Papers by Vertica Bhardwaj
After spending last three years (the hardest time in my life) in my journey for PhD, I cannot agr... more After spending last three years (the hardest time in my life) in my journey for PhD, I cannot agree more with the simple sentence 'if it is easy, it is not a PhD'. This dissertation was an extremely challenging academic voyage that could have been far more stressful in absence of some very special people. First and foremost, I wish to thank my major professor, Dr. Youn-Kyung Kim, for providing me with much needed academic guidance to conduct research and write journal articles since the beginning of this journey, and for reading through multiple refinements of this dissertation towards its final stages even when she was on a family vacation. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Dr. Ann Fairhurst for her support, kindness, and valuable suggestions throughout my entire journey at UT. She has been a wonderful and considerate professor to work for. My sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Heejin Lim for providing constructive comments on this dissertation that made it theoretically stronger. In addition, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Robert T Ladd for taking out time from his administrative responsibilities and providing his expert guidance in the area of structural equation modeling. I also wish to thank Dr. Rod Runyan for providing his feedback on my endless questions and doubts related to the research methodology, and for keeping his doors always open for graduate students to brainstorm. I am also grateful to Dr. Wanda Costen for her enthusiasm, encouragement, and the words of wisdom that she brought with her every time during the doctoral seminars. My conversations with her have been a source of enlightenment. v My thanks are due to Marcia, Judy, and Pat for all the help they have given me towards the completion of this journey. My deep appreciation goes to Ida A. Anders Endowment Fund at UT for providing financial support to collect the data for this research. I am grateful to many others including the respondents of this study, without whom this research was incomplete; Cary Springer, who helped me in developing an online survey for this research; and my dear friends (Archana, Ashdeep, Kusum, Nidhi, Reshma, Tulika, and their respective spouses) for making Knoxville feel like a home away from home. Special thanks to my friend Pooja who always kept on asking how long it will take to finish. Yes Pooja, it is finally finished! I am grateful to my parents for believing in every step on my way until now, and for giving me everything that I wanted in my life. Thank you papa for instilling in me an appreciation for education; and mummy, for not asking too often why I was not visiting home since last three years. Thank you my little sister, Ritu and sister-in-law Anu, for your unconditional love and remember you are always in my heart. I am grateful to my parents-in-law for their constant support without saying. Finally, I do not have words to thank my love and inspiration of life, Amit. You have been my incredible support system and a source of encouragement who taught me to dream big no matter what. Your sacrificing love and tiring weekend journeys to Knoxville motivated me to finish my PhD in three years. Thank you for being my best friend, my inspiration, and my soul mate. I love you, Amit! vi
(Not) Made in Italy: Can Sustainability and Luxury Co-exist?
Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes, 2017
In the past, luxury often resonated with a tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying exp... more In the past, luxury often resonated with a tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience, something that only very privileged few could afford. In recent years, the meaning of luxury has become profoundly different and transitioned into a phenomenon that primarily focuses on selling expensive designer brand names with a mere illusion of exclusiveness and superior quality to the masses. As a result of the mass luxury phenomena, a designer handbag or watch no longer serves the same purpose as before. Today owning a luxury brands does not transmit reliable information about its wearer’s socioeconomic status or background. With such dramatic changes in luxury industry, a large body of consumer research has looked into understanding why individuals seek luxury brands and high-end logo-ed merchandise across the globe. However, until recently, a rather unexplored area remains in the domain of ‘sustainable’ consumption of luxury brands. The overall question arises of the role of consumers with regards to sustainable practices in luxury industry and how these practices influence decisions or intentions to indulge in a behavior. For instance, does it matter to the consumer if a ‘Made in Italy’ handbag was actually made (in-part) off-shore in a factory? Does lack of transparency in manufacturing process and information play any role in forcing consumers to rethink about their perception of luxury brand and, of course, luxury itself? This chapter outlines a conceptual framework that explores factors that influence perception on consumption of sustainable luxury. It is built upon the idea that luxury brands acts as a psychological meaning of self-expression and symbolic association that individuals aspire to create or maintain. The ultimate goal of this chapter is to explore whether consumers are increasingly becoming conscious of the adverse effects of the social, moral, and environmental imbalances created by luxury brands. Based on existing theoretical and empirical insights from Theory of Impression Management and Value-Attitude-Behavior paradigm, it becomes evident that psychological determinants, such as symbolic value perception (i.e., self-directed and others-directed perception of the symbolic association with luxury bands), tendency to conform, moral judgment (i.e., ability to rationally engage one’s knowledge in performing actions that are responsible to the society), and hedonism, as well as individuals’ attitude toward and involvement with sustainable luxury brands can represent antecedents of intentions to purchase sustainable luxury. This exploratory work will be first of its kind and will contribute to the limited literature on consumers’ perception toward sustainable luxury.
