ABSTRACT

Indeed, consumers and researchers are of two minds about status; it’s the phenomenon they have to acknowledge but love to hate. Status-seeking is what everyone else does, perhaps because the status markers sought by others may seem hollow or meaningless compared to those we ourselves value. The academic may deplore the executive’s penchant for expensive luxury cars. He turns up his nose at this materialistic excess, even as he is ensconced in his study eagerly reviewing the latest Social Science Citation Index report of other scholars who have cited his work on decision processes underlying car purchases. Simultaneously, an automotive engineer enjoys a reverie about the aesthetically pleasing design modification she made to a concept car-and, perhaps, fantasizes about the sizeable cash bonus she will receive for this contribution. As Holbrook (1994) reminds us, virtually any consumption experience can take on the coloring of any kind of value depending upon who is doing the consuming-and perhaps, who is assigning the value. Perhaps status (like beauty) is in the eye of the beholder.