The Cognitive Basis of Materialists&#x02019; Luxury Consumption: From the Perspective of Mental Accounting

Dong Yijia; Zhang Yue; Li Xue; Jiang Jiang; Liu Zishuang; Du Xiaopeng

doi:10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240122

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Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2024, Vol. 47 ›› Issue (1) : 187-195. DOI: 10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240122

Social, Personality & Organizational Psychology

The Cognitive Basis of Materialists’ Luxury Consumption: From the Perspective of Mental Accounting

Dong Yijia, Zhang Yue, Li Xue, Jiang Jiang, Liu Zishuang, Du Xiaopeng

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Abstract

In order to better understand the luxury consuming behavior of materialists, this study examined the differences in luxury consumption accounts of mental accountings between individuals with high and low material values. When exploring luxury consuming behaviors of materialists, the existing research mostly adopted the perspective of motivation. Few have examined the cognitive processes relative to economic decision-making underlying the relationship between materialists’ consuming motivation and luxury consumption. Based on the Mental Accounting Theory, a common theory of consumption in the field of economic psychology, this study explored this issue from a cognitive processing perspective.
According to high and low materialists’ different perceptions about materials and the nature of mental accountings, this study hypothesized that high and low materialists’ luxury consumption accounts should have some differences. We conducted two studies to answer these questions. In Study 1, we tested the differences of high and low materialists’ willingness to separate luxury consumption accounts from other accounts, that is, whether high materialists were willing to set apart a single account to manage their luxury consumption. In Study 2, we asked participants to complete the Material Values Scale-Short Form and self-compiled items designed to detect their willingness to transfer money from one account to another. We hypothesized that high materialists were more likely to transfer their money from some common accounts to luxury consumption accounts.
By conducting independent samples t test and hierarchical linear regression, Study 1 demonstrated some evidence that luxury consumption accounts of high and low materialists do have some differences. Specifically, high materialists are more willing to separate a single account to manage their luxury consumption. By conducting 2 (materialism: high vs. low) × 2 (transfer direction of money: from other accounts to luxury accounts vs. from luxury accounts to other accounts) × 3 (situations: study vs. living vs. relationship) ANOVA of repeated measuring, Study 2 showed that high materialists are more likely to transfer their money from some common accounts to luxury consumption accounts than low materialists regardless of situations.
This study makes some contributions. On the one hand, this study explains the findings on materialism and luxury consuming behavior from a cognitive processing perspective relative to economic decision-making, pointing out that the differences in luxury consuming behavior between individuals with high and low material values may due to the differences in their luxury consumption accounts of mental accountings driven by their disparate motivation. On the other hand, the results confirm previous descriptions of materialists that they like extravagant material consumption, attach importance to appearance, and are more prone to irrational consumption. Besides, this study also has some limitations (e.g., we only used a specific luxury goods in Study 2), so future studies are still needed. In conclusion, this study introduces the theory in economic psychology to the research of materialism, exploring the cognitive basis of materialistic people’s luxury consuming behavior from the perspective of mental accountings. It helps us to better understand the nature of materialists and their luxury consumption, thus expands the research perspective of materialism.

Key words

materialist / mental accounting / luxury consumption

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Dong Yijia, Zhang Yue, Li Xue, Jiang Jiang, Liu Zishuang, Du Xiaopeng. The Cognitive Basis of Materialists’ Luxury Consumption: From the Perspective of Mental Accounting[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2024, 47(1): 187-195 https://doi.org/10.16719/j.cnki.1671-6981.20240122

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