RESEARCH
The Psychological Cost of Luxury
How buying high-end goods can make you feel worse about yourself.
High-end shopping may boost your mood or come with a heightened sense of stature. But for many consumers, luxury purchases can also spur a reaction that researchers have dubbed “impostor syndrome.â€â€œLuxury can be a double-edged sword,†according to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research coauthored by Nailya Ordabayeva, an associate professor of marketing at the Carroll School of Management. “While luxury consumption holds the promise of elevated status, it can backfire and make consumers feel inauthentic.â€
Ordabayeva, along with Harvard Business School doctoral student Dafna Goor, °¬¿ÉÖ±²¥ University professor Anat Keinan, and Hult International Business School professor Sandrine Crener, drew their conclusions from nine studies, encompassing surveys and observations of patrons of the Metropolitan Opera, shoppers at Louis Vuitton in Manhattan, vacationers on Martha’s Vineyard, and other high-end consumers.
In contrast to previous studies, the researchers found that many consumers perceive luxury goods as “a privilege which is undue and undeserved.†As a result, consumers feel inauthentic while wearing or using these products, and actually act less confidently than they would with non-luxury items. (This effect is mitigated among consumers who have an inherently high sense of entitlement, or who are marking occasions that make them feel special, such as a birthday.)
So how can a savvy marketer allay consumers’ uneasiness with big-ticket purchases? “Boosting consumers’ feelings of ‘deservingness’ through sales tactics and marketing messages can help,†Ordabayeva said. Ultimately, she added, in an age that prioritizes authenticity, creating experiences and narratives that boost people’s personal connection with products and possessions can yield lasting benefits for consumers and retailers alike. ◽
Social Security Disparities Fall on Low-Income Recipients
Since Social Security legislation was last amended thirty-six years ago, many Americans are living longer and interest rates have decreased. As a result, the fixed formulas designed to allow people to claim benefits at different ages are now producing disparities for certain Social Security recipients, according to a new report by BC Center for Retirement Research Director Alicia H. Munnell and Assistant Director of Savings Research Anqi Chen. “What we found was that the delayed claiming credit—claiming after age sixty-five—is about right, even if you wait until age seventy,†Chen said. “However, the lifetime benefit you get at age sixty-two is less than at age sixty-five. So people who claim early are being charged too much for claiming early.†The researchers said the shortcomings fall disproportionately on low-income individuals because wealthier people can afford to claim later and their life expectancy exceeds that of those who earn much less. —Ed HaywardÂ
Putting a Spotlight on Arab American HealthÂ
First-generation immigrants to the United States from Latin America and Asia have been shown to have better health outcomes and behaviors than second-generation and third-generation immigrants—a phenomenon known as the “immigrant health paradox.†But little evidence of this phenomenon was found among immigrants from Arabic-speaking countries in a recent study led by Connell School of Nursing Assistant Professor Nadia Abuelezam and published in the American Journal of Public Health. In fact, the researchers found that first-generation Arab immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa had poor health profiles when compared to second- or third-generation Arab immigrants. “Our analysis shows that Arab Americans are a unique subgroup of the general immigrant population in the US,†said Abuelezam, an epidemiologist, “and that further study will be needed to better understand the health needs and the dynamics that shape this growing minority population.†—Kathleen SullivanÂ