresses circumstances in which the need for a product decreases because ofthe increase in the number of buyers In order words, demand of a luxury product would

be descended when the need for this product from lower-class consumers rises It could

be explained that the customers in the higher-class tend to separate their consumption

characteristics from the lower-class On the other side, people also are inclined toemulate the behaviors of customers of the higher-class; as a result, the “bandwagon

effect” reflects circumstances wherein a luxury product has a rise in its demand because the need from lower-class consumers increases.

Scholars not only show interest in awareness of status value for luxury

consumption like Veblen and Leibenstein but also indicate other values of luxury consumption that customers may attempt to obtain such as craftsmanship, creativity,

and excellent quality (Kapferer, 1998) Moreover, the hedonic value of luxury products

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is manifested through self-indulgence which was supplemented as a new dimension of

luxury values (Dubois & Czellar, 2002) Based on extant work on luxury value, many scholars have tried to identify how customers perceive values concerning luxury

consuming In particular, a luxury value framework was developed to capture bothpersonal (hedonism and quality) and non-personal (conspicuousness, uniqueness, andsocial value) perceived values of customers (Vigneron & Johnson, 1999, 2004)

Wiedmann et al (2009) then extended the model by including the dimension of financial value to reflect the monetary aspect of a luxury brand In order to adapt

Wiedmann et al (2009) and Vignernon & Johnson’s (1999, 2004) models, scholarshave refined their luxury value framework by adding other factors such as relational

value (Tynan et al., 2010) and extrinsic/intrinsic aspirations (Truong & Mccoll, 2011).

For expanding luxury value connotation, luxury values are proposed to constitute apivotal factor of the luxury brand for enhancing the customers’ self (Hung et al., 2011)

Furthermore, the psychological factors of luxury consumption is emphasized its importance for a luxury brand that should “be capable of inspiring a deep connection,

or resonance, with the consumer” (Ko et al., 2019, p 406) This means that customers’

psychological perception influences their assessment on different aspects of luxuryconsumption relating to perceived values (Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019)

There are calls for more research on cross-nation and cross-culture settings to

address the research questions about luxury consumption (e.g., Dubois, Czellar, &

Laurent, 2005; Shukla & Sharma, 2009) Moreover, since luxury consumption can be

seen as an instrument for customers to achieve goals or aspirations in their life (Stathopoulou & Balabanis, 2019; Wiedmann et al., 2009; Wong & Ahuvia, 1998),

personal value is a distinct concept from luxury values under customer perspective ofluxury consumption (Zhang & Zhao, 2019) However, studies in luxury consumption

have focused on product-centric rather than consumer-centric approach in the extant literature (Seo & Buchanan-Oliver, 2019) Given the above reasons, further research is

therefore needed to identify sets of customers’ personal values that are at the highest

abstract level of hierarchical cognitive order for luxury consumption.

2.2.3 Luxury hospitality services

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In recent decades, luxury hospitality industry has expanded the rapid growth.Along with its remarkable booming, developing countries have witnessed a rapid

increase in the luxury hospitality sector (Liu & Jiang, 2020) Wirtz et al (2020) claimed that prior research on luxury services is mostly conducted in the hospitality field

regarding its prominence from the others, and mainly focused on luxury settings ratherthan exploring service-specific topics Besides, scholars are attracted to investigate

consumer attitude and brand management rather than consumer behavior in the luxury hospitality context (Padma & Ahn, 2020) Hence, extant luxury literature has been noted the research deficit incurred due to the lack of effort to delineate and define luxury

services for clarifying the dissimilarity of luxury hospitality from luxury tangible

product consumption (Yang & Mattila, 2017).

In line with ordinary services, luxury hospitality service has some certain basiccharacteristics in nature Parasuraman et al (1985) pointed out three core service

characteristics that govern understanding and measuring service quality First,

“Intangibility” — It means that service is unable to be touched or grasped and not having any physical presence Second, “Heterogeneity” — Service is different for different

producers, different customers and even different time Therefore, the service process

is usually inconsistent ones Third, “?separabilfy” — Service consumption is not

separated from service production throughout the consuming process, thus the service

quality is strongly decided by customers’ inputs Furthermore, Teboul (1991) addedsome more features to Parasuraman et al.’ (1985) service characteristics: “Perishables”

—a service has to be consumed instantly and no inventory because it cannot be stored such as airline service which will perish immediately when an airplane takes off;

“Customer-relying” — service outcomes strongly relies on the customer rather than other

factors because the customer is the core throughout the process of service as well as

may takes part in service delivery.

Luxury hospitality services have unique features that conventional services do

not have Holmqvist et al (2020a) defines the luxury experience of luxury hospitality

services as “a beautiful moment for oneself” Luxury hospitality services are interpreted

as extraordinary hedonic experiences which are opposite to individuals’ daily life, go beyond the range of functional aspects, and convey hedonic nature (Wirtz et al., 2020).

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