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The purpose of the study is to investigate consumers’ perceptions of status motivations on retailers’ sustainability efforts and whether collectivism and materialism moderate this relationship.

A quantitative research methodology using survey data was used. Data were collected by administering questionnaires from millennial respondents (n = 386) from the USA and Turkey.

The results show that cultural value (collectivism) and materialism can serve as moderators of the effects of status motivation and sustainability. The findings indicate that the link between status motivation and sustainability perceptions (both environmental and social sustainability) is stronger for more collectivist consumers. In terms of materialism, while it did not moderate the relationship between status motivation and perceptions of environmental sustainability, it did moderate the relationship between status motivation and perceptions of social sustainability, particularly the uniqueness aspect of materialism.

The stronger link between status motivation and both environmental and social sustainability for collectivists suggests that the bandwagon effect may be impacting their need for status. The stronger link between status motivation and social sustainability for those more materialistic suggests that their need for status may be more impacted by a snob effect as they want to appear unique. The use of college students is a limitation of this study, and future research needs to explore a wider range of age groups to determine if there are generational differences. Additionally, future research could examine other cultural dimensions such as power distance and masculinity versus femininity.

Findings from this research provide insights for retailers, especially those targeting the status and luxury market when developing their sustainability plans. An interest in sustainability may aid consumers in meeting their need for status, particularly for those status consumers who are more collectivist, as a means to fit in with their group. For more materialistic consumers, retailers may want to focus more on unique social sustainability efforts that are more publicly noticeable.

Social sustainability, a topic not studied as frequently as environmental sustainability, has significant implications for consumers. The findings suggest that the link between status motivation and social sustainability is stronger for collectivists, suggesting a bandwagon effect. Additionally, the authors find that the link between status motivation and social sustainability is stronger for materialists, particularly the uniqueness dimension of materialism, suggesting a snob effect.

The originality of this study lies in the exploration of how status motivation impacts consumers’ perceptions of retailers’ environmental and social sustainability efforts and if these relationships are moderated by collectivism and materialism. Few studies have examined social sustainability, especially in terms of culture.

This paper studies the sociocultural drivers of materialism cross-culturally. Research in this area is scarce, even though rapid social transformations worldwide, fueled by globalization, make it imperative to identify the conditions under which commonalities and differences in materialistic tendencies are most likely to evidence among consumers as they seek to assert, restore, or enhance their self-concept and status in the context of global consumption trends.

The psychographic determinants of materialism were rigorously validated across a diverse set of eight countries, by investigating which facets of acculturation to global consumer culture and national ethnic identity, along with consumer ethnocentrism, encourage or repel materialism. Using multigroup SEM and other analyses, the authors confirmed construct dimensionality and ascertained the stability of the relationships.

The most consistent positive drivers of materialism were self-identification with global consumer culture and exposure to American-based global mass media. The results demonstrated the compatibility of national identity and traditions with materialistic tendencies. Materialism was positively related to or independent of consumer ethnocentrism.

The findings offer consequential insights for both research and practice, although the cross-sectional character of survey research and certain sampling characteristics limit their generalizability.

The results pinpoint segments that spill over national boundaries, and those that remain geographically constrained, thus providing guidance for marketing and communication strategies to practitioners.

The authors shed light on two widely held yet insufficiently researched assumptions: that the homogenizing effect of global consumer culture may be fomenting materialism worldwide, and that nationalistic, parochially oriented consumers may be more capable of resisting materialistic values.

The study design addresses several shortcomings of prior research, and its findings advance the understanding of materialism and its antecedents by identifying the conditions driving materialistic tendencies.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Given the UAE’s dramatic transformation into a developed and commercialised nation, such an investigation is highly warranted.

In this study, four focus groups and 25 in-depth interviews with UAE nationals were conducted. A conceptual model theorising the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in the UAE emerged from a grounded theory analysis of the primary data and existing literature.

Rapid development, commercialisation and a substantial increase in new wealth have led to the development and socialisation of material values. Conspicuous and status consumption is creating an increasingly judgmental consumer society that is further cultivating material values in an ongoing cycle. Traditional Emirati values are also being expressed through materialistic displays. The consequences of materialism for the Emirati population include both positive and negative impacts on well-being, an increase in financial distress, delayed marriage and family conflict.

The model guides policy makers beyond constraining consumption via advertising and financial regulation towards breaking the cycles that cultivate harmful materialistic tendencies. The use of a more socio-cultural approach is recommended, which includes building self-esteem, resilience to judgements, use of cultural influencers, re-direction efforts and campaigns raising awareness and recognition of materialism as a social problem.

This is the first study to develop a comprehensive model of the antecedents, cultivation, behaviours and consequences of materialism in an emerging market.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how cultural value in materialism affects corporate supply of trade credits.

Using a sample of 14,710 firm-year observations of Chinese listed firms from 1998 to 2012, the authors examine the influence of regional materialism on accounts receivable.

The authors find that listed firms within more materialistic tend to extend less trade credit to their customers, in particular in long-term categories of trade credit. Such negative effects can be significantly mitigated by state control, suggesting the effects are more pronounced in privately controlled listed firms. The negative effects of materialism still hold after controlling for other regional factors, such as trust, GDP per capita or institutional development.

The authors show materialism as a cultural construct varies across Chinese regions, and it could have important impact on corporate supply of trade credits, besides the previous found effects on consumer use of credit.

