Some of the luxury consumption literature suggests that luxury consumption is a beneficial social signal for the actor which facilitates social interaction. However, a different stream of recent research suggests that luxury consumption bears social costs to the actor. In the employee–customer interaction context, wearing luxury brands can either benefit or backfire for the employee depending on the situation whether luxury status or warmth is necessary. Based on the gaps in the literature, this study examines the impact of employee conspicuous cues by utilizing luxury consumption and elitism attitude on employee–customer rapport and behavioral intentions. The study results show that employees wearing luxury brands increase customers’ perceived impression management toward the employee. Such perception is strengthened when employees show an elitism attitude. In addition, when employees wear luxury brands, customers are more likely to build rapport with employees when they show a democratic attitude, as they perceive the employees are less likely to involve in impression management than showing an elitism attitude. The results build upon the luxury hospitality literature, aesthetic labor, impression management, and rapport literature.

一些奢侈品消费文献表明，奢侈品消费是促进社会互动的行为者的有益社会信号。然而，最近的另一项研究表明，奢侈品消费会为参与者带来社会成本。在员工与客户的互动环境中，佩戴奢侈品牌可以为员工带来好处或适得其反，这取决于是否需要奢华状态或温暖。基于文献中的空白，本研究通过利用奢侈品消费和精英主义态度对员工 - 客户关系和行为意图的影响，研究了员工显眼线索的影响。研究结果表明，员工佩戴奢侈品牌会增加顾客对员工的印象管理。当员工表现出精英主义态度时，这种看法会得到加强。此外，当员工穿着奢侈品牌时，当他们表现出民主态度时，客户更有可能与员工建立融洽的关系，因为他们认为员工不太可能参与印象管理，而不是表现出精英主义态度。结果建立在豪华酒店文献、审美劳动、印象管理和融洽文献的基础上。