Yossi Gavish

A closer look into the materialism construct: the antecedents and consequences of materialism and its three facets

Purpose – This study aims to unbundle the materialism construct into its three facets – centrality, success and happiness – to provide a fine-grained model that delineates the relationship between some of its antecedents (i.e. depression, anxiety, self esteem and affect) and consequences (life satisfaction, innovativeness, time spent shopping and environmentalism). Design/methodology/approach – Using a convenience sample of 568 adult consumers, this study tests a model in which a set of psychological variables serve as antecedents of materialism and its three facets, which in turn affect a set of cognitive, psychological and behavioral consequences. Findings – Results indicate that specific facets have more weight than others, depending on the nature of the needs individuals seek to fulfill through possessions, or their resulting behaviors and cognitions. Results validate the view of materialism as a coping mechanism, but also show that the consequences of materialism can be both positive and negative dep...

Antecedents and Buying Behavior Consequences of Consumer Racism, National Identification, Consumer Animosity, and Consumer Ethnocentrism

ABSTRACT The purpose of the current research is to assess and compare the impacts of consumer racism, national identification, animosity, and ethnocentrism exhibited by Jewish-Israeli consumers on their purchases of products originating in the Palestinian Authority. A structured questionnaire with multi-item scales based on data from a sample of Jewish-Israeli consumers was used. The current study suggests that product quality judgment acts as partial mediator between consumer racism, national identification, animosity, ethnocentrism, and willingness to buy. Most (but not all) other hypothesized relationships were substantiated. This study unravels the tangled state of the pertinent literature by identifying and evaluating the relative and simultaneous impacts of consumer racism, national identification, animosity, and ethnocentrism on some core marketing variables, such as product quality judgment, willingness to buy, and actual buying.

Consequences of Consumer Animosity: A Meta-Analytic Integration

ABSTRACT This meta-analytic integration has three purposes: first, to evaluate the outcomes of consumer animosity and consumer ethnocentrism using empirical studies on this subject; second, to test an integrative conceptual model; and third, to report on the total effects of animosity/ethnocentrism on later constructs (willingness to buy and buying/owning). A meta-analysis is a suitable approach using a large collection of results from individual studies for the purpose of integrating their findings. As a result, a meta-analysis was used to integrate and combine the contradictory outcomes of studies and for analyzing variability in effect sizes across findings. Its results can be used to guide future research. The current study suggests that the relationship between consumer animosity and product quality judgments is negative. In addition, this study emphasizes the role of product quality judgments as a partial mediator between consumer animosity/consumer ethnocentrism and willingness to buy. This study unravels the tangled state of the pertinent literature by identifying and evaluating the outcome factors of animosity and consumer ethnocentrism and their influence on some core marketing variables, such as product quality judgment, willingness to buy, and actual buying.

A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Impulsive and Compulsive Buying Behaviors among Israeli and U.S. Consumers: The Influence of Personal Traits and Cultural Values

ABSTRACT This study tests a model to investigate the extent to which drivers of compulsive and impulsive buying behaviors overlap. The model includes personal and cultural antecedents for traits of consumer impulsiveness and compulsiveness and impulsive and compulsive buying behaviors as outcomes. Survey results from 336 Israeli and 595 U.S. consumers indicate that the personality antecedents envy, low self-esteem, and fantasizing generally drive consumer traits of impulsiveness and compulsiveness, though some differences exist between consumers in the U.S. and Israel. However, cultural orientations were found to be insignificant in driving traits of impulsiveness or compulsiveness.

The Effect of Acculturation on Consumer Disidentification and Consumption Behavior Among Cuban and Puerto Rican Immigrants in the US

Immigration and ethnic diversification have been a defining characteristic of many Western, industrialized countries since the second half of the twentieth century. Immigrants often struggle between maintaining their original identity and commitment to their new nation-state (Verkuyten and Yildiz 2007). Identification conflicts at the individual level are often translated into consumers’ positive or negative sentiments, which emerge in their consumption behavior (Klein et al. 1998; LeClerc and Schmitt 1994; Sharma et al. 1995). Recently, the concept of consumer disidentification (CDI) has been introduced and validated (Josiassen 2011). CDI stems from national disidentification and entails consumers’ active rejection of and distancing from the perceived typical domestic consumer and is argued to have a significant impact on consumers’ buying decisions (Josiassen 2011).

Materialism through a Magnifying Glass: A Comprehensive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Three Facets of Materialism

Materialism, the importance that people attach to possessions that become central to their lives (Richins and Dawson 1992), has recently received renewed attention in the media and in the public discourse in the wake of the global economic crisis. Materialism is viewed as a system of personal values with possessions and acquisitions as the main personal goal that dictate one’s way of life (Richins and Dawson 1992). For materialists, possessions and their acquisition are central, providing meanings and structure to their lives, are essential to their satisfaction with life, well-being and happiness, define success, and project desired images of themselves. Materialism is perceived as the “dark side” of consumer behavior due to the motives related to its pursue as well as the behavioral and cognitive consequences that are an outgrowth of this quest. For example, research found materialism was positively related to a lack of happiness, depression, anxiety, negative emotions, and low self esteem (e.g., Chang and Arking 2002; Christopher and Schlenker 2004; Kasser 2002; Kasser and Ahuvia 2002; Saunders and Munro 2000; Solberg et al. 2004). In addition, materialism was found to be related to a number of consequences such as a lack of overall life satisfaction (e.g., Ahuvia and Wong 2002; Belk, 1985; Mick 1996; Richins and Dawson 1992), exploitation of natural resources (Banerjee and McKeage 1994; Saunders 2007), time spent shopping (Fitzmaurice and Comegys 2006). Previous studies mainly examined these relationships by viewing materialism as an overall construct. Using Richins and Dawson’s (1992) conceptualization of materialism, this study places happiness, centrality, and success—facets of materialism—as individual-level characteristics in the center of a model with several antecedents (i.e. depression, anxiety, self-esteem, and negative affect) and consequences (i.e., time spent shopping, environmentalism, innovativeness, and life satisfaction). This closer look into materialism facets, its antecedents and consequences provides a fine-grained model for understanding materialism. Thus, some domains are more associated with specific drivers and consequences, but not others.