Asian J. Interdicip. Res. 01 -10 | 1 RESEARCH ARTICLE Status and Conspicuous consumption: Understanding consumers’ Psyche. Reference to luxury car brands M.M. Tharaka Punchibandara a,* , W.M.C.B. Wanninayake b , D.A.T. Kumari c a Doctor of Business Administration Program, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka. b Department of Marketing Management, Faculty of Commerce & Management University of Kelaniya, Colombo, Sri Lanka. c Department of Banking and Finance, Faculty of Business studies & Finance, Wayamba, University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka. *Corresponding author email: tharaka910611@gmail.com DOI: https://doi.org/10.34256/ajir2111 Received: 08-11-2020 Revised: 24-12-2020 Accepted: 25-12-2020 Published: 25-12-2020 Abstract: In this study, researcher is trying to investigate whether status and conspicuousness are two different constructs in measuring brand prestige utilizing new luxury market as a reference point. In other words, the attempt will determine if consumers can differentiate between the perceived status and perceived conspicuousness of the brands in product category (luxury car brands) selected in the Sri Lankan context. According to many research studies, revealed some of the evidence that these two dimensions are distinct constructs, nevertheless this was limiting in terms of the sample used (students), the methodology (confirmatory factor analysis only), the scope of the product categories and the context of the study conducted (Western countries). The current study is an extension to O’Cass and Frost (2004) study by using the real consumers as a sample (300 respondence). Exploratory factor analysis was performed among nine brands of luxury and semi luxury car brands in Sri Lankan context. Keywords: Branding, Conspicuous Consumption, Luxury, New Luxury, Status Introduction World of luxury brands has boomed over past few decades which disapproved the projections made by high eminent research agencies such as Boston Consultancy Group and Mckinsey, where those estimates are far beyond the reality (Truong, 2008). As stated by Fiske and Silverstein (2004), Boston Consulting Group was estimated $840 billion market of luxury goods by 2005 where this was much far beyond the estimate of $86 billion by Mckinsey in 1990. The Luxury Institute (2007) estimated that this market will expand one trillion in 2010. This phenomenal growth of the Luxury brand market was mainly due to two factors (Truong et al., 2008); the economic recovery in most western countries and unshackled economic growth in South-East Asian nations (Vigneron and Johnson, 1999, 2004), and increase quantity of Luxury goods due to improved techniques and best quality management techniques (Silverstein and Fiske, 2003). The other important contributor to the increased demand on Luxury goods is that paradigm changed on the basis of more affordable, accessible and creation of new target market where those helped to transformed traditional luxury goods to new DOI: 10.34256/ajir2111