"Boss Ceiling Effect": Brand Downgrading Consumption of Workplace Employees

Abstract

Previous literature suggests that people purchase symbolic products to signal their social identity. However, in the organizational context, subordinates as customers may choose products with lower brand prestige than what they want and can afford, so as to make sure their choices are below the invisible “red-line” set by the chosen brands of their supervisors. This phenomenon is known as the “boss ceiling effect,” a concept that has not been well explored in, or explained by, existing literature so far.

Specifically, I use the term “downgrading behavior” to refer to the behavior by which people often downgrade their original choice to make sure the brand prestige is lower than that of the product owned by their boss. Through a qualitative study, this thesis verified the existence of the boss ceiling effect, providing abundant evidence showing that there is indeed such an effect in the workplace. Moreover, the possible factors that influence or predict people’s downgrading attitude are empirically examined. The results show that undesired self-congruence and perceived risk are positively related to the downgrading attitude. Besides, one’s perceived market orientation and hierarchy orientation of their organizational culture also influence their downgrading attitude positively, while their perceived adhocracy orientation influences the downgrading attitude negatively. In addition, organizational culture balance has a direct positive effect on the brand-downgrading attitude. It also positively moderates the relationships between undesired self-congruence and downgrading attitude and negatively moderates the relationship between perceived risk and downgrading attitude.

This thesis explores the intersection of organizational culture research and consumer behavior research, extending the field of consumer behavior research in an organizational context. The thesis also offers practical implications for marketers of symbolic consumption who wish to understand downgrading behavior.

Date of Award	12 Jan 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Zhilin YANG (Supervisor)