Are millennials really more sensitive to sustainable luxury? A cross-generational international comparison of sustainability consciousness when buying luxury

Jean-Noël Kapferer () and Anne Michaut-Denizeau ()
Additional contact information
Jean-Noël Kapferer: INSEEC Business School
Anne Michaut-Denizeau: HEC Paris

Journal of Brand Management, 2020, vol. 27, issue 1, No 3, 35-47

Abstract: Abstract Sustainable development is on the agenda of all economic sectors. This is a radical change for the luxury market, so far discreet on these matters. In addition, baby boomers have passed the torch to new segments of luxury purchasers: Generation X-ers and now millennials, the latter being described as most sensitive to sustainability issues in general. But is their alleged sensitivity still front of their mind when they buy luxuries? A cross-generational international comparison reveals that millennials’ sensitivity to the sustainability of luxury brands when purchasing luxuries is not that different from older generations. However, the motivations of luxury buyers’ sensitivity (or total lack of) to the sustainable actions of luxury brands differ across generations. Millennials are those who consider the most that luxury and sustainability are contradictory. This opinion is held across countries, Asian or Western, in emerging or mature economies. These millennials’ specificities have strong implications if luxury brands wish to preserve their sustainable future.

Keywords: Luxury; Sustainability; Ethics; Social responsibility; CSR; Millennials (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41262-019-00165-7 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:jobman:v:27:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1057_s41262-019-00165-7

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.palgrave.com/gp/journal/41262

DOI: 10.1057/s41262-019-00165-7

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Brand Management is currently edited by Joachim Kernstock, Shaun M. Powell, Mark Davies and Ur a Golob

More articles in Journal of Brand Management from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().