How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases

Bastos, Wilson; Brucks, Merrie

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucx054

Cited by 104 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Moreover, the fuzzy boundary between material and experiential purchases comes with a benefit that is every bit as important as whatever complications it entails. That is, it allows investigators to use the very same purchase, described in either material or experiential terms, and see whether those different frames affect the utility people derive from their purchase (Bastos & Brucks, ; Carter & Gilovich, ; Chan & Mogilner, ). Holding the objective stimulus constant in this fashion provides an especially rigorous way to test relevant hypotheses.…”

Section: Defining Experiential Purchasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Afterward, those who had talked about experiential purchases indicated that they enjoyed the conversation and one another's company more than those who had talked about material purchases. People seem to appreciate this effect and use it to their advantage because they are especially likely to discuss experiences when they are interested in forming a relationship with another person (Bastos & Brucks, ).…”

Section: Sources Of the Experiential Advantagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

Gilovich

Gallo

2019

Consumer Psychology Review

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More than 15 years ago, Van Boven and Gilovich (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 2003, 1193) presented evidence that experiential purchases make people happier than material purchases once consumers have covered their basic needs. This experiential advantage has attracted significant attention from researchers in the fields of social and consumer psychology. In this article, we review the literature on this subject. We first define the constructs of experiential and material purchases, and contrast them with previous, related constructs. We then identify and review the different mechanisms that appear to underlie the experiential advantage.Finally, we examine evidence of systematic differences in how people make decisions about material and experiential purchases, focusing on differences in how consumers process information and evaluate options prior to making a purchase.

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Section: Defining Experiential Purchasesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sources Of the Experiential Advantagementioning

confidence: 99%

Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

Gilovich

Gallo

2019

Consumer Psychology Review

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“…Consumers seem to have a strong desire to share about their purchases (Berger, 2014), and experiences appear to provide more conversational content (Bastos & Brucks, 2017;Kumar & Gilovich, 2015) and engender more enjoyable conversations than do objects (Van Boven et al, 2010). Therefore, consumers should be more accommodating to an experiential (vs. material) price increase on the grounds that experiences enable more and better conversations.…”

Section: Conversational Valuementioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, research in this domain has focused on two outcomes of consumers having experiences instead of owning material objects: the psychological and social benefits that these purchases afford. Specifically, experiences’ greater ability to engender positive factors such as prepurchase anticipation (Kumar, Killlingsworth, & Gilovich, ), interpersonal conversations (Bastos & Brucks, ), and association with the self (Carter & Gilovich, ) makes them (vs. objects) a greater source of consumer happiness (see Dunn & Weidman, for a review). Further, research has shown that experiences allow consumers to attain more favorable social impression (Van Boven, Campbell, & Gilovich, ) and develop stronger social ties (Caprariello & Reis, ; Chan & Mogilner, ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Now or Never: Perceptions of Uniqueness Induce Acceptance of Price Increases for Experiences More Than for Objects

Bastos

2019

J Consum Psychol

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Seven studies test and support the prediction that consumers are more willing to accept a price increase for an experiential versus a material purchase; an effect explained by the greater uniqueness of experiences. Critically, the uniqueness model advanced here is found to be independent of the happiness consumers derive from the purchase. To gain a deeper understanding of the uniqueness mechanism, this investigation then advances and tests a four‐facet framework of uniqueness (unique opportunity, unique purchase, unique identity, and counterconformity). Together, the findings converge on the conclusion that consumers perceive the opportunity to have a particular experience (vs. object) as more unique, and this unique opportunity increases their willingness to accept a price increase. Overall, this work extends the experiential versus material purchases literature into a new domain—that of pricing; identifies the dimension—uniqueness—and its precise facet responsible for the effect—unique opportunity; and demonstrates that this model unfolds in a pattern distinct from the oft researched model centered on consumer happiness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

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“…First, experiential purchases have higher conversational value than do material purchases. Conversational value is defined as the possibility that the individuals will talk about a purchase in a social interaction (Bastos & Brucks, ). Kumar and Gilovich () suggested that individuals are inclined to talk more about their experiences than their possessions after purchases.…”

Section: Purchase Type and Well‐beingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Will recalling a purchase increase your well‐being? The sequential mediating roles of postpurchase sharing and relatedness need satisfaction

Sun

Wang

et al. 2019

Asian J of Social Psycho

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To shed light on the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between purchase type and well-being (including hedonic and eudaimonic well-being), this study explored the mediating roles of both postpurchase sharing and relatedness need satisfaction in a Chinese sample. In the current study, participants were required to recall an impressive past purchase and report the level of postpurchase sharing, relatedness need satisfaction, and well-being experienced after the purchase. The results indicated that (a) participants in the experiential purchase group reported higher levels of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being than did those in the material purchase group, and (b) postpurchase sharing and relatedness need satisfaction sequentially mediated the relationship between purchase type and well-being. Specifically, individuals were more willing to share with others after experiential purchases than after material ones. Therefore, in turn, they experienced higher levels of relatedness need satisfaction, which was conducive to higher levels of both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.

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How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases

Cited by 104 publications

References 52 publications

Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

Consumers’ pursuit of material and experiential purchases: A review

Now or Never: Perceptions of Uniqueness Induce Acceptance of Price Increases for Experiences More Than for Objects

Will recalling a purchase increase your well‐being? The sequential mediating roles of postpurchase sharing and relatedness need satisfaction

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