Materialism and well-being : the role of consumption

Numerous studies find a negative relation between materialism and well-being. The present paper discusses the role of consumption in that relation. Studies on experiential versus material purchases are reviewed. Although a good deal of studies find an advantage for experiential purchases, this does not occur for materialists. Yet, materialists do not benefit more from material than from experiential consumption due to unrealistic expectations, especially about the pleasure it affords and the impression it conveys. Still, the relation between materialism and well-being is bidirectional and the path from ill-being to materialism seems stronger. The impact of materialistic consumption on well-being may be limited and may depend on the underlying motives. Materialistic self-signaling may be especially non-detrimental for well-being

Is this a question? Not for long. The statement bias.

Four experiments demonstrate a 'statement bias': questions are more often misremembered as statements than vice versa. Experiment 1 suggests that the bias increases with increasing item comprehensibility. This finding rules out that the statement bias is only due to the belief that statements are more prevalent in communication than questions are. Experiment 2 demonstrates that the statement bias is related to depth of processing at encoding. Experiment 3 shows that the bias occurs irrespective of the truth of the statement underlying the sentence. Experiment 4 shows that the statement bias is also obtained for sentences pertaining to products and services.Internet; Yield; Market; Market research; Research; Communication;

Exposure to unattainable luxury: effects on materialistic goal pursuit

This paper investigates the influence of exposure to (unattainable) luxury on consumers’ materialistic and extrinsic goal pursuit. We show that exposure to luxury may produce very different effects depending on whether a person feels that (s)he is able or unable to attain the depicted luxuries. Specifically, in three studies, we demonstrate that being able to attain the exposed luxuries increases levels of materialism. In contrast, viewing unattainable luxury may trigger self-protection mechanisms. In particular, after being exposed to unattainable luxuries, participants tended to devaluate the importance they attached to materialistic (extrinsic) goals, due to decreased levels of self-esteem

Inducing value-congruent behavior through advertising and the moderating role of attitudes toward advertising

Advertisements frequently link values to advertised products or services, but little is known about the effect of this practice on value-driven behavior that is unrelated to the advertising context. Evidence from two studies show that exposure to value-laden advertisements instigates behavior that is congruent with the "advertised" value (i.e., self-direction, security, achievement, or benevolence). Moreover, attitudes toward advertising moderate this effect. To the extent that people value positive aspects or dislike negative aspects of advertising, value-congruent behavior becomes respectively more or less likely following exposure to value-laden ads. The results highlight new aspects of unintended influences of exposure to advertising

Citations and herding: why one article makes it and another doesn't

The purpose of this paper is to draw a link between citations and the choice overload paradigm and show that herding plays a role in citing behavior. In addition, parallel with an increase in the number of published papers, we observe an increase in the strength of herding in citation

A question of taste? The difference in perceived helpfulness of online reviews for utilitarian versus hedonic products

While online reviews have become an indispensable marketing tool, their impact may depend on several factors. This paper demonstrates that online reviews are perceived as more helpful for utilitarian products than for hedonic products (study 1 & 2). Applying theory about opinions and taste, we show that the quality of hedonic products is depending on personal taste, while the quality of utilitarian products is seen as a matter of general opinion (study 3). We provide evidence that this opinion versus taste attribution mediates the effect of product type on perceived helpfulness of online reviews (study 4)

Prominence in queuing: queue length versus basket size

Choosing checkouts in a supermarket is a common consumer decision that has been largely overlooked in previous research. In this paper, we investigate the relative impact of queue length and average basket size on consumers’ waiting time expectations and checkout choice. Four studies highlight the importance of basket content, leading to a preference for longer queues where consumers have little loaded shopping baskets than shorter queues with fully loaded baskets. However, queuing perceptions change when focusing consumers’ attention on the time cost of payment at the checkout