The effect of the relationship of hedonic consumption and conspicuous consumption on perfume purchasing behavior of individuals

The concept of consumption has transformed with cultural, economic and technological changes from the past to the present. This transformation has not only been limited to social structures, but has also shaped individuals' perspectives on the world and themselves. As the phenomenon of consumption has transformed, individuals' preferences, attitudes and meaning-making have also evolved; this has made the question "why do people consume?" multidimensional and dynamic. In this context, hedonic consumption and conspicuous consumption, two important consumption styles that stand out in contemporary societies, have historical roots in the past, but today they have transformed by gaining more complex and instrumental qualities. Hedonic consumption has gone beyond being a mere pleasure-oriented tendency and has become an expression of the individual's self-actualization effort; conspicuous consumption, on the other hand, has ceased to be a status symbol and has become a strategic tool for visibility in the age of social media. Both phenomena have become indicators that reflect both intrinsic motivations and social interactions in the purchasing behaviors of today's consumers. This study examines the effects of these two consumption patterns on perfume purchasing behavior. Quantitative research method was adopted; data were collected from 389 individuals aged 18 and over living in Turkey via an online survey. The survey form consists of three sections and a total of 48 questions. The first section includes demographic questions, the second section includes general statements about the perfume purchasing behavior of the participants, and the third section includes two 5-point Likert-type scales. The hedonic consumption scale was adapted to Turkish from the 6 dimensions and 20 items developed by Arnold and Reynolds (2003); and the conspicuous consumption scale was adapted to Turkish from the 12-item one-dimensional structure developed by Chaudhuri, Mazumdar, and Ghoshal (2011). In the data analysis process, EFA, CFA, normal distribution test, descriptive analysis and multiple regression analysis for testing hypotheses were used; the operations were carried out using IBM SPSS Statistics 25 and AMOS 26 programs. The internal consistency of the scales was found to be quite high (Hedonic consumption α = 0.944; conspicuous consumption α = 0.969). All 23 hypotheses created within the scope of the research were tested with regression analysis and were found to be significant and accepted.