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Consumer materialism refers to the importance ... consumer-behavior literature, materialism is .... 130–146. Kasser, T. (2002) The High Price of Materialism, MIT.
consumer materialism Marsha L. Richins

Consumer materialism refers to the importance that a consumer places on the acquisition and possession of material objects. In the consumer-behavior literature, materialism is usually considered to be a personal value, meaning that it affects the priorities in people’s lives and the choices they make. Materialists believe that acquisition of material goods is a desirable and effective way to achieve important life goals. Thus, a materialist is more likely than others to see acquisition as a way to attain happiness, develop relationships with others, achieve status and a sense of self worth, and reach other important life goals. Richins and Dawson (1992) identified three elements that constitute materialism: the belief that acquisition is necessary for happiness, the tendency to judge the success of one’s self and others by their possessions, and the centrality of acquisition and possessions in one’s life. Because materialism is a value orientation and not a behavior, it is independent of financial status and is readily observed in both developed and developing economies. Materialism is most commonly measured by the material values scale (Richins, 2004). Materialism should not be confused with conspicuous consumption, which is the ownership and display of status objects to enhance one’s relative standing and inspire envy. While some materialists engage in conspicuous consumption, it is possible to have materialistic values without engaging in this particular behavior, particularly if status is not an important life goal for a consumer. Although the formulation of materialism described above is the dominant one in consumer behavior, there are some alternative conceptualizations that should be recognized. Kasser (2002), a psychologist, has equated materialism with the pursuit of wealth, attractiveness, and social recognition and has looked especially at the negative effects of these goal pursuits on well-being. Inglehart (2008), a political scientist, has conducted extensive cross-national research over several decades to investigate the relative emphasis members of a society place on material values (defined as the importance one places on

economic and physical security) and postmaterial values (the priority assigned to such things as free speech and a greater say in government decisions). A third approach (Belk, 1985) views materialism as a combination of the personality traits of envy, nongenerosity, and possessiveness. Materialism has important implications for society as a driver of personal consumption, and thus of economic growth. It also has personal implications because of its negative association with well-being (Christopher, Saliba, and Deadmarsh, 2009), strength of personal relationships, and altruistic behavior. Because of materialism’s importance, much has been written about its potential causes. Commonly, high materialism levels have been attributed to insufficiently bridled capitalism coupled with a consumer society that is endorsed and facilitated by marketing firms, assisted by mass media. A lack of spirituality is also often alluded to. The preponderance of writings on the causes of materialism is speculative in content, and in any event the construct itself and the systems in which it is embedded are too complex to assign a single causal variable. However, some empirical research has provided insight by examining potential influences on individuals’ materialism levels, including media exposure (Shrum, Burroughs, and Rindfleisch, 2005), early family environment (Flouri, 2004), and peer influences (Roberts, Manolis, and Tanner, 2009). The developmental progression of materialistic tendencies in children has also been investigated (Chaplin and John, 2007). Materialism is associated with many variables of interest to marketers, including a preference for status goods and unique products, the centrality of visual aesthetics when making a product choice, willingness to purchase counterfeit products, impulse buying, and other decision variables. It is also associated with a greater willingness to go into debt to purchase discretionary goods, lower levels of frugality, compulsive spending, and with perceived financial distress and conflict between spouses. Bibliography Belk, R.W. (1985) Materialism: trait aspects of living in the material world. Journal of Consumer Research, 12, 265–280.

Wiley International Encyclopedia of Marketing, edited by Jagdish N. Sheth and Naresh K. Malhotra. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

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consumer materialism

Chaplin, L.N. and John, D.R. (2007) Growing up in a material world: age differences in materialism in children and adolescents. Journal of Consumer Research, 34, 480–493. Christopher, A.N., Saliba, L., and Deadmarsh, E.J. (2009) Materialism and well-being: the mediating effect of locus of control. Personality and Individual Differences, 46, 682–686. Flouri, E. (2004) Exploring the relationship between mothers’ and fathers’ parenting practices and children’s materialist values. Journal of Economic Psychology, 25, 743–752. Inglehart, R.F. (2008) Changing values among western publics from 1970 to 2006. West European Politics, 31, 130–146. Kasser, T. (2002) The High Price of Materialism, MIT Press, Cambridge.

Richins, M.L. (2004) The material values scale: a re-inquiry into its measurement properties and the development of a short form. Journal of Consumer Research, 31, 209–219. Richins, M.L. and Dawson, S. (1992) A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303–316. Roberts, J.A., Manolis, C., and Tanner, J.F. Jr. (2009) Interpersonal influence and adolescent materialism and compulsive buying. Social Influence, 3, 114–131. Shrum, L.J., Burroughs, J.E., and Rindfleisch, A. (2005) Television’s cultivation of material values. Journal of Consumer Research, 32, 473–479.