Quality of lifestyle and luxury purchase inclinations from the perspectives of affluent Muslim consumers

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the influence of quality of lifestyle (QoL) on affluent Muslim consumers that in turn influences their interests or inclinations, either towards “relationship” or “materialistic” QoL, when purchasing luxury products or services. Design/methodology/approach – This research uses a questionnaire-based survey involving 233 Muslim customers. Data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Findings – The results show that relationship QoL of the consumers insignificantly affects their materialistic QoL. Thus, one way of achieving their quality lifestyle is through sharing and generosity and not through materialistic QoL. Also, their relationship QoL affects their basic necessity QoL through physical and community relationships but not through their social relationship. Furthermore, basic necessity QoL negatively affects both materialistic QoL and luxury purchase inclinations, indicating that they generally tend to go for material goods once their basic needs are fulfilled. Finally, there is a significant positive effect of materialistic QoL on their interest in purchasing luxury products or services. Research limitations/implications – The small sample size used in this research represents the main limitation of this research. This study provides further evidence that the preferences for luxury products/services are not the same across cultures. In the affluent country of Qatar, consumers initially prefer relationship QoL over materialistic QoL. After they have surpassed the basic necessity QoL, only then they would go for materialistic QoL and be inclined to go for luxury products/services. Practical implications – This study has found that there are great opportunities for international luxury product marketers to market their products and services to Muslim customers in the lucrative market of Qatar or in other affluent Muslim markets similar to that of Qatar. Social implications – The findings imply that the lifestyles of affluent Muslim consumers are slightly different from consumers in other societies/cultures in terms of their preference for luxury goods and services. Their interests in buying luxury products and services are somewhat guided by their religious convictions, which caused them to give preference to basic necessity QoL over materialistic QoL, at least at the initial stage of their lifestyle. Originality/value – The novelty of this study is its focus on understanding whether luxury consumption in a “new rich” Muslim developing country (Qatar) nourishes “materialistic” or “relationship” values of QoL. Also, although researches on materialistic QoL are in abundance, research on relationship QoL is somewhat limited. Thus, the major contribution to this study is the adoption of a more comprehensive approach to investigating QoL of consumers in an affluent Muslim country.