Fast Fashion Response to changes in Apparel Industry
Mexican national cross-border shopping: Exploration of retail tourism
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2012
This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount out... more This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount outlet mall studies the:(1) economic impacts of their expenditures on the local and regional economies, and (2) activities they engage in while at the outlet malls and benefits received from shopping there. Spending by cross-border shoppers varied by accommodation type; hotels or motels/friends and family spent approximately 800(US)onclothingdailyandcondominiums/dayvisitorsbetween 400 and 475(US). ...
A case study on the internationalization process of a ‘born-global’ fashion retailer
The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 2011
This case study on Zara elucidates the expansion strategies used by both born-global and gradual ... more This case study on Zara elucidates the expansion strategies used by both born-global and gradual global fast-fashion retailers based on theories of internationalization. Aspects related to knowledge sharing, resource-based theory, and psychic distance are overlaid with Zara's internationalization strategies to advance understanding of the role fashion plays in dynamic internationalization. Zara employs a high-risk, high-reward model of internationalization to defend its unique merchandise and retail position by remaining ...
Indian Consumers' Brand Image towards U.S. Brands
After spending last three years (the hardest time in my life) in my journey for PhD, I cannot agr... more After spending last three years (the hardest time in my life) in my journey for PhD, I cannot agree more with the simple sentence 'if it is easy, it is not a PhD'. This dissertation was an extremely challenging academic voyage that could have been far more stressful in absence of some very special people. First and foremost, I wish to thank my major professor, Dr. Youn-Kyung Kim, for providing me with much needed academic guidance to conduct research and write journal articles since the beginning of this journey, and for reading through multiple refinements of this dissertation towards its final stages even when she was on a family vacation. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to Dr. Ann Fairhurst for her support, kindness, and valuable suggestions throughout my entire journey at UT. She has been a wonderful and considerate professor to work for. My sincere gratitude goes to Dr. Heejin Lim for providing constructive comments on this dissertation that made it theoretically stronger. In addition, I am deeply indebted to Dr. Robert T Ladd for taking out time from his administrative responsibilities and providing his expert guidance in the area of structural equation modeling. I also wish to thank Dr. Rod Runyan for providing his feedback on my endless questions and doubts related to the research methodology, and for keeping his doors always open for graduate students to brainstorm. I am also grateful to Dr. Wanda Costen for her enthusiasm, encouragement, and the words of wisdom that she brought with her every time during the doctoral seminars. My conversations with her have been a source of enlightenment. v My thanks are due to Marcia, Judy, and Pat for all the help they have given me towards the completion of this journey. My deep appreciation goes to Ida A. Anders Endowment Fund at UT for providing financial support to collect the data for this research. I am grateful to many others including the respondents of this study, without whom this research was incomplete; Cary Springer, who helped me in developing an online survey for this research; and my dear friends (Archana, Ashdeep, Kusum, Nidhi, Reshma, Tulika, and their respective spouses) for making Knoxville feel like a home away from home. Special thanks to my friend Pooja who always kept on asking how long it will take to finish. Yes Pooja, it is finally finished! I am grateful to my parents for believing in every step on my way until now, and for giving me everything that I wanted in my life. Thank you papa for instilling in me an appreciation for education; and mummy, for not asking too often why I was not visiting home since last three years. Thank you my little sister, Ritu and sister-in-law Anu, for your unconditional love and remember you are always in my heart. I am grateful to my parents-in-law for their constant support without saying. Finally, I do not have words to thank my love and inspiration of life, Amit. You have been my incredible support system and a source of encouragement who taught me to dream big no matter what. Your sacrificing love and tiring weekend journeys to Knoxville motivated me to finish my PhD in three years. Thank you for being my best friend, my inspiration, and my soul mate. I love you, Amit! vi