This paper expands the literature about the influence of materialism on economic decision making from the individual level to the corporate level.

The purpose of this study is to examine whether the development of materialistic values in early life reflects cultural norms or is the outcome of media and family influences. It seeks to examine the role of family communication and television, which were found to promote materialistic values in individualistic countries, by assessing their effects on youths in four countries that represent the Eastern and Western cultures: Japan, Malaysia, USA, and France.

The study used an anonymous self‐administered survey of young adults aged 18 to 32 years in two diverse Eastern countries: Japan and Malaysia (total n=351); the sample size was approximately the same for the Western countries of USA and France (n=315). The samples were equivalent with respect to demographic characteristics. The Malaysian questionnaires were available in both English and Malay. Measurement scales included in the Japanese questionnaires come from available translated versions. The French questionnaires were subjected to back translation.

The findings suggest that the influence of the socio‐oriented family communication structure on materialistic attitudes in Western cultures might be indirect by affecting the youth's patterns of television viewing. The findings also suggest that concept‐oriented family communication has no effect on youth's development of materialistic values, regardless of cultural background.

The findings suggest that television might not be as important a socialization agent in the development of materialistic values of youths in collectivistic Eastern countries as it has been in individualistic Western countries

Purpose – The present research seeks insights into the consumer socialization process of both children and adults in a developing country, Peru. The role played by two socialization agents, media and church, has been explored in terms of how each is related to an important facet of consumer attitudes, level of materialism.

Methodology/approach – Male students attending a faith-based high school in Peru, as well as one of their parents, completed a survey in Spanish seeking information on their television viewing, their faith, and their views regarding possessions.

Findings – The more traditional socialization institution, church, appears to be less important to younger consumers than to their parents; but it has a greater influence on materialism for youth than their parents. The power of media as a socialization agent for both groups is seen not only via television advertising, but also through television programming.

Research implications – As one considers how consumers learn to be consumers, both from a purely theoretical standpoint as well as from a strategic marketing perspective, one should take into account both avenues for information transmission. The role played by both seems to change people's lives, both in terms of perceived importance, as well as actual consumer decision making.

Due to the political rivalries of the past, Karl Marx has usually been viewed as a partisan figure. With the demise of the Eastern block, however, it becomes possible to view Marxist thought in more objective and non‐partisan ways. Marx was a pioneering economic determinist. Since his death in 1883, furthermore, others have refined his views and the techniques with which economic determinism can be analyzed. As a result, Marx and the economic determinism he pioneered cannot be legitimately ignored by business thinkers.

The fact that young Hispanic consumers spend even more than others in their age category suggests the strategic importance of a deeper understanding of these consumers. To what extent do they resemble their U.S. non-Hispanic counterparts as opposed to those in Mexico? Has the acculturation process affected their cultural values? What role might watching television have played in that process? In the present study, we investigate these key questions across three segments – U.S. non-Hispanic, U.S. Hispanic, and Mexican college students. Hispanic students fall between the non-Hispanic and Mexican respondents in terms of self-reported levels of religiosity and materialism; they more closely mirror their Mexican peers in higher levels of life satisfaction. There are no significant differences between the groups in terms of quantity of television viewing. Overall, Hispanics seem to be slowly adopting American values, while the acculturation process does not seem to be affecting satisfaction with their lives.

This study aims to concern with Malaysian consumer involvement in fashion clothing. To achieve this, materialism, fashion clothing involvement and religiosity are examined as drivers of fashion clothing purchase involvement.

Gender, race and age are explored to have better understanding of fashion clothing purchase involvement in Malaysia. Data were gathered using a Malaysian university student sample, resulting in 281 completed questionnaires.

The results support the study’s model and its hypotheses and indicate that materialism, fashion clothing involvement and religiosity are significant drivers of fashion clothing purchase involvement. Also, materialism is a significant driver of fashion clothing involvement, and fashion clothing involvement mediates the relationship between materialism and fashion clothing purchase involvement. The results also show that Malaysian youth do not possess a high level of materialistic tendencies.

This study offers enormous opportunities for the international apparel marketers to formulate relevant business policies and strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically substantiate if the forces of globalization are impacting consumer culture and behavioral traits in a developing country (India).

Five hypotheses had been constructed to address the gaps in the literature with respect to the influence of globalization on prevalent consumer culture of a developing nation. Predisposition towards foreign brand among Indian consumers was taken as a proxy for global flows and its influence was studied on the existing materialistic values among the Indian consumers. The study covered a sample size of 557 respondents from five major cities in India. The raw data were collected with the help of structured questionnaire and analysis was done by using various relevant statistical techniques.

The results showed that predisposition towards foreign brands had a significant impact on materialistic values among the Indian consumers. The younger Indian consumers had significantly higher materialistic values than the older age groups. Lower income groups have showed significantly greater materialistic values than the higher income groups. Significant positive relationships were shown between materialistic values and the buyer behavior traits studied.

The managers should concentrate on the younger consumers, as they are the ones who are showing a definitive change in their buying behavior and increasing materialistic values. Alternatively, managers could modify their products to suit the requirements of older consumers.

The study empirically showed that Indian consumers' predisposition towards foreign brands and their materialistic values had significant positive correlation among them. Also, predisposition towards foreign brands along with demographical variables like age and gender significantly impact the materialistic values prevalent among Indian consumers.