Bona Fide Indulgence

Abstract: Previous research has shown self-authenticity to be an important aspect of the consumer experience, especially in luxury consumption. However, previous research has been inconclusive regarding how consumer personality traits interact with self-authenticity in a second-hand luxury consumption context. Furthermore, these personality traits were also researched when the consumer felt more deserving in their consumption. A questionnaire was conducted through the researchers’ social networks and found 135 respondents. SmartPLS’ PLS-SEM model was then used in combination with a mediation analysis and a moderation analysis of the direct effect. This analysis found that status-seeking consumers felt more authentic in their luxury consumption. Furthermore, a higher level of luxury deservingness was found to increase the positive self-authenticity of consumers that identified with higher levels of status-seeking behavior or frugality. Second-hand consumers that were more frugal felt less authentic in their consumption behavior. This gives practical insights, as managers could take these personality traits into account when they want to increase self-authenticity, but further research should be done to better understand this.