EVALUATING STATUS CONSUMPTION: THE RELATIONSHIP INTERPERSONAL INFLUENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CONSCIOUSNESS

Abstract

With the increasing competition in the global smartphone market, to attract the attention of the consumer and raise consciousness compared with competitors has become important factor for sustainable competitive advantage. On the other hand, continuing sales is among the goals of brands. Brands in the smartphone market are striving for creating technology consciousness in consumer mind by adding new technological features to their smartphones in line with this goal. In this research, the relationship between interpersonal influence, technology consciousness, and status consumption was investigated. A survey was conducted on 273 university students, as its' usage is more common among university students. The result of the analysis indicated that normative influence has a positive effect on technology consciousness and a meaningful relationship exists between technological consciousness and status consumption. Another finding is that informative influence does not have a significant relationship with technology consciousness. The research' theoretical and practical implications were also given. (C) 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk