Experiential or Material Purchases? Social Class Determines Purchase Happiness

Abstract

Which should people buy to make themselves happy: experiences or material goods? The answer depends in part on the level of resources already available in their lives. Across multiple studies using a range of methodologies, we found that individuals of higher social class, whose abundant resources make it possible to focus on self-development and self-expression, were made happier by experiential over material purchases. No such experiential advantage emerged for individuals of lower social class, whose lesser resources engender concern with resource management and wise use of limited finances. Instead, lower-class individuals were made happier from material purchases or were equally happy from experiential and material purchases.

Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

“…Van Boven and Gilovich () reported in their seminal paper that the experiential advantage held for all of their groups of respondents (gender, age, marital status, etc.) except the very poor, a result that has been replicated by Lee, Hall, and Wood (). The experiential advantage thus appears to be a phenomenon involving disposable income—individuals without any truly disposable income are not likely to benefit from spending their money on experiences rather than possessions.…”

Effects of COVID-19 on preferences for private dining facilities in restaurants

“…Second, future studies can investigate the effect of the perceived threat on the evaluation of spatial distances between tables in a restaurant. Finally, the results of this paper can be extended to private social dining settings as well ( Qian, Law, & Fan, 2020 ) and to our understanding consumers' happiness from dining experiences ( Lee, Hall, & Wood, 2018 ).…”

The moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status on the impact of nudging on the perceived threat of coronavirus and stockpiling intention

“…These findings are aligned with other studies showing that people with low SES are more responsive to others and to environmental information than those with high childhood SES. People with high childhood SES tend to focus on themselves rather than others in decision-making ( Carey and Markus, 2016 ; Lee, Hall, and Wood, 2018 ; Piff, Kraus, Côté, Cheng, and Keltner, 2010 ; Snibbe and Markus, 2005 ). Interestingly, our findings contradict prior work, offering an alternative view that enriches current discourses.…”