Local brand aversion or aspiration? The influence of socioeconomic status on Chinese consumer brand preference
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 17832176 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Pingping Wang (0000-0001-5480-6382, Northeast Normal University, corresponding author), Xin Xia (0009-0009-1717-8511, Northeast Normal University), Kaiyue Liang (Northeast Normal University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2026-02-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992 |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1057/s41599-026-06743-w |
| OpenAlex | W7131881406 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 80 |
Consumers often choose specific brands to express their identity and status. While various factors influence the selection of products from specific countries, this study explores a less examined aspect: the socioeconomic status of consumers. Research indicates that consumers with higher socioeconomic status tend to favor international brands as status symbols. Conversely, other studies suggest that local brands appeal more to certain socioeconomic groups due to a stronger affinity with local culture and values. In light of this, the study investigates the psychological mechanisms and boundary conditions that influence local brand preference based on consumer socioeconomic status within the framework of social class structure. Specifically, through three studies, we found that socioeconomic status significantly impacts local brand preference (Study 1: β = −2.36, SE = 0.76, p < 0.01). The underlying mechanism is that consumers with different socioeconomic statuses emphasize distinct identity dimensions when forming their self-concept through brand consumption. Mediation analyses confirmed that both self-identity (indirect effect = −0.08, 95% CI [-0.13, -0.04]) and social identity (indirect effect = 0.04, 95% CI [0.001, 0.074]) serve as significant parallel mediators. Additionally, the role of these psychological mechanisms is supported through moderation analyses, which identified key boundary conditions: Brand Traditional Culture Load (BTCL) moderates the path from social identity to LBP (interaction effect: b = 0.14, SE = 0.06, p < 0.01), and reference group (in-group vs. out-group) moderates the same path (interaction effect: b = 0.21, SE = 0.06, p < 0.001). In the long term, these insights can facilitate the diversified development and sustainable growth of the local economy, fostering a more stable and competitive local brand ecosystem
Mediation · Moderated mediation · Moderation · Preference · Social identity theory · Socioeconomic status · Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification · Consumer Market Behavior and Pricing · Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Signaling Status with Luxury Goods
Identity-based consumer behavior
Effects of Brand Local and Nonlocal Origin on Consumer Attitudes in Developing Countries
How to SHIFT Consumer Behaviors to be More Sustainable
Fundamental motives
Consumer Ethnocentrism
The Compensatory Consumer Behavior Model
Social class, solipsism, and contextualism
Higher social class predicts increased unethical behavior
A Large Scale Test of the Effect of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior
Self and Social Identity
The social class test gap
The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior
The Forms of Capital
The Relative Trustworthiness of Inferential Tests of the Indirect Effect in Statistical Mediation Analysis
A Dual-Process Motivational Model of Ideology, Politics, and Prejudice
The Social Self
Collective Action Participation
The effect of product traditional cultural load on brand status
Wealth, poverty, and happiness
A new perspective to promote low-carbon consumption
Social Identity, Self-Categorization, and the Communication of Group Norms
The influence of suggestions of reference groups in the compromise effect
The more you have, the more you want? Higher social class predicts a greater desire for wealth and status
Taking a social‐class‐in‐context perspective on the psychology of social class
Culture and the self
Choice as an act of meaning
The significance of the social identity concept for social psychology with reference to individualism, interactionism and social influence
Identity-based motivation
A New Framework to Understand Social Class in Counseling
Social identity and intergroup behaviour
Reference Group Influence on Product and Brand Purchase Decisions
Possessions and the Extended Self
Feeling Economically Stuck
Self-Expression Cues in Product Rating Distributions
Space as a Resource in the Politics of Consumer Identity
Subtle Signals of Inconspicuous Consumption
"The "Shaken Self
Desire to Acquire
Are All Out-Groups Created Equal? Consumer Identity and Dissociative Influence
Where Consumers Diverge from Others
Self-Construal, Reference Groups, and Brand Meaning
Consumer Culture Theory (CCT)
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |