Adolescents’ brand sensitivity in apparel: influence of three socialization agents

Wearing clothes with prestigious brand names seems to be very important for adolescents. This phenomenon was studied in the context of consumer socialization by examining the influence of three socialization agents, namely parents, peers and TV, on the development of French Canadian adolescents’ brand sensitivity and their relative importance. Controlling for socio‐economic variables, multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for boys and for girls. For both genders, brand sensitivity is related to peer influence. Girls’ brand sensitivity is related to the importance fathers give to clothing brands. TV exposure is not related to adolescents’ brand sensitivity. For boys and girls, peers represent the most important predictor of this consumer socialization. The results are discussed in the light of social and economic pressures and family relationships.     

Does Religion Affect the Materialism of Consumers? An Empirical Investigation of Buddhist Ethics and the Resistance of the Self

This paper investigates the effects of Buddhist ethics on consumers’ materialism, that is, the propensity to attach a fundamental role to possessions. The literature shows that religion and religiosity influence various attitudes and behaviors of consumers, including their ethical beliefs and ethical decisions. However, most studies focus on general religiosity rather than on the specific doctrinal ethical tenets of religions. The current research focuses on Buddhism and argues that it can tame materialism directly, similar to other religions, and through the specific Buddhist ethical doctrines of the Four Immeasurables: compassion, loving kindness, empathetic joy, and equanimity. The empirical results show the following: (1) Buddhism reduces materialism directly and through some of the Four Immeasurables, and (2) despite the doctrine of non-existence of the self, positive emotions toward the self are still present, and the self absorbs the effects of Buddhist ethics on materialism. The latter finding suggests a “resistance of the self” that is coherent with the idea of a consumer who leverages the self to go beyond it.     

The End of Religion? Examining the Role of Religiousness,Materialism, and Long-Term Orientation on Consumer Ethics in Indonesia

Various studies on the impact of religiousness on consumer ethics have produced mixed results and suggested further clarification on the issue. Therefore, this article examines the effect of religiousness, materialism, and long-term orientation on consumer ethics in Indonesia. The results from 356 respondents in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world, showed that intrinsic religiousness positively affected consumer ethics, while extrinsic social religiousness negatively affected consumer ethics. However, extrinsic personal religiousness did not affect consumer ethical beliefs dimensions. Unlike other studies in developed countries, materialism and long-term orientation influenced only a few of the consumer ethical beliefs dimensions in this study. To date, the study is one of the first empirical studies to explore the impact of religiousness on consumer ethics in Indonesia. The study contributes to the debate on the impact of religiousness on consumer ethics and can assist managers and public policymakers in their effort to mitigate unethical consumer activities in Indonesia.     

Religiosity, Attitude Toward Business, and Ethical Beliefs: Hispanic Consumers in the United States

Growth of the Hispanic consumer population in America is changing the marketplace landscape. Due to their considerable buying power, a better understanding of Hispanic consumer behavior has become a necessity. The marketing literature has examined issues regarding religiosity and attitude toward business in regards to consumer ethical beliefs as well as research differentiating consumers on the basis of ethnicity due to their inherently different religious principles. Therefore, the present study contributes to the existing consumer ethics literature by examining the roles of religiosity and attitude toward business in determining consumer ethical beliefs. Furthermore, this study compares the relationships among religiosity, attitude toward business, and ethical beliefs at the sub-cultural level (i.e., between Hispanic and Anglo-American consumers). Survey data compare a sample of 187 predominately Catholic Hispanic consumers with a sample of 127 predominately protestant Anglo consumers. Results suggest a positive relationship between intrinsic religiousness and beliefs that questionable consumer activities are unethical. However, extrinsic religiousness does not impact consumer views as to the ethicality of consumer practices. Hispanics exhibit higher levels of extrinsic religiousness than Anglos, but no difference in terms of their intrinsic religiousness. Results also suggest that Hispanics have a more negative attitude toward business than Anglos do. Implications of these results are discussed.     

How Attachment Affects the Strength of Peer Influence on Adolescent Consumer Behavior

This research examined how attachment affected the peer influence on adolescent consumer behavior. Results showed that attachment toward family and toward peers emerged together. Adolescent attachment anxiety strengthened the peer influence in consumption while attachment avoidance weakened the peer influence. Anxiety was positively related to adolescents’ perception of friends’ greater knowledge, spending when shopping with friends, and motivation to comply with friends’ suggestions on purchases directly and indirectly through consumer susceptibility to informational and normative influence. In contrast, attachment avoidance decreased the tendency to shop often with friends and the motivation to comply in a purchase. This study revealed that the influence of individual attachment orientations on interpersonal relationships can be extended to the field of consumption.     

How materialism affects environmental beliefs, concern, and environmentally responsible behavior

This article examines the relationship between materialism, environmental beliefs, environmental concern, and environmental behaviors. The study used a random telephone survey of 337 US adults. Using a causal modeling approach, the study demonstrates that materialism has a negative effect on environmental beliefs, and these beliefs positively affect environmental concern and environmentally responsible behaviors. The article then provides implications of the results for consumer and environmental policy.     

The factors influencing adolescents’ purchase intentions of state-of-the-art cell phones in Taiwan

To understand why adolescents pursue state-of-the-art cell phones, this study examines the role of materialism in affecting purchase intentions. The vanity traits of adolescents, peer groups, innovativeness, sales promotion, and advertising and celebrity endorsements were considered as antecedents of materialism to examine how they influence purchasing intentions. The findings reveal that materialism is a crucial personal value that motivates adolescents to purchase state-of-the-art cell phones. In addition, the vanity traits of adolescents, peer groups, innovativeness, and sales promotions strengthen materialism. The implications of the findings in relation to the conceptualization and management of adolescents’ materialism are briefly discussed.     

Impacts of peers’ unethical behavior on employees’ ethical intention: Moderated mediation by Machiavellian orientation

Research suggests a direct negative relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. But several possible mechanisms might explain this relationship in more detail. For example, Machiavellianism is a personality trait characterized by interpersonal manipulation and the use of unethical means to achieve certain self‐interested ends, whether useful or pleasant. This article adopts an Aristotelian understanding of philia, related to three goods on which human relationships rest: useful, pleasant, and honest. We propose that Machiavellianism, a self‐interested, pragmatic personality orientation, might explicate the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and ethical intention. The results of a structural equation model applied to a sample of 436 banking employees in Spain reveals that Machiavellianism partially mediates the relationship between peers’ unethical behavior and employees’ ethical intention. We also find that with a greater level of peers’ unethical behavior, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention increases, and that when peers’ unethical behavior is nonexistent, the negative effect of Machiavellianism on ethical intention disappears. These findings advance current literature by revealing that unethical peers can indirectly influence ethical intention, through shaping Machiavellianism. Our study is also the first to show that pairing high Machiavellians with ethical peers can help to cancel out the negative influence of Machiavellianism on ethical intention.     

Migration and materialism: The roles of ethnic identity, religiosity, and generation

Culture is the most complex and powerful influence on consumer behavior. Within culturally heterogeneous societies, marketing managers must consider the psychological and behavioral effects that emanate from ethnic identity. Of the many values that immigrants bring to their adopted home, some have their basis in religious beliefs. Most migration occurs from the developing to the developed world, where the acquisition of and devotion to material possessions typify post-industrial society. A largely unanswered question concerns how members of immigrant communities cope with the conflicting values associated with materialism, and those associated with ethnic communal ties and religious fulfillment. This research focuses on materialism as manifested among first- and second-generation Korean-Canadians, as a function of both ethnic identity and religiosity. The researchers uncover generational differences on the interrelationships of these three constructs.     

Adolescent consumers: reaching them,border crossings and pedagogical challenges

Consumerism is part of living in the contemporary post‐modern world. It is claimed that schools and consumer education have a rather marginal impact on the consumer behaviour of young people. This qualitative study explores adolescents’ ways of consuming in three different worlds: home, school and peer groups. The aim is to understand how the adolescents experience border crossings between these worlds. What do they think about consumerism and consumer education? Finally, the pedagogical challenges of consumer education are discussed. The qualitative data was collected through mind maps, written questionnaires and semi‐structured group interviews. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the data. The data was collected from 59 teens (between 14 and 15 years of age) from Vantaa, Finland. According to the results, the adolescents’ way of consuming in each world differs from each other. However, border crossings occur with natural strategies and smooth transitions. The adolescents feel that ‘real’ consumerism does not begin until adulthood. Then, it is time to act like responsible consumers. Their motivation to study consumer issues at school is poor, because they feel the substance of consumer education not corresponding to their lives. Because of this, consumer education needs pedagogical renovation based on the needs of the adolescents and the special features of their consumerism.     

Consumer ethics,materialism and material satisfaction: A study on Turkish adolescent consumers

The aim of this study is to reveal the differences among consumer ethics, materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction of the adolescents across the socio‐economic level and gender in Turkey. The sample of the study is formed by randomly selected high schools students (n = 350) in Ankara. The results indicated that consumer ethics, materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction varied according to socio‐economic level (p < .01). Among materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction, only a significant difference is found on consumer ethics across the gender. There is no significant difference among gender on materialistic attitudes and material satisfaction. In general, males’ ethical beliefs were found lower than the females.     

Veganism: Theory of planned behaviour,ethical concerns and the moderating role of catalytic experiences

The growing movement of veganism culture is drawing increasing scientific attention but falls short of an empirical investigation to examine antecedents and catalytic experiences for maintaining vegan diets. An integrated theoretical framework is proposed using the Theory of Planned Behaviour Model (TPB) and includes ethical concerns to investigate the interrelationships. Comparisons are also made by adopting the strength of high and low ethical catalytic experiences of each consumer group to identify moderating results. The proposed conceptual model was tested using Structural Equation Modelling from the responses of 478 vegan consumers. Results indicate that the TPB factors exert positive effects on the buying intention and ethical concerns mediate the relationship between attitudes and intention, as well as between PBC and intention, however, social norms did not impact ethical concerns.While consumers experiencing high catalytic experience had no significance, low catalytic experience consumers showed an inverse significant moderating relationship on PBC and maintaining vegan diets. Whereas the relationship for ethical concerns influencing the intention to buy vegan foods was significant and positive for the high catalytic experienced consumer, but not significant for the low catalytic experienced consumer. The moderating results for social norms were not significant on ethical concerns for the high catalytic experienced consumer but were negatively significant for the low catalytic experienced consumers indicating that the effect of peer pressure increase, results in a decline for ethical considerations.These findings offer strong theoretical and practical implications by contributing to the understanding of consumers’ behavioural intention to undertake vegan diets and extending our knowledge for formulating retail strategies to effectively tailor their offerings for this consumer segment.     

Peer network position and shopping behavior among adolescents

Prior research on consumer group behavior has overlooked the importance of peer group structure and the social position of its members in marketing action, especially among adolescents. This study draws on social network theoretical frame to explore the relationship between adolescents’ structural position in peer networks and the decision to shop with friends. Based on a survey of 1037 adolescents, the study suggests that adolescents’ social positions within a peer network affect the frequency of shopping with friends, although gender moderates the relationship. The findings provide practical guidelines for retailers and other managers who target adolescent consumers.     

The Influence of Moral Philosophy on Retail Salespeople's Ethical Perceptions

The relatively minimal literature on ethics in a retail selling context indicates that retail sales personnel perceive that their job creates ethical dilemmas. However, what drives those beliefs is virtually unknown. Investigations in non‐retailing venues have found that employees’ moral philosophy (or ideology) influences whether they view a particular situation, action, or behavior as unacceptable (ethically inappropriate). The present study extends previous retail sales ethics research by examining the impact of retail salespersons’ moral philosophy on their perceptions of situations that are potentially ethically troublesome. Findings reveal some evidence that moral philosophy does indeed have an effect on retail salespeople's ethical beliefs. The impact of these results on the consumer is brought out through a discussion of the various implications from the vantage point of consumer welfare.     

The Role of Spiritual Well-Being and Materialism in Determining Consumers’ Ethical Beliefs: An Empirical Study with Australian Consumers

A survey was conducted to investigate the relationship of Australian consumers’ lived (experienced) spiritual well-being and materialism with the various dimensions of consumer ethics. Spiritual well-being is composed of four domains—personal, communal, transcendental and environmental well-being. All four domains were examined in relation to the various dimensions of consumers’ ethical beliefs (active/illegal dimension, passive dimension, active/legal dimension, ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and ‘doing good’/recycling dimension). The results indicated that lived communal well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/illegal dimension and the passive dimension and was positively related to perceptions of the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and the ‘doing good’/recycling dimension. Lived personal well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/illegal dimension and was positively related to perceptions of the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension and the ‘doing good’/recycling dimension. Lived transcendental well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the passive dimension, the active/legal dimension and the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension. Lived environmental well-being was negatively related to perceptions of the active/legal dimension and the ‘no harm, no foul’ dimension. The findings also indicated that materialism was positively associated with perceptions of actively benefiting from illegal actions, passively benefiting at the expense of the seller, actively benefiting from questionable but legal actions and benefiting from ‘no harm, no foul’ actions. Public policy implications of the findings and opportunities for future research are discussed.     

What shapes adolescents’ attitudes toward luxury brands? The role of self-worth,self-construal,gender and national culture

PurposeThe main growth of the luxury market comes from Generation Z. This study addresses the research gap on the effects of adolescents’ self-construal and contingencies of self-worth (CSW), both extrinsic (social approval and competition) and intrinsic (family support and virtue), on their attitudes toward luxury brands across cultures. The results show that extrinsic domains of CSW (competition and social approval) are associated with more pronounced attitudes toward luxury brands. In contrast, the intrinsic domains of CSW (virtue) are associated with weaker attitudes toward luxury brands. Our model also investigates the effect of two moderators: national culture and gender. This research samples 1087 teenage consumers (343 French, 357 American, and 387 Chilean teens). The paper highlights the contributions of the findings to luxury research, and illustrates their practical value for luxury companies interested in targeting Generation Z from different cultures.     

Adolescent brand consciousness and product placements: awareness,liking and perceived effects on self and others

Product placements in entertainment media are increasing, particularly in content targeted to adolescents. This marketing communication tactic is examined in the context of media socialization and individual differences in brand consciousness. The relative influence of commercial media (TV, radio, movies, online) and perceived peer and parent brand consciousness on US adolescent brand consciousness is assessed, as well as differences in how low and high brand‐conscious adolescents view product placements. Awareness, liking and perceived effects of product placements on self and others (third‐person perception) were measured. Results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses show that movies and perceived parent and peer brand consciousness were positively related to adolescent brand consciousness. Those adolescents considered to be highly brand‐conscious were also those who were most aware of and favourable towards product placements. All adolescents demonstrated third‐person perception of media effects in that they considered others to be more influenced by product placements than themselves, with peers influenced more than friends. Highly brand‐conscious teens perceived the greatest effects of product placements on their own and others’ buying behaviours, yet low brand‐conscious teens revealed the largest gap in perceptions of impact on self vs. peers. The results are discussed in view of media effects; ramifications for marketers and public policy makers are also appraised.     

Parental style and consumer socialization among adolescents: A cross-cultural investigation

The paper examines how parental style affects consumer socialization in a cross-national context, focusing on family communication orientation, adolescents' use of influence strategies, susceptibility to peer influence, and impulse buying tendency. Multiple-informant data from each family (i.e., father, mother, and adolescent) are used in the analysis. The findings suggest that Chinese adolescents, compared with their Canadian counterparts, use less bilateral influence strategies (reasoning, bargaining), but more unilateral influence strategies (playing on emotions, stubborn persuasion); they are also less susceptible to peer influence, and have less impulse buying tendency. Across both cultures, authoritarian parents are more socio-oriented than authoritative, permissive, and neglectful parents, whereas authoritative and permissive parents are more concept-oriented than authoritarian and neglectful parents. Furthermore, adolescents with authoritative and permissive parents more likely use bilateral influence strategies than those with authoritarian parents, while adolescents with neglectful parents use more unilateral influence strategies than those with other parental styles. These findings provide novel insights on market segmentation and international marketing practices.     

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships between Ethical Beliefs, Ethical Ideology, Political Preference and Need for Closure

An analysis is presented of the relationships between consumers ethical beliefs, ethical ideology, Machiavellianism, political preference and the individual difference variable "need for closure". It is based on a representative survey of 286 Belgian respondents. Standard measurement tools of proven reliability and robustness are used to measure ethical beliefs (consumer ethics scale), ethical ideology (ethical positioning), Machiavellianism (Mach IV scale) and need for closure. The analysis finds the following. First, individuals with a high need for closure tend to have beliefs that are more ethical as regards possible consumer actions, and score higher on idealism and lower on Machiavellianism, than those with a low need for closure. Second, a correlation exists between political preference and ethical beliefs. Third, a significant relationship exists between ethical ideology and political preference for the two largest political parties. Fourth, individuals with a high and low need for closure have different political preferences for right-wing and left-wing parties.     

Shedding light on sharing ECONOMY and new materialist consumption: An empirical approach

In the last decade, the sharing economy has emerged as a business model that improves the use of goods, uses fewer resources than traditional markets, increases social interactions and promotes more responsible and environmentally friendly consumption. This has led various authors to propose that the sharing economy could be a business model that will change consumers’ relationship to objects and the materialistic lifestyle. This exploratory research is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to specifically identify a new consumer materialism with the sharing economy. To this end, a survey was conducted among 384 participants in the sharing economy, identifying not only the drivers of the new materialism but also their impact on consumption.Our conclusions show that we are currently experiencing a new materialism in which the main elements of traditional materialism—property and the accumulation of goods and the happiness derived from the accumulation of goods and their exhibition as a status symbol—are losing importance. Thus, materialism is evolving from a mere static accumulation of goods towards a hybrid model in which property and the enjoyment of goods coexist with the enjoyment of experiences, which are becoming increasingly more important. Last, participation in the sharing economy drives this new materialism through its contribution to a greater awareness of consumption. In other words, the consumer has a greater consumption awareness.This paper proposes theoretical foundations to conceptualize the new materialism and a new materialist consumer profile that represents a break from the traditional conception, provides evidence on the dynamics of the feedback and empowerment of the sharing economy, and finally contributes by shedding light on its impact because the dynamics and impact of the sharing economy are more complex than they initially seem and thus it is necessary to analyse different angles and concepts.