Setting the bar: The influence of women’s conspicuous display on men’s affiliative behavior

Jill M. Sundie, Mario Pandelaere, Inge Lens and Luk Warlop

Journal of Business Research, 2020, vol. 120, issue C, 569-585

Abstract: Four studies provide evidence for a process by which a woman’s conspicuous consumption can serve as a deterrent to affiliative behaviors by materialistic men, via heightened perceptions of the woman’s financial standards for a romantic partner. Materialistic men report utilizing status and resources to attract women more than non-materialistic men. Materialistic men may therefore utilize information about a woman’s status-linked displays to better calibrate their financially-oriented mating efforts. Differential attention to more subtle displays of a woman’s luxury branded items appears to drive materialistic men’s disinterest in social interaction with a woman who conspicuously consumes. A woman’s conspicuous consumption causes materialistic men to rate a real interaction with that woman less favorably. For women, the opposite is observed, with non-materialistic women reacting more negatively to the interaction.

Keywords: Materialism; Status consumption; Conspicuous consumption; Mating; Signaling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:120:y:2020:i:c:p:569-585

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.09.039

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