Social comparison effects on brand addiction: A mediating role of materialism

Abstract

This research explores the role of materialism, and social comparison to brand addiction in relation to compulsive buying. A structural equation modeling was used to analyze data through partial least squares by collecting online data in Vietnam. The research findings explain social comparison is an antecedent leading to addictive behavior. Materialism mediates and increases the addictive behavior when consumers are significantly impacted by social comparison. In addition, brand addiction leads to word-of-mouth and willingness to pay premium price when consumers are set under social comparison and materialistic tendency. The managerial and theoretical application is also provided in this research.

Consumer impulse buying behavior: the role of confidence as moderating effect

“…(2021) , Pradhan et al. (2018) , and Le (2020) . Moreover, confidence was observed using five items based on Dash et al.…”

“…(2021) MAT2 I enjoy owning items that make others notice me. Le (2020) MAT3 I often worry about not being able to afford everything I want to buy. MAT4 My possessions reveal a great deal about how well I am doing in life.…”

“…Therefore, it allows us to understand social group interactions ( Want and Saiphoo, 2017 ). According to Le (2020) , the connection between social comparison and materialism can lead to impulse buying behaviors. Tokgoz (2020) showed that materialistic values had significant and beneficial effects on status, impulsiveness, and compulsive consumption.…”

Brand love and brand addiction and their effects on consumers' negative behaviors

“…Most recently, Bai et al (2021) found that brand passion, a component of brand love, directly influences brand addiction. Likewise, Le (2020, p. 1) argued that brand addiction “refers to consumers' addictive behavior, with consumers particularly loving the brand,” finding it associated with being a more intense but unhealthier relationship with a brand. Following these indications, we empirically assess the role of brand love as an antecedent of brand addiction.…”

“…Some studies have focused on positive outcomes of brand addiction, such as increased word of mouth, willingness to pay a premium price (Le, 2020), brand exclusivity (Francioni et al , 2020) and improved self-esteem and life satisfaction (Mrad and Cui, 2020). Because brand addiction is an unhealthy relationship between a consumer and a brand, we are interested more in the effects it may have on negative consumer behaviors.…”