Bandwagoners or snobs? Developing the conspicuous consumption motivation scale

Author Information

Zachary A. Russell, University of GeorgiaFollow
B. Bynum Boley, University of Georgia
Kyle Woosnam, University of Georgia
W Keith Campbell, University of GeorgiaFollow

Author Bios (50 Words for each Author)

Zachary A. Russell is a Master of Science Student within the University of Georgia's Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program. He is interested the symbolic aspects of travel and how travel is used a form of conspicuous consumption.

B. Bynum Boley, PhD, is an Associate Professor within the University of Georgia’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program. His research focuses on sustainable tourism development and how the unique natural and cultural resources of communities can be protected, packaged, and marketed to jointly increase sustainability, resident quality of life, and a community’s competitiveness as a tourism destination.

Kyle M. Woosnam, PhD, is an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia in the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management program. He conducts community-based research on topics pertaining to interactions and relationships between destination residents and visitors, sustainable tourism planning and development, and socialcultural and economic impacts of tourism.

W. Keith Campbell is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia. His work focuses on narcissism in cultural and organizational contexts.

Abstract (150 Words)

With social media increasing the ability of tourists to both conspicuously and symbolically consume travel experiences in an effort to manage their self-concept, there is a need to better understand the divergent motivations behind this form of symbolic consumption. Leibenstein (1950) breaks conspicuous consumption down into dimensions driven by “snob” and “bandwagon” motivations. Bandwagon motivations are driven by people wanting to fit in whereas snob motivations are individual’s desires to stand out. At present time, no reliable and valid measurement tool exists to determine the role these motivations play in driving the conspicuous posting of travel experiences on social media. Hence, this extended abstract focuses on the creation of the Conspicuous Consumption Motivation Scale (CCMS) using the methods laid out by Churchill (1979) that will allow researchers to differentiate between snob and bandwagons motivations behind travel social media posts and eventually see how these motivations drive travel decisions.