When conspicuous consumption becomes inconspicuous: the case of the migrant Hong Kong consumers

Abstract

Hong Kong is often portrayed as a society where conspicuous consumption rules. We wanted to find out whether this peculiar consumer behavior would still be transparent among Hong Kong people who have emigrated to Canada. Through a survey, we tested the subjects’ propensity towards conspicuous consumption (as measured by two established scales) and attempted to find relationships between the dependent variables and a person’s ethnic identification as well as the strength of the person’s ethnic social ties. We failed to find support for the proposition that conspicuous consumption is related to a person’s ethnicity. Offers explanations and directions for future research, and also serves as a warning to the marketer that blindly accepting stereotypes could be erroneous in a practical as well as moral sense.