Author(s)

Mathew Philip¹, Mimy Mathew², Gopalakrishnan Soundararajan³

¹Department of Business and Accounting, Muscat College, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman.
²Faculty of Management, Law and Science, University of Bradford, Bradford, UK.
³Department of Business and Accounting, Muscat College, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman.

Conspicuous consumption means consumers prefer to buy expensive items to show their wealth and status to society. This study objective is to develop a framework that connects conspicuous consumption variables with the aspirations and consequences and to test the model among the migrant blue-collar workers located in the GCC countries. Primary data was collected with a structured questionnaire from 400 blue-collar migrant workers in GCC countries. Eight hypotheses were formed and tested by using factor analysis and structural equation model analysis. The study concluded that blue-collar expatriate workers exhibit a high level of lush luxury behavior to gain family and social acceptance, which is one of the best ways of expressing themselves; however these are attained at the cost of financial sustainability of personal wellbeing.

Conspicuous Consumption, Antecedents, Consequences, Blue-Collar

Philip, M. , Mathew, M. and Soundararajan, G. (2021) Antecedents of Conspicuous Consumption, Status Aspiration, and Its Consequences: An Empirical Study on Migrant Blue-Collar Workers in GCC. Open Journal of Business and Management, 9, 731-751. doi: 10.4236/ojbm.2021.92038.