Materialism: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Materialism has a generally held connotation that is associated with character deficiencies, self-centeredness, and unhappiness, and most extant research views materialism as having a negative influence on well-being. In this article, we review and synthesise research that supports both positive and negative outcomes of behaviours associated with materialism. We conceptualise materialism in terms of the motives underlying materialistic behaviour, and situate our review and synthesis of materialism research within this context. In doing so, we document the utility of a motives-based view of materialism and propose research agendas that arise from this motives-based perspective.

Keywords:

a priori  altruism  compensatory consumption  consumer research  consumption (economics)  correlation (statistics)  identity (psychology)  materialism  motivation (psychology)  motives  prosocial behavior  prