Materialism in young consumers
Tóm tắt
In the current highly commercialized environment, youth materialism is believed to be elevating. Given the adverse effects of materialism on society in general and on young consumers in particular, the purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of youth materialism in Egypt along with parental influence in the transmission of materialistic values and hence building up recommendations and programs for impeding this phenomenon.
The empirical investigation was conducted through pursuing a mix of qualitative and quantitative research methods. A deeper understanding of the problem at hand was generated by the qualitative research through conducting in‐depth interviews with children, parents and educators; where the broader target was reached as well as a more comprehensive view was attained by quantitative research through self‐administered surveys for parents and children.
The results showed a positive correlation between parental materialism and child materialism. Concerning the relationships between family communication patterns, parental mediation practices and child materialism, the results indicated that indirect mediation was the strongest predictor for child materialism followed by restrictive mediation, while active mediation was not found as a significant predictor for child materialism.
The purpose of this research is tri‐divided and limited to the following goals: first, capturing cultural differences for the manifestation of materialism in the Egyptian context. Second, examining the extent to which parents contribute and influence the transmission of materialistic values among young consumers. Third, proposing parents as a potential countervailing power against excessive youth materialism.
The results of the study show that necessary steps should be taken by designing programs that involve parents as a potential countervailing power against excessive youth materialism. The results also showed a positive relationship between parents and child materialism. Furthermore, the results from the qualitative research indicated that parents are not really aware of the adverse effects materialism can have on their children. Moreover, the results indicated that there is a positive correlation between socio‐oriented communication and restrictive mediation. At the same time and in line with the proposed conceptual model of the current research, restrictive mediation was found to be the second largest contributor to childhood materialism.
It is suggested that greater transparency about the consequences of materialism could work in favor of altering materialism (Abela). Hence, parents should be aware that excess youth materialism, as previously discussed in the literature, is associated with poor school performance, poor ethical behavior, shoplifting tendencies, unhealthy food consumption, and greater levels of life dissatisfaction.
The research is unique in that it sets the ground for research in the critical area of young consumers in an important emerging market; Egypt. In addition, the novel interdisciplinary approach also contributes to the international literature in terms of both conceptualization and findings.
Từ khóa
Tài liệu tham khảo
Abaza, M. (2005), “Today's consumption in Egypt”, ISIM Review, available at: www.isim.nl/files/Review_15/Review_15‐38.pdf (accessed November 17, 2010).
Abela, A.V. (2006), “Marketing and consumerism: a response to O'Shaughnessy and O'Shaughnessy”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 20 Nos 1/2, pp. 5‐16.
Abou‐Youssef, M., Kortam, W., Abou‐Aish, E. and El‐Bassiouny, N. (2011), “Measuring Islamic‐driven buyer behavioral implications: a proposed market‐minded religiosity scale”, Journal of American Science, Vol. 7 No. 8, pp. 788‐801.
Ahuvia, X. and Wong, X. (2002), “Personality and values based materialism: their relationship and origins”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 389‐402.
Business Solutions for Human Development Report (2007), Ministry of Investment and United Nations Development Program, UNDP, Cairo.
Calvert, S.L. (2008), “Children as consumers: advertising and marketing”, Journal of Children and Electronic Media, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 205‐34.
Carlson, L. and Grossbart, S. (1988), “Parental style and consumer socialization of children”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 15, pp. 77‐94.
Carlson, L., GrossBart, S. and Stuenkel, J.K. (1992), “The role of parental socialization types on differential family communication patterns regarding consumption”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 31‐52.
Carlson, L., GrossBart, S. and Walsh, A. (1990), “Mothers' communication orientation and consumer socialization tendencies”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 27‐38.
Chaffee, S.H., McLeod, J.M. and Atkin, C.K. (1971), “Parental influences on adolescent media use”, Journal of American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 14, pp. 323‐40.
Chan, K. (2006a), “Consumer socialization of Chinese children in schools: analysis of consumption values in textbooks”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 125‐32.
Chan, K. (2006b), “Exploring children's perceptions of material possessions: a drawing study”, Journal of Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 9 No. 4, pp. 352‐66.
Chan, K. and McNeal, J.U. (2003), “Parent‐child communications about consumption and advertising in China”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 317‐34.
Churchill, G.A. and Moschis, G.P. (1979), “Television and interpersonal influences on adolescent consumer learning”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 23‐35.
Delener, N. (1994), “Religious contrasts in consumer decision behavior patterns: their dimensions and marketing implications”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 28 No. 5, pp. 36‐53.
Deshpande, R. (1983), “Paradigms lost: on theory and method in research in marketing”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 101‐10.
El‐Bassiouny, N., Taher, A. and Abou‐Aish, E.M. (2008), “The importance of character education for tweens as consumers: a conceptual model with prospects for future research”, Journal of Research in Character Education, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 37‐61.
El‐Bassiouny, N., Taher, A. and Abou‐Aish, E.M. (2011), “An empirical assessment of the relationship between character/ethics education and consumer behavior at the tweens segment: the case of Egypt”, Journal of Young Consumers, Vol. 12 No. 2.
Fujioka, Y. and Austin, E.W. (2002), “The relationship of family communication patterns to parental mediation styles”, Journal of Communication Research, Vol. 29 No. 6, pp. 642‐65.
Goldberg, M.E., Gorn, G.J., Peracchio, L.A. and Bamossy, G. (2003), “Understanding materialism among youth”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 278‐88.
Graham, J.F. (1999), “Materialism and consumer behavior: towards clearer understanding”, Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 241‐58.
Hoge, D.R., Petrillo, G.H. and Smith, E.I. (1982), “Transmission of religious and social values from parents to teenage children”, Journal of Marriage and Family, Vol. 44 No. 3, pp. 569‐80.
John, D.R. (1999), “Consumer socialization of children: a retrospective look at twenty‐five years of research”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 26 No. 3, pp. 183‐213.
Kamaruddin, A.R. and Mokhlis, S. (2003), “Consumer socialization, social structure factors and decision‐making styles: a case study of adolescents in Malaysia”, Journal of Consumer Studies, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 145‐56.
Kasser, T. and Kanner, A. (2004), Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle For a Good Life in a Materialistic World, American Psychological Association, Washington, DC.
Kim, J., Forsythe, S., Gu, Q. and Moon, S.J. (2002), “Cross‐cultural consumer values, needs and purchase behavior”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 6, pp. 481‐502.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G. (2006), Principles of Marketing, 11th ed., Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Kotler, P. and Lee, N. (2005), Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the Most Good for Your Company and Your Cause, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.
Lachance, M.J., Legault, F. and Bujold, N. (2000), “Family structure, parent‐child communication, and adolescent participation in family consumer tasks and decisions”, Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, Vol. 29, pp. 125‐52.
McNeal, J.U., Hern don, N.C. and Yeh, C. (1996), “A study of children's consumer socialization in Hong Kong over a five‐year period: income, spending and saving”, Journal of Marketing and Logistics of Asia Pacific, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 48‐66.
Malhotra, N. (2007), Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 3rd ed., Pearson Prentice‐Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Moschis, G.P. (1981), “Patterns of consumer learning”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 110‐26.
Moschis, G.P. (1985), “The role of family communication in consumer socialization of children and adolescents”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 11, pp. 898‐913.
Moschis, G.P. and Churchill, G.A. (1978), “Consumer socialization: a theoretical and empirical analysis”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 599‐609.
Moschis, G.P. and Moore, R.L. (1979), “Decision making among the young: a socialization perspective”, Journal of Consumer research, Vol. 6, pp. 101‐12.
Moschis, G.P., Moore, R.L. and Smith, R.B. (1984), “The impact of family communication on adolescent consumer socialization”, in Kinnear, T. (Ed.), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 11, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 314‐19.
Muncy, J.A. and Eastman, J.K. (1998), “Materialism and consumer ethics: an exploratory study”, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol. 17, pp. 137‐45.
Nargundkar, R. (2008), Marketing Research: Text and Cases, Tata MaGraw‐Hill, New Delhi.
Nathanson, A.I. (2001), “Parents versus peers: exploring the significance of peer mediation of antisocial television”, Journal of Communication Research, Vol. 28 No. 3, pp. 251‐74.
Pallant, J. (2007), SPSS Survival Manual: A Step by Step Guide to Data Analysis Using SPSS for Windows, McGraw‐Hill Education, New York, NY.
Prendergast, G. and Wong, C. (2003), “Parental influence on the purchase of luxury brand of infant apparel: an exploratory study in Hong Kong”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 157‐69.
Richins, M.L. and Dawson, S. (1992), “A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: scale development and validation”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 19, pp. 303‐16.
Rochberg‐Halton, E. (1986), Meaning and Modernity: Social Theory in the Pragmatic Attitude, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL.
Rose, G.M., Bush, V.D. and Kahle, L. (1998), “The influence of family communication patterns on parental reactions toward advertising: a cross‐national examination”, Journal of Advertising, Vol. 27 No. 4, pp. 71‐85.
Salama, A. (2009), “Egypt: social responsibility disclosure practices”, in Idowu, S. and Filho, W. (Eds), Global Practices of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, Berlin, pp. 325‐42.
Sangkhawasi, T. and Johri, L.M. (2007), “Impact of status brand strategy on materialism in Thailand”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 1‐14.
Schooler, D., Kim, J.L. and Sorsoli, L. (2006), “Setting rules or sitting down: parental mediation of television consumption and adolescent self‐esteem, body image, and sexuality”, Journal of NSRC, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 49‐62.
Shah, A. (2008), “Behind consumption and consumerism: children as consumers”, available at: www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption/Children.asp.
Strahilevitz, M. (1999), “The effects of product type and donation magnitude on willingness to pay more for a charity‐linked brand”, Journal of Consumer Psychology, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 215‐41.
Strahilevitz, M. and Myers, J. (1998), “Donations to charity as purchase incentives: how well they work may depend on what you are trying to sell”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 434‐46.
Torlak, O. and Koc, U. (2007), “Materialistic attitude as an antecedent of organizational citizenship behavior”, Management Research News, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 581‐96.
Vlachos, P., Tsamakos, A., Vrechopoulos, A. and Avramidis, P. (2009), “Corporate social responsibility: attributions, loyalty, and the mediating role of trust”, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 170‐80.
Ward, S. and Wackman, D. (1971), “Family and media influences on adolescent consumer learning”, American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 14, pp. 415‐27.
Ward, S., Wackman, D.B. and Wartella, E. (1977), How Children Learn to Buy: The Development of Consumer Information‐Processing Skills, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Worthington, E.L. Jr., Wade, N.G., Hight, T.L., McCullough, M.E., Berry, J.T., Ripley, J.S., Berry, J.W., Schmitt, M.M., Bursley, K.H. and O'Connor, L. (2003), “The religious commitment inventory: development, refinement, and validation of a brief scale for research and counseling”, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 84‐96.
Yusof, A.S. and Amin, R.M. (1999), “Admired values: the case of teenagers in Malaysia”, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 26 No. 6, pp. 802‐10.