Motives For Purchasing Artwork, Collectibles And Antiques

Abstract

Art is disaggregated into tangible and intangible offerings. Intangible art is one-time experiences of aesthetical and nostalgic products with no post-consumption exchange value. Tangible art preserves post-consumption exchange value. While psychographics of the consumers of intangible art are well-established, consumers of tangible art are under-researched. This research identifies and measures 16 different motives that underlie the purchase of artwork, collectibles and antiques. Heavy-consumers are found to score significantly higher than light-consumers on 8 of these motives: expected price fairness (economic); social acceptability and group identification (normative); aesthetics, pleasure and immersion (hedonic); culture (intellectual); and harmony. Findings are discussed and implications and limitations are also included.