The Artification of Luxury: How Art Can
Affect Perceived Durability and Purchase
Intention of Luxury Products
Matteo De Angelis, Cesare Amatulli, and Margherita Zaretti
Abstract Luxury brands are currently addressing the issues arising from the “democratization” of luxury consumption by looking for new ways to reinforce their
aesthetic, moral and symbolic value. Along with this challenge, luxury brands are
facing the growing consumers’ concern about the social and environmental impact
that luxury brands’ activities bring forth. In this chapter, we propose that associating
luxury products and brands with the concept of art and artworks might help luxury
companies tackle these issues. We start from the definition of luxury and the analysis of the motives behind luxury consumption and then discuss the role played by
sustainability in luxury through an overview of the main characteristics of luxury
goods, such as scarcity and durability, that make them be considerable as sustainable
in nature. Next, we discuss the idea that luxury and art share some important elements, such as the inherent strong emotional value, the relevance of craftmanship and
savoir faire, and, above all, the idea of durability (defined as the ability of a product to
maintain its quality and value over time), which characterizes both luxury products
and artworks. In particular, building on this premise as well as on previous studies
documenting the existence of the so-called art infusion effect—defined as the general
positive effect that the presence of art in product advertising has on product evaluation and perception—we propose that the relevance of the artist’s craftmanship
in the process of the artwork creation positively influences consumers’ perceived
durability of the product advertised, which, in turn, positively affects consumers’
purchase intention. Results of an experimental study discussed next support for our
hypothesis. Theoretical contributions of our study and managerial implications of
our findings are finally discussed in the chapter.
M. De Angelis (B) · M. Zaretti
LUISS University, Viale Romania, 32 00197 Rome, Italy
e-mail: mdeangelis@luiss.it
M. Zaretti
e-mail: margherita.zaretti@studenti.luiss.it
C. Amatulli
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Duomo, 259 74123 Taranto, Italy
e-mail: cesare.amatulli@uniba.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_4
61
Affect Perceived Durability and Purchase
Intention of Luxury Products
Matteo De Angelis, Cesare Amatulli, and Margherita Zaretti
Abstract Luxury brands are currently addressing the issues arising from the “democratization” of luxury consumption by looking for new ways to reinforce their
aesthetic, moral and symbolic value. Along with this challenge, luxury brands are
facing the growing consumers’ concern about the social and environmental impact
that luxury brands’ activities bring forth. In this chapter, we propose that associating
luxury products and brands with the concept of art and artworks might help luxury
companies tackle these issues. We start from the definition of luxury and the analysis of the motives behind luxury consumption and then discuss the role played by
sustainability in luxury through an overview of the main characteristics of luxury
goods, such as scarcity and durability, that make them be considerable as sustainable
in nature. Next, we discuss the idea that luxury and art share some important elements, such as the inherent strong emotional value, the relevance of craftmanship and
savoir faire, and, above all, the idea of durability (defined as the ability of a product to
maintain its quality and value over time), which characterizes both luxury products
and artworks. In particular, building on this premise as well as on previous studies
documenting the existence of the so-called art infusion effect—defined as the general
positive effect that the presence of art in product advertising has on product evaluation and perception—we propose that the relevance of the artist’s craftmanship
in the process of the artwork creation positively influences consumers’ perceived
durability of the product advertised, which, in turn, positively affects consumers’
purchase intention. Results of an experimental study discussed next support for our
hypothesis. Theoretical contributions of our study and managerial implications of
our findings are finally discussed in the chapter.
M. De Angelis (B) · M. Zaretti
LUISS University, Viale Romania, 32 00197 Rome, Italy
e-mail: mdeangelis@luiss.it
M. Zaretti
e-mail: margherita.zaretti@studenti.luiss.it
C. Amatulli
University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Via Duomo, 259 74123 Taranto, Italy
e-mail: cesare.amatulli@uniba.it
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
M. Á. Gardetti and I. Coste-Manière (eds.), Sustainable Luxury and Craftsmanship,
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3769-1_4
61