In the past, luxury often resonated with a tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying exp... more In the past, luxury often resonated with a tradition, superior quality, and a pampered buying experience, something that only very privileged few could afford. In recent years, the meaning of luxury has become profoundly different and tran-sitioned into a phenomenon that primarily focuses on selling expensive designer brand names with a mere illusion of exclusiveness and superior quality to the masses. As a result of the mass luxury phenomena, a designer handbag or watch no longer serves the same purpose as before. Today owning a luxury brands does not transmit reliable information about its wearer's socioeconomic status or background. With such dramatic changes in luxury industry, a large body of consumer research has looked into understanding why individuals seek luxury brands and high-end logo-ed merchandise across the globe. However, until recently, a rather unexplored area remains in the domain of 'sustainable' consumption of luxury brands. The overall question arises of the role of consumers with regards to sustainable practices in luxury industry and how these practices influence decisions or intentions to indulge in a behavior. For instance, does it matter to the consumer if a 'Made in Italy' handbag was actually made (in-part) offshore in a factory? Does lack of transparency in manufacturing process and information play any role in forcing consumers to rethink about their perception of luxury brand and, of course, luxury itself? This chapter outlines a conceptual framework that explores factors that influence perception on consumption of sustainable luxury. It is built upon the idea that luxury brands acts as a psychological meaning of self-expression and symbolic association that individuals aspire to create or maintain. The ultimate goal of this chapter is to explore whether consumers are increasingly becoming conscious of the adverse effects of the social, moral, and environmental imbalances 411 created by luxury brands. Based on existing theoretical and empirical insights from Theory of Impression Management and Value-Attitude-Behavior paradigm, it becomes evident that psychological determinants, such as symbolic value perception (i.e., self-directed and others-directed perception of the symbolic association with luxury bands), tendency to conform, moral judgment (i.e., ability to rationally engage one's knowledge in performing actions that are responsible to the society), and hedonism, as well as individuals' attitude toward and involvement with sustainable luxury brands can represent antecedents of intentions to purchase sustainable luxury. This exploratory work will be first of its kind and will contribute to the limited literature on consumers' perception toward sustainable luxury.
This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount out... more This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount outlet mall studies the: (1) economic impacts of their expenditures on the local and regional economies, and (2) activities they engage in while at the outlet malls and benefits received from shopping there. Spending by cross-border shoppers varied by accommodation type; hotels or motels/friends and family spent approximately $800 (U.S.) on clothing daily and condominiums/day visitors between $400 and $475 (U.S.). The multiplier for cross-border spending at the local level ranged from 1.27 to 1.45. Top cross-border shopper activities were shopping and buying, followed by eating, and visiting.
Indian Consumers' Brand Image towards US Brands
Mexican national cross-border shopping: Exploration of retail tourism
This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount out... more This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount outlet mall studies the:(1) economic impacts of their expenditures on the local and regional economies, and (2) activities they engage in while at the outlet malls and benefits received from shopping there. Spending by cross-border shoppers varied by accommodation type; hotels or motels/friends and family spent approximately 800(US)onclothingdailyandcondominiums/dayvisitorsbetween 400 and 475(US). ...
This paper contributes to the body of knowledge about cross-border shopping and provides relevant... more This paper contributes to the body of knowledge about cross-border shopping and provides relevant information regarding "Recession and Post-recession" Mexican outshopping behavior in the U.S. The Great Recession began in the US during September 2008. As a result of it, U.S. consumers reduced their spending and retailers cut prices. Yet, the Great Recession did not stop international visitors from shopping in the U.S. including Mexican cross-border shoppers. Therefore, this study specifically compares Mexican cross-border shoppers' trip profiles and expenditure data in 2008-2009 and 2013. Both studies were fielded in San Marcos Texas. Respondents completed the survey in either English or Spanish. Information was collected about travel party profiles, frequency of outshopping, demographic data, travel distance, and spending in different expenditure categories.
This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount out... more This exploration of cross-border shopping by Mexican national shoppers at a regional discount outlet mall studies the: (1) economic impacts of their expenditures on the local and regional economies, and (2) activities they engage in while at the outlet malls and benefits received from shopping there.
Spending by cross-border shoppers varied by accommodation type; hotels or motels/friends and family spent approximately $800 (U.S.) on clothing daily and condominiums/day visitors between $400 and $475 (U.S.). The multiplier for cross-border spending at the local level ranged from 1.27 to 1.45. Top cross-border shopper activities were shopping and buying, followed by eating, and visiting.
The International Review of Retail, …, Jan 1, 2010
Journal of Global Marketing, Jan 1, 2010
International Journal of …, Jan 1, 2011
Uploads
Papers by Vertica Bhardwaj
Spending by cross-border shoppers varied by accommodation type; hotels or motels/friends and family spent approximately $800 (U.S.) on clothing daily and condominiums/day visitors between $400 and $475 (U.S.). The multiplier for cross-border spending at the local level ranged from 1.27 to 1.45. Top cross-border shopper activities were shopping and buying, followed by eating, and visiting.