Determinants of compulsive buying behavior among young adults: The mediating role of materialism

Abstract

This research seeks to determine what makes young adults materialistic. The study examines the mediating role of materialism between the contextual factors and compulsive buying. Data was gathered from 219 Pakistani undergraduate university students. Partial Least Square (PLS) technique was used to analyze the data. The study confirms the intuition that more materialistic young adults are more likely to be involved in compulsive buying than are less materialistic young adults. The results were similar with the previous literature conducted in the western culture, indicating that also applies in a modern Islamic society. The findings of the study reveal that materialism mediated the relationship between certain sociological factors (i.e., group, media Celebrity endorsement, and TV advertisement) and compulsive buying. The study highlights the importance of understanding young adults' materialistic attitudes and consumption decisions and provides key knowledge for researchers, policymakers, and managers of leading brands.

Self-compassion, the ‘quiet ego’ and materialism

“…Self-compassion has been found to have a buffering effect upon negative self-feelings ( Leary et al., 2007 ). The literature on compulsive buying is consistent with personal distress (anxiety, depression) as triggers for impulsive buying (e.g., Otero-Lopez and Villardefrancos, 2013 ) and that materialism is a mediator in the relationship between the correlates of materialism and compulsive buying ( Islam et al., 2017 ). While materialism and compulsive buying are separate, yet overlapping constructs, it is possible that they share the function of buying to reduce distress and the maintenance of an unclear sense of self as Naguti and Bokeyar (2014) have argued.…”

A materializmus, boldogság, siker és élményfogyasztás összefüggéseinek vizsgálata tinédzserek körében

“…Különösen igaz ez a rosszabb anyagi helyzetben élő tinédzserekre, akik nagyobb hangsúlyt fektetnek a státuszszimbólumokra, a birtokolt javak milyenségére, ha pedig lehetőségük van rá, az olcsóbb márkákat elutasítják (Isaksen & Roper, 2012). Islam, Wei, Sheikh, Hameed, & Azam (2017) arra az eredményre jutottak, hogy szoros kapcsolat van az anyagi javak birtoklása és a barátság in-tenzitása között, ugyanis azok a fiatalok, akik aktív társas kapcsolatokkal rendelkeztek sokkal anyagiasabbak.…”

Effect of viewership and information on materialism and compulsive buying behavior- A comparative study of television and digital advertising

“…Researchers have studied materialism and its effect (Hoffman et al, 2014;Islam, et al, 2017;Shek et al, 2014;Shoham et al, 2014;Segev et al, 2015;Shek et al, 2016;Tuu et al, 2017;Pradhan et al, 2018). Consumerism in Saudi Arabia can be attributed to the products imported from western countries (Ahmad & Mahfooz, 2018).…”

“…The items for information and viewership were adapted from Chan and Cai (2009), and Jin and Lutz (2013); items for materialism were adapted from Moschis and Moore (1982), and Richins and Dawson (1992). The items for compulsive buying behavior were adapted from Valence et al (1988), and Islam et al (2017).…”