Search results
1 – 10 of over 5000Wiktor Razmus, Magdalena Razmus and Sonja Grabner-Kräuter
This paper aims to use the cognitive appraisal theory to investigate the effects of brand engagement and materialism on the positive emotions of joy and excitement evoked by a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to use the cognitive appraisal theory to investigate the effects of brand engagement and materialism on the positive emotions of joy and excitement evoked by a product at different stages of the purchase process.
Design/methodology/approach
Two complementary studies were conducted to achieve the research objectives. Study 1 used a longitudinal design, examining the pre-purchase stage and a moment shortly after the purchase. Study 2 adopted a cross-sectional approach, focusing on the post-purchase stage. Relationships among variables were analyzed through hierarchical regression and moderation analyses.
Findings
The findings indicate that materialism is not significantly associated with consumers’ positive product-evoked emotions (joy and excitement) before and shortly after purchase. At these two stages, brand engagement predicts positive emotions. In the post-purchase stage, where materialism is weakly related to joy and excitement, a robust positive link exists between brand engagement and positive product-evoked emotions. Moreover, higher levels of materialism reduce the experience of joy and excitement among participants with high levels of brand engagement.
Originality/value
Experiencing joy and excitement is crucial in consumer behavior. However, little is known about the determinants of these emotions in the consumption context, especially concerning internal consumption-related factors and different stages of the purchase process. This paper contributes to the field by shedding light on the role of brand engagement and materialism in the experience of positive product-evoked emotions. The findings provide evidence that brand engagement significantly enhances consumers’ positive product-evoked emotions, highlighting its importance in consumer behavior research.
Details
Keywords
Sandra K. Smith Speck and Teri Peterson
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…
Abstract
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.
Vijay Amrit Raj, Sahil Singh Jasrotia and Siddharth Shankar Rai
Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services can put consumers into a debt trap by encouraging consumers to buy things they cannot afford, leading to a culture of materialism and…
Abstract
Purpose
Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) services can put consumers into a debt trap by encouraging consumers to buy things they cannot afford, leading to a culture of materialism and consumerism. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how materialism can influence BNPL use and impulsive and compulsive buying. Additionally, the authors examine if BNPL use and impulsive buying mediate between materialism and compulsive buying.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from 556 participants were collected through a structured questionnaire via an online survey. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using SMART PLS 4 was employed to analyze the relationship between variables and to test the proposed hypotheses.
Findings
Materialism impact BNPL use and increases the inclination for impulse buying, precipitating compulsive buying behavior. However, BNPL use does not directly influence compulsive buying. The mediating relationship was identified, where BNPL use, and impulsive buying mediate the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying.
Practical implications
BNPL use alone does not inevitably lead to compulsive buying. The only way BNPL use could lead to compulsive buying is through impulsive buying. Therefore, BNPL service providers need to foster responsible buying habits due to the rise in impulsive buying, which, if not controlled, could lead to a debt trap resulting from compulsive buying.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the limited BNPL literature because there is speculation, but the scarcity of empirical evidence to substantiate, how materialism influences BNPL use and increases the inclination for impulse buying, precipitating compulsive buying behavior.
Details
Keywords
Linas Pupelis and Beata Šeinauskienė
This study aims to explore how and why self-discrepancy affects materialism and impulsive buying and the extent to which subjective well-being mediates the relationship between…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore how and why self-discrepancy affects materialism and impulsive buying and the extent to which subjective well-being mediates the relationship between self-discrepancy, materialism and impulsive buying.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors have tested the hypothesis with a convenience sample (N = 434) from Lithuania. Descriptive analysis, principal components analysis (PCA), serial mediation hypothesis tested with model 81 from regression-based path analysis modeling tool PROCESS Macro for IBM® SPSS® Statistics 24.7 statistical software.
Findings
The serial and parallel mediation analysis results indicated that greater self-discrepancy was related to poorer life satisfaction, which was related to greater materialism centrality, which promoted greater impulsive buying. Also, the greater the self-discrepancy, caused more occurrence of negative affect, which relates to increased materialism happiness, which triggers impulsive buying. Self-discrepancy was negatively associated with the frequency of positive affect, which was positively related to materialism, which stimulates impulsive buying.
Research limitations/implications
The study was dominated by younger respondents. The survey was conducted during the lockdown of the Covid-19 virus pandemic.
Originality/value
There is little empirical evidence to support the reasoning behind why self-discrepancy predicts a higher degree of materialism, which increases impulsive buying. This study suggests the mechanism of how subjective well-being affects relationships of self-discrepancy on materialism and impulsive buying.
Details
Keywords
Kristian Steensen Nielsen, Tina Joanes, Dave Webb, Shipra Gupta and Wencke Gwozdz
This study aims to examine the conceptual distinction of two clothing orientations – style orientation and fashion orientation. Style and fashion orientations both express…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine the conceptual distinction of two clothing orientations – style orientation and fashion orientation. Style and fashion orientations both express identity and individuality, but the fashion orientation may more strongly reflect materialistic values, which extensive evidence shows are detrimental to well-being. This study investigates how the clothing orientations are associated with materialism and subjective well-being.
Design/methodology/approach
The conceptual distinction between style and fashion orientations and their associations with materialism and subjective well-being were investigated via an online survey (N = 4,591) conducted in Germany, Poland, Sweden and the USA. Participants aged 18–65 were recruited based on national representative quotas for age, gender, education and region.
Findings
The regression results support a conceptual distinction between the style and fashion orientation. Style orientation was positively associated with subjective well-being compared to fashion orientation. Both the style and fashion orientations were positively correlated with materialism, but the association was much stronger for fashion orientation and materialism exhibited a strong negative association with subjective well-being. Interestingly, materialism moderated the association between fashion orientation and well-being but not between style orientation and well-being.
Research limitations/implications
The four examined countries were Western, and, thus, the findings cannot be generalized to other populations. In addition, this study specifically examined relationships in a clothing context. To enable wider generalization, the relationships tested must be explored in other countries, especially non-Western, and also across other product categories.
Practical implications
The findings of this study can help retailers develop their marketing programs, product and service offerings and specifically their communications more closely targeted to consumers’ clothing orientations.
Originality/value
This study contributes by conceptually distinguishing between clothing style and fashion orientations and investigating their divergent associations to materialism and subjective well-being. This research also raises the question of whether fashion orientation is independent or rather, an aspect of materialism, which has implications for other consumption domains as well.
Details
Keywords
This study aims to explore the potential that acting proenvironmentally protects adolescents from developing materialistic value.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the potential that acting proenvironmentally protects adolescents from developing materialistic value.
Design/methodology/approach
Convenience sampling was adopted to collect data from two randomly selected secondary schools in central China. A total of 784 participants were included in the survey.
Findings
The mediation analysis revealed that adolescent proenvironmental behaviour was negatively associated with materialism. The results of the moderated mediation model showed that psychological entitlement mediates the association between adolescent proenvironmental behaviour and materialism, and that family socioeconomic status acts as a moderator in the association between proenvironmental behaviour and psychological entitlement.
Practical implications
The current results advise educational practitioners on alleviating adolescent materialism. Policy makers and schools can add more environmental practice to the curriculum and extracurricular activities. Moreover, identifying the personal benefits of proenvironmental behaviour can motivate young people to act proenvironmentally, which not only factually reduces over-consumption but also attracts more attention from young people to the environment.
Originality/value
Previous studies rarely explored the individual belief or perception accounting for the negative association between proenvironmental behaviour and materialism. Therefore, the authors adopt psychological entitlement, a belief reflecting the dark side of individual perception, to explain why proenvironmental behaviour reduces materialism.
Details
Keywords
Thirarut Sangkhawasi and Lalit M. Johri
The paper aims to investigate the influence of status brand strategy of Mercedes Benz on materialism.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to investigate the influence of status brand strategy of Mercedes Benz on materialism.
Design/methodology/approach
Materialism level and perceived status associated with status brands are measured amongst Bangkok people. The correlation between the two shows the nature and the extent of the impact of the strategy on materialism.
Findings
Status brand strategy promotes materialism at a moderate level. Older and low to middle income people are susceptible to the impact of the strategy. The three characteristics of the brand – symbolic meaning, quality, and emotional appeal – show a strong impact on materialists.
Research limitations/implications
This paper focuses on the Bangkok population and a single status brand. The analysis does not distinguish between the perception of the owner and non‐owner of the brand.
Practical implications
The findings point to adopting appropriate marketing strategies. These are: use direct marketing channels, expand product range to introduce affordable products, and communicate against bad connotation of materialism.
Originality/value
This paper calls for a reexamining of the impact of status brand strategy in escalating materialism. The findings will help in implementing strategies to discourage excessive materialism.
Details
Keywords
Kara Chan, Hongxia Zhang and Iris Wang
Looks at attitudes of Chinese adolescents to materialism, including the effect of age on materialism and the influence of family and peers. Outlines the values of Chinese culture…
Abstract
Looks at attitudes of Chinese adolescents to materialism, including the effect of age on materialism and the influence of family and peers. Outlines the values of Chinese culture: thrift, respect for parents, group orientation, social harmony, good manners, face, and academic achievement; these values could impact both positively and negatively on endorsement of materialistic values. Points out that parental expectations of their children’s material success have increased since the one child per family policy. Finds that older adolescents were more materialistic than younger ones, that more materialistic adolescents tended to communicate more with their peers and less with their parents, and that television (which now reaches 92 per cent of households) has no effect because the Chinese government’s strict rules about TV programmes’ content requires them to reflect traditional values.
Details
Keywords
Discusses the factors that determine a child’s sense of materialism, and how this can be measured, based on face‐to‐face interviews with 246 children to measure their responses to…
Abstract
Discusses the factors that determine a child’s sense of materialism, and how this can be measured, based on face‐to‐face interviews with 246 children to measure their responses to 14 items; the background to the study is a concern that advertising may influence children to steal in order to buy advertised products. Reviews the literature relating to consumer socialisation, which shows that children understand the concept of possession and value it from a very young age. Concludes that Hong Kong Chinese children do not endorse strongly materialistic values; younger children were more materialistic than older children, and, contrary to the research literature, the current study found no gender difference in materialistic values. Finds also that mere exposure to television advertising and programmes does not contribute to greater materialism.
Details
Keywords
Mehmet Demirbag, Sunil Sahadev and Kamel Mellahi
This paper aims to explore the moderating role of materialism in the relationship between country image and product preference with particular reference to emerging economies.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the moderating role of materialism in the relationship between country image and product preference with particular reference to emerging economies.
Design/methodology/approach
Young consumers from a UK university were surveyed on their intention to buy three categories of products from six countries.
Findings
The findings show that the moderating role of materialism in the relationship between country image and product preference is contingent upon the type of product. Specifically, the results show that the effect of materialism as a negative moderator is very pronounced for high value products from emerging economies and less pronounced for low value products from emerging economies.
Research limitations/implications
The findings highlight the role of materialism in purchasing behaviour and buyers' perceptions towards goods from emerging economies.
Practical implications
The findings show that materialism among consumers could be a major stumbling block for multinationals from emerging economies to enter markets in developed countries. The results suggest that multinationals from emerging economies should under‐emphasize the country of origin when marketing to young consumers high in materialism.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that examines the moderating effects of materialism in the relationship between country image and product preference on products from emerging economies.
Details