Abstract
The luxury sector thus far has received scant attention from sustainable development activists and watchgroups. Yet, this focus is changing. Even if other sectors may be more relevant to the cause of sustainability, luxury brands that have gained intact reputations for sustainability must take care to maintain it. Therefore, the present research investigates the level of sensitivity of actual luxury buyers to the cause of sustainable development, insofar as it concerns the luxury sector, luxury brands and their purchases. Do consumers’ attitudes towards sustainability spill over to their opinions about the sustainability of luxury itself, or is luxury a world apart? The findings show that luxury buyers have ambivalent attitudes, such that they consider luxury and sustainability somewhat contradictory, especially with regard to the social and economic harmony facet of sustainable development.
This chapter was Reprinted from Kapferer, J. and Michaut-Denizeau, A. (2014) ‘Is Luxury Compatible with Sustainability? Luxury Consumers’ Viewpoint’, Journal of Brand Management, 21, pp. 1-22. With kind permission from the Journal of Brand Management. All rights reserved.
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The authors acknowledge funding and support from the Pernod Ricard Company.
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‘Shocking’ variable distribution
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Kapferer, JN., Michaut-Denizeau, A. (2017). Is Luxury Compatible with Sustainability? Luxury Consumers’ Viewpoint. In: Kapferer, JN., Kernstock, J., Brexendorf, T., Powell, S. (eds) Advances in Luxury Brand Management. Journal of Brand Management: Advanced Collections. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51127-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51127-6_7
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