Cross-Cultural Understandings of “Face” and their Influence on Luxury Brand Consumption: A Comparison of British and Korean Attitudes and Practices

Abstract

East Asians show high interest in luxury brand goods, andAsia is now the world’s largest target market for luxury brandgoods. South Korea is no exception to this luxury fever, andsome Koreans even fall into debt to participate. Why areKoreans so attracted to luxury brand goods and their cachet?This paper seeks an explanation for this phenomenon by drawingon the concept of “face” and chemyon (the Korean notionof social face) and the idea of "face consumption." The authorinvestigates the differences between face and chemyon, as wellas the differences in the degree of face consumption throughluxury brand goods in British and Korean consumers. Thisstudy uses the first two terms distinctly when discussing theirsalient differences but combines them when they are beingused more generically. Even though face is a universal phenomenon, it is an especiallyimportant concept in a collectivist culture. British consumersare unlikely to relate face to their social worth, andeven the concept of (social) face may be unfamiliar to them. However, Korean consumers deal with face-related issues almostevery day because chemyon is pervasive in the Koreanculture. Furthermore, the specific characteristics of face differfrom one culture to another. While the Western notion of faceis oriented towards an independent self, chemyon is moreclosely linked with social status and position. Thus, Koreanconsumers show their social status and maintain chemyon bywearing or purchasing luxury brand goods. Among British consumers,however, purchasing luxury brand goods has little todo with preserving face. Face consumption is similar to conspicuous consumption asthey both involve luxury brand goods. However, face consumptiondiffers from conspicuous consumption in that not allface consumption is intended to show off and that the possessionof luxury brand goods feels necessary to keep up withothers in the practice of face consumption. Furthermore, faceconsumption inhibits the consumption of too many luxurybrand goods because the Eastern notion of face emphasizesfrugality and modesty. The questionnaire containing the face consumption scale wasadministered to British and Korean undergraduate students. Luxury brand goods were limited to bags, purses, watches, andshoes because brand logos are sufficiently revealed in theseitems allowing others to recognize their presence. Questions regardingthe number of luxury brand goods possessed and theindividual economic status were also included in thequestionnaire. Data from 100 Korean and 152 British respondents(252 total) were used for data analysis. Principal component analysis using varimax rotation wasconducted to figure out the properties of face consumption. The face consumption scale contained two dimensions: "faceconsumption in pursuit of distinction and acknowledgement"and "conformity face consumption." Both factors had high internalconsistency as Cronbach's alpha was .851 and .868. The result of the independent samples t-test indicated thatKorean consumers show a higher degree of face consumptionin pursuit of distinction and acknowledgment. Korean consumersalso exhibited a higher degree of conformity face consumptionthan British consumers. However, there was no statisticallysignificant difference in morality-conscious face consumptionbetween British and Korean consumers. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to illustrate theeffect of face consumption and economic status on the numberof luxury brand goods one possesses. Conformity face consumptionhas a significant effect on the number of luxurybrand goods for both British and Korean consumers. However,economic status has a significant effect on the number ofluxury brand goods for British consumers only. Whereas Koreans purchase luxury brand goods regardless oftheir economic status, British consumers seem to consider theireconomic status when purchasing luxury brand goods. This resultis consistent with the suggestion that people who cannotafford luxury brand goods purchase them to gain social acknowledgementin Korea. It also explains why regardless oftheir social and economic status, Koreans show a higher interestin luxury brand goods than British consumers. Based on the research findings, it can be suggested that noticeablebrand logos will increase the sales of luxury brandgoods in Korean market. In addition, launching or promotingthe second line of the luxury brand will further increase salesbecause the second line greatly appeals to Korean consumerswho cannot afford to buy the first line brand yet still aspireto gain social acknowledgement by possessing luxury brandgoods.