사회적 자본과 브랜드 현저성에 관한 연구: 럭셔리 제품을 중심으로

In previous studies of brand prominence in luxury products, the wealth of consumers has been a dominant concern. These days, however, as the era of social networking allows us to browse and connect with others simply with the tips of our fingers, and this ability has become more vital over time, not only wealth but also social capital has gained more of an impact on the salience of luxury brands, the size of a brand’s mark or logo on a product. This paper looks closely into the concept of social capital, trying to identify brand prominence and investigate its relationship to social capital. As a result, participants of bridging social capital (bridgers) respond more favorably to a prominent logo, a logo that displays the message that I am definitely wearing Louis Vuitton, than those of bonding social capital (bonders). When social capital is engaged with motivation and goal, consumer preference for brand prominence is more elaborate such that bridgers pursue a utilitarian purpose as an identity agent for status. In the same vein, those bridgers will be more cognitively depleted than bonders, which renders them succumb to temptations of purchasing luxuries with brand prominence. The mediating role of the cognitive depletion is discussed. Furthermore, we examine the phenomenon of the growing proportion of bridgers in the Asian market of SNS (social network service). Finally, the findings and managerial implications are reported.