Sustainable Luxury: Sustainable Actions, Self-Congruity and Willingness to Pay
(A2025-125985)

AUTHORS

Karolina Ivanauskaite, IUM; Anastasia Stathopoulou, SKEMA Business School; Pierre VALETTE-FLORENCE, Grenoble Univ, CERAG, IAE, Saint-Martin-d'Hères, France

ABSTRACT

Although, in luxury branding, sustainability has emerged as a critical market driver, existing research is limited in exploring UN sustainable development goals and consumer alignment with such initiatives. This study examines how sustainable actions are perceived from consumers in luxury fashion, and the self-identification process they go through affecting their brand related attitudes and trust and ultimately their willingness to pay a premium for sustainable luxury. We collected 460 survey data from US luxury buyers. The importance of social compared to environmental sustainable actions are highlighted in affecting consumers’ self-congruity. Social acceptance is found to moderate this relationship. Different dimensions of self-congruity have different effects of brand attitude and trust. Consumers’ willingness to pay more for sustainable luxury is mainly driven by brand trust and sustainable social actions. Luxury brands should emphasize social initiatives in their strategies.