Materialism and purchase-evoked happiness: A moderated mediation model of purchase type and purchase’s impact on self

ABSTRACT

Although it is suggested that materialism value leads to more purchase-evoked happiness, limited research has investigated the underlying mechanism of the relationship. The purpose of the paper is to fill the research gap, demonstrating how materialism increases purchase-evoked happiness. Two surveys with a student sample (n = 112) and an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (n = 207) were conducted. Bootstrapping analysis was used to examine the data. The findings identify the mediating role of purchase’s impact on self plays between materialism and purchase-evoked happiness, and reveal that purchase type (material vs. experiential purchase) moderates the mediation. For material purchases, higher-materialism value leads to more perceived impact of the purchases on self, which in turn, results in more purchase-evoked happiness. For experiential purchases, there is no such mediation effect of the purchases’ impact on self between materialism and purchase-evoked happiness. This paper is the first research providing empirical support for materialists’ belief that material possessions influence them personally and identifying the mechanism under which materialism increases purchase-evoked happiness. It expands the research on materialism and purchase type by showing that materialism as a personal value interplays with purchase type in influencing how happiness is obtained from purchases.

尽管我们已知道物质主义价值观会产生更多的购物愉悦感, 目前对于这种现象的潜在机制的研究仍有限。本文的研究目的是填补这一研究缺口, 探寻物质主义如何增加购物愉悦感。为达到此研究目的, 本文的作者进行了两次问卷调查。第一次问卷调查的对象是112名美国大学生, 第二次问卷调查的对象是207名亚马逊MTurk的参与者 (多为美国普通消费者) 。这两次问卷调查的结果一致发现了购买物对自我的影响是物质主义和购物愉悦感之间的中介变量 – 消费者的物质主义价值观越高, 对于购买物对自我的影响的体认就越高, 导致更多的由购买物产生的愉悦感。此中介关系是由购买物的类型 (物质消费或体验消费) 调节的。物质消费指购买之物会成为消费者的财产或所有物, 比如书籍, 电子产品, 机动车, 服饰等；体验消费指购买之物会成为一种体验或经历, 比如看电影, 出席音乐会, 旅游, 外出用餐等。本研究发现, 如果消费是物质消费, 更高的物质主义价值观使消费者认为此物质消费对自我有更多的影响, 从而导致更多的由此物质消费产生的愉悦感。如果消费是体验消费, 此中介关系并不存在。 通过发现购买物对自我的影响是物质主义和购物产愉悦感之间的中介变量, 本文成为首篇为物质主义者认为物质消费能对自我产生影响这一理论提供实证支持的论文。此外, 本文展示了物质主义价值观如何与购买物类型相互作用而影响购物愉悦感, 扩展了现阶段对物质主义的研究和对购买物类型的研究。

KEYWORDS:

• Materialism
• consumer behavior
• consumer experience
• product type
• purchase-evoked happiness

关键词:

• 物质主义
• 消费者行为
• 消费者体验
• 产品类型
• 购买诱发的快乐

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.