How do men perceive and react to an unknown woman's use of a luxury brand ?

Abstract

An emerging body of research on signaling theory applies evolutionary psychology to explain the purpose of a signaler's use of a luxury brand. However, in response to visible signals displayed by an unknown woman's use of a luxury brand, the male receivers' decoding (perceptions) and reactions (counter-signals) on the signals are ignored in previous research. This research has the overarching objective of filling this research gap through the lens of evolutionary psychology. Through a series of experiments, it was found that an unknown woman using a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand results in men believing that she is more likely to be in a committed relationship. Also, there is a moderating effect of an unknown woman's overall physical attractiveness on the effect of her use of a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand on men's intentions to attract her; and men's attracting intentions mediate the moderating effect of an unknown woman's overall physical attractiveness on the effect of her use of a luxury (vs. non-luxury) brand on men's intentions to display material resources or physical fitness. These research findings not only offer theoretical contributions to signaling theory, but also generate managerial implications and future research directions.