Abstract
This research investigates the motivations behind luxury dining, focusing on the bandwagon effect that reflects consumers' need to fit in and belong and on the role of emotions and their influence on consumers' willingness to dine at luxury dining establishments and pay the associated prices. Across three studies employing multiple methods, we examine both young adults and a national sample of US luxury consumers. Study 1 explores young adults’ perceptions of luxury dining through open-ended responses regarding a special occasion scenario. Participants anticipated emotions such as excitement, calm, and pride, alongside occasional negative feelings. Study 2, a survey of young adults, provides empirical evidence that positive and negative emotions, together with hedonistic tendencies, significantly affect the willingness to pay a premium for luxury dining. Using a national sample of 500 luxury consumers who have eaten in a luxury dining restaurant in the past six months, Study 3 demonstrates that the bandwagon effect shapes emotional responses (both positive and negative), which in turn influence attitudes toward luxury dining. These attitudes predict both willingness to buy and willingness to pay a premium for luxury dining experiences. The emotional ambivalence driven by the bandwagon effect can be explained with the evaluative space model, which posits that emotional responses to the same input can be bivariate. For luxury marketers, this suggests the need to reduce the negative aspects of the bandwagon effect to encourage luxury diners to feel like they fit in and ensure the meal goes smoothly.