Motivation as asserted by Menon (2017) refers to the willingness, desire, need or decision of a customer to buy a product or service. Henninger et al., (2017) add that the motivation in this regard can be termed as positive, neutral or negative response depending with the influence that the luxury brand gives the consumer. According to Degen et al (2009), four schools of thought can be used to explain the motivations of English and Chinese customers on purchasing luxury products on online platforms. They include cultural motivations, societal group motivation, basic human motivation, and global motivation.

Culture Based Motivations

According to Gao et al (2009), luxury purchase motivation is regarded as an intercultural aspect as opposed to just being a psychological issue. This is based on the fact that national-culture is often used a basis for determining the consumers’ preferences and attitudes towards purchasing decisions. O’Cass and Siahtiri (2013) add that the resulting outcome from the national cultures can be used to accurately predict the consumers’ motivations towards a luxury brand. Previous studies as posited by O’Cass and Siahtiri (2013) have shown that various models have used to determine the national cultures of various countries in effort to identify the consumer needs and preferences. One of the commonly used models is the Hofstede model, which gives insights on a country’s culture, hence describing the population’s behavioural tendencies towards purchasing decisions. Using the model to describe the motivations between and the English and Chinese, it is evident that Chinese consumer value luxury brands, as they represent the ‘face’ of the family (Chen and Peng, 2014). The power distance between China and UK disparity proves that the Chinese are willing to sacrifice more to gain superiority. Considering that the luxury brands tend to offer a sense of superiority, it is therefore inevitable for the Chinese population to yearn for such brands. Kim and Kim (2017) agree by adding that as opposed to the British culture, the Chinese culture purchase luxury brands based on conformity, social status, as well as group enhancement and not for individualistic reasons.  The nature of the interdependent cultures in this case perceive an individual’s identity in regard to the relationships they have with others, which include familial, professional, as well as social relationships. According to Jian et al (2010), consumers in the Chinese culture tend to get motivated to purchase luxury items that are publicly visible and have a significant shared relevance so as to use them to climb the social hierarchy in the community.  In addition, Chinese consumers are likely to purchase luxury items out of obedience and will assume that others attain the same level of satisfaction from the luxury items. The Hofstede model regards UK population to have independent cultures, where people’s behaviours are distinct. An individual’s inner self dictates their preferences, tastes, and abilities, which sequentially determines their behaviour towards purchasing luxury brands.  The British consumers evaluate a luxury good or service by its individual characteristics, and they purchase the item for own good or to ‘stand out’. Hung et al (2011) agree and add that consumers in the western culture are more motivated by personal meaning and place relevance of the luxury items on hedonic value.