The effect of conspicuous consumption on experiential purchasing in the cultural context: Status and identity proof in social media

The change in consumption habits of individuals in today's societies has led them to consumption behavior, not limited to material consumption, but also through experiences. This situation makes it possible to encounter the concept of experiential purchasing in the literature. Experience behavior, which continues under the influence of the emotions, thoughts and behaviors of individuals, causes individuals to turn to experiences where they can display their status and identities. One of these experiences is cultural events. It is also possible for individuals to prove their status and identity with their participation in cultural events, and to convey this to wider masses through social media. At this point, where the concept of conspicuous consumption has also taken its place, it is aimed to provide ideas and contribute to the literature, state institutions and businesses by determining the conspicuous consumption of individuals in their social media posts and the cultural activities that provide proof of status and identity. Questionnaire forms were sent to 416 social media users over the age of 18 who participated in cultural events through social media platforms and communication applications. In the analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaires, "correlation", "frequency" analysis, analysis technique based on "Cronbach Alpha" coefficients to evaluate internal consistency, "Kolmogorov-Smirnov" and "Shapiro-Wilk" tests for normality analysis, "Mann" tests for independent samples. Whitney-U" and "Kruskal Wallis-H" tests were applied. According to the results of the research, conspicuous consumption plays a role in proving status and identity within the scope of cultural activities by affecting experiential purchasing. It has been found that individuals with a low level of education see participation in cultural activities as a means of proving their status, while individuals with a high level of education are inclined to conspicuous consumption in social media in the experiential context.