From Love to Rebuff

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the grounds for country differences in the customers' attitudes towards luxury goods. The basis for this discussion are the Social Identity, Communication Accommodation, Expectancy-Value Theory, Theory of Reasoned Action and Expectation Confirmation Theory, attitudes, and attitude formation. We compare other empirical research on consumers' value perception (CVP) in the luxury sector and the results of our own international e-survey conducted in 5 countries (Germany, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Turkey). By comparing opposite market segments, i.e., the stand-outs and the prestige-seekers as well as groups of luxury lovers with luxury opponents we look for grounds of divergent attitudes towards luxury goods. We found that culture, as a very complex phenomenon, shapes the attitudes not only at the national level, but is also reflected in the level of education across countries. That is why a combination of market segments combined with belief systems and levels of education may be a more accurate indicator of consumer attitudes.