This thesis examines the relationship between religiosity and the intention to buy luxury goods, among young Muslims in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a Muslim majority country. In this city, luxury goods are on clear display, owned by rich Muslims and often by Muslim religious campaigners, while the majority of the population struggles, with a very low standard of living. Based on the perceptions of its participants, this research seeks to ascertain whether religiosity, religious orientation, and Islamic religious norms are related to the intention to buy luxury goods. In this case, the intention to purchase is seen as the possible manifestation of perceptions of religious norms or beliefs. From the perspective of social science, mainly the field of consumer behaviour, this study also analyses several possible determinants of the intention to buy luxury goods, such as the perceived value of luxury goods, influences of social groups and global lifestyles, and materialism, as well as the degree of concern of the potential buyers regarding inequality and the vast socio-economic gap evident in Indonesia, particularly in Jakarta. The analyses of the primary data, which were derived from 8 focus groups, 24 in-depth interviews, and a quantitative survey among 510 respondents, show that nearly all of the research participants perceived that Islam allows Muslims to own luxury goods as long as they can buy them legitimately, and that owning these goods does not contradict Islamic values in general. Most of the participants did not see the ownership of luxury goods as having any social issues, even though they live in a society with a huge disparity in income between rich and poor. The results from binary logistic regression analysis indicate that there is a significant relationship between the intention to buy luxury goods and (1) religiosity (negative relationship), (2) experiential value perception (positive relationship), (3) symbolic value perception (positive relationship), and (4) social group influence (positive relationship). However, the last three variables have greater influence than does religiosity. The majority of research participants, across all demographic variables, income strata and educational levels, appreciated the symbolic and experiential value of luxury goods and sought such items as a 'ticket' to enter elite social groups. They believed they could own luxury goods, be members of the elite class in Jakarta, and feel religious at the same time. On the other hand, the participants who did not harbour an intention to purchase these goods, yet had higher religiosity mean scores, stated that they did not want to ignore their feelings of guilt if they were to buy luxury goods while there are so many poor people in Indonesia. This thesis argues that the majority of young Muslims in Jakarta who perceive that Islam allows ownership of luxury goods and that such ownership has nothing to do with moral and ethical concerns regarding the vast socioeconomic gap in Indonesia, would have the intention to buy such items, if money were not an issue. Perceived external influences are seen have no significant impact on their intention, except for influence from social groups.
Date of Award | 2014 |
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Original language | English |
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- consumption (economics)
- luxuries
- religious aspects
- Islam and culture
- Islam
- Indonesia
Religiosity and the intention to buy luxury goods among young Indonesian Muslims in Jakarta
Tjahjono, G. (Author). 2014
Western Sydney University thesis: Doctoral thesis