The effects of life events on the development of materialism and compulsive consumption: a life course study in the United States and Hong Kong

Andrew Baker and Kara Chan

Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science, 2020, vol. 30, issue 1, 88-104

Abstract: Compulsive consumption and materialism are regarded as global phenomena that can potentially have adverse effects on consumer welfare. Recent developments in social sciences suggest that such phenomena may best be understood in the context of a consumer’s earlier-in-life experiences. This study aims to understand the effects of disruptive life events on materialism and compulsive consumption among adolescents. Using the life course paradigm, it is hypothesized that the development of these consumer orientations is influenced by life events experienced earlier-in-life. Surveys of young adults in the United States and Hong Kong are used to test the measurement equivalence of the main variables, and the hypotheses are tested using structural equation modeling. Results support the mediating role of peer communication in the relationship between experienced stressful disruptive life events and the young adults’ materialism and compulsive consumption orientations, and offer insights into the divergent effects of the mediating role of tangible and intangible family resources.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/21639159.2019.1613904 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jgsmks:v:30:y:2020:i:1:p:88-104

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RGAM20

DOI: 10.1080/21639159.2019.1613904

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science is currently edited by Seong-Yeon Park

More articles in Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().