Universitas Gadjah Mada
Faculty of Economics and Business

The Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada (FEB UGM), has again achieved international recognition. Dr. Naila Zulfa, M.A., M.S., PGDip., Ph.D., FHEA., a lecturer in the Department of Management, received the Best Paper Award at the 2024 MAG Scholar Conference on Business, Marketing, and Tourism held in Macau, China from November 12-14, 2024.

At the conference, Dr. Naila presented her research entitled "Luxury Literacy: The Role of Luxury Brand Knowledge on Luxury Consumption and Communication. Her study examines how luxury brand literacy mediates the relationship between global identity and luxury brand consumption behavior.

"The idea came from my curiosity about the findings of previous studies," said Dr. Naila. She explained that while some studies suggest that individuals with high global identity tend to buy international brands, others indicated that they gravitate toward luxury brands. However, Dr. Naila noted that this is not always the case, as not all global brands qualify as luxury brands.
Her findings show that individuals with a high global identity are more likely to purchase luxury brands if they have a high level of knowledge about them. This knowledge influences purchasing decisions and drives the desire to share their luxury consumption experiences.

Although Dr. Naila conducted the research independently, she acknowledged the support of the Department of Management and FEB UGM through funding from the Independent Research Grant. One challenge she faced was ensuring the eligibility of the respondents. "Out of more than 600 respondents, only 285 met the criteria of purchasing a luxury brand within the past year," she explained.

Attending the conference proved to be an invaluable experience for Dr. Naila. In addition to receiving the award, she was invited to publish her research in a journal affiliated with Emerald Publishing. "The most exciting part was meeting researchers from different countries and editors from leading journals. I also had the opportunity to discuss potential future research collaborations with Professor Zhilin Yang from the City University of Hong Kong," she added.

Winning the Best Paper Award at the conference greatly benefits Dr. Naila and motivates her to continue researching and writing. "I honestly had no expectations from this conference. I was just focused on giving a good presentation. So when they announced me as the winner, I was really surprised," she said with a laugh.

Looking ahead, Dr. Naila is eager to start new research soon. She encourages early-career researchers to continually explore research gaps and focus on studies with simple models that yield new, unique, and relevant results.

Reporter: Shofi Hawa Anjani
Editor: Kurnia Ekaptiningrum

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