Mobile Users’ Online Luxury Consumption in China: The Moderating Role of Face Consciousness

Attracting more consumers through mobile online platforms has become the most important thing for luxury brands. However, few studies have explored how cultural context, as exemplified by face consciousness and source credibility, influences the online luxury consumption and promotion of mobile users. To fill that research gap, this study constructed a research model of Chinese consumers to examine the effect of source credibility on the online luxury purchase and recommendation intentions of mobile consumers, and the moderating effects of face consciousness were examined. A structural equation model was also employed in our study. Furthermore, a field survey with 168 mobile online shopping customers was conducted to test the research model and hypotheses. The empirical results confirm the following: (1) the source credibility of online reviews had a positive effect on the online luxury purchase intentions of mobile customers but increased their intention to recommend the shopping site even more in a luxury environment; (2) face consciousness had a negative moderating effect between source credibility and the online luxury purchase intention of mobile consumers; and (3) face consciousness had a negative moderating effect between source credibility and the luxury recommendation intention of mobile consumers. The implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research were also discussed.