Treasuring Possessions: the Rise of Materialism Among East Asian Consumers?

Westernization, modernization, and globalization of world markets has led to transitioning “consumer societies” in many parts of the world, implying a spread of materialistic ideology from industrialized, capitalistic cultures such as the United States and Western Europe to other cultures (O’Shaughnessy and O’Shaughnessy 2002). Belk states that, “…even third world consumers are often attracted to and indulge in aspects of conspicuous consumption before they have secured adequate food, clothing, and shelter” (1988, p. 104-105). Yet, despite the intuitive logic for a spread of materialism across cultures, our ability to understand such a transition depends on the availability of effective cross-cultural measures of materialism. In response, this study tests the applicability of Richins and Dawson’s (1992) materialism scale for Chinese, Korean, and Thai consumers, exploring for the first time the existence and possible nuances in materialistic values among three discrete East Asian cultures.



Citation:

Kittichai Watchravesringkan and Barbara Dyer (2006) ,"Treasuring Possessions: the Rise of Materialism Among East Asian Consumers?", in LA - Latin American Advances in Consumer Research Volume 1, eds. Silvia Gonzalez and David Luna, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 78-80.

Authors

Kittichai Watchravesringkan, UNC Greensboro, USA
Barbara Dyer, UNC Greensboro, USA



Volume

LA - Latin American Advances in Consumer Research Volume 1 | 2006



Share Proceeding

Featured papers

See More

Featured

D11. A Hidden Cost of Advocating: Attitude Depolarization After Recommending

Ravini Savindya Abeywickrama, University of Melbourne, Australia
Gergely Nyilasy, University of Melbourne, Australia
Simon M. Laham, University of Melbourne, Australia

Read More

Featured

O3. The Effect of Numeric Information on Product Evaluation

Zhen Yang, Drexel University, USA
Yanliu Huang, Drexel University, USA
Dengfeng Yan, University of Texas at San Antonio, USA

Read More

Featured

L4. Attentional Breadth Moderates the Effect of Store Environments on Product Evaluation

Oliver B. Büttner, University of Duisburg-Essen
Benjamin G. Serfas, University of Duisburg-Essen
Daria Euler, University of Duisburg-Essen
Mathias Clemens Streicher, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Read More

Engage with Us

Becoming an Association for Consumer Research member is simple. Membership in ACR is relatively inexpensive, but brings significant benefits to its members.