The Influence of Product Information on Status Consumption: The Mediating Role of Perceived Awareness of Others

For status conveying goods conspicuously consumed, perceived awareness of others about a product should play a key role in the purchase process. In 3 experiments we show that providing more information about a product actually boosts consumers’ own awareness about the product but also the perceived awareness of others. As a consequence, consumers who were given more information about a product had a higher willingness-to-pay and purchase-intention. we also established the moderating role of information type (awareness-facilitating vs. not) and we ruled out the potential impact of cognitive load as an alternative explanation. Implications in advertising, store layout and online retailing for status-conveying products are discussed.