The 'Luxury Prime': How Luxury Changes People

[kpete]

The 'Luxury Prime': How Luxury Changes People
Q&A with: Roy Y.J. Chua
Published: February 1, 2010
Author: Sarah Jane Gilbert
Executive Summary:

What effect does luxury have on human cognition and decision making? According to new research, there seems to be a link between luxury and self interest, an insight that may help curb corporate excesses. Roy Y.J. Chua of Harvard Business School discusses findings from his work conducted with Xi Zou of London Business School. Key concepts include:

* People who were made to think about luxury before a decision-making task were more likely to endorse self-interested decisions that might potentially harm others.

* Although luxury does not necessarily induce people to harm others, it may cause them to be less considerate.

* Limiting corporate excesses and luxuries might be a step toward getting executives to behave more responsibly toward society.

.......................

This pattern of findings suggests that luxury-primed individuals were not more likely to have anti-social cognition, but were less likely to have pro-social thoughts. In other words, when thinking about luxury, people tend to focus more on themselves and less on others.

more:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=post&forum=439

[gateley]

1. Link doesn't work for me -- it that your fault or mine?

:7

[Angry Dragon]

3. Does not work for me either

[gateley]

4. Good, I'll stop clicking! nt

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Link

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6324.html

[gateley]

5. Thank you! nt

[Uncle Joe]

6. That's a fascinating study.

Thanks to kpete for the thread and thanks to you for the link, Gormy Cuss.

[rfranklin]

7. should be obvious...luxurious treatment and surroundings convince them that...

they are better than others and make them more demanding for more exceptional treatment. Then they see Exec B getting a bigger bonus or a plusher jet and they feel deprived.

"How can I do better than Exec B?" they think. "I know, I'll set up a merger which will make me CEO of a bigger corporation. They'll have to pay me more and treat me better!"

It's childish but that's the way it goes down.