Work

The effect of mental accounting in the luxury market: prepared and unprepared consumers

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Social networking sites (SNSs) are increasingly influencing consumer behavior and attitudes toward luxury consumption by fostering social comparison and perceived inequality. Methods: We conducted a survey with 320 U.S.-based participants through Amazon Mechanical Turk. Measures included SNS usage, subjective inequality, mental accounting, and luxury attitude. Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 15) was used for moderated mediation analysis. Results: SNS usage significantly increased luxury attitude directly and indirectly through subjective inequality. Mental accounting moderated both the direct and indirect effects: high mental accounting weakened the direct effect but amplified the indirect effect via inequality. Discussion: These findings suggest that mental accounting acts both as a self-regulatory buffer and a justification mechanism in luxury consumption. The study highlights the psychological pathway through which SNS usage influences luxury attitude and offers theoretical and practical implications for consumer behavior research.

Source: Frontiers in Psychology

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1554350

Authors: Dong Hyun Son, Dongwoo Ko, Ji-yeon Lee

Institution: Hankuk University of Foreign Studies

Language: English

Topic: Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification

Subfield: Marketing

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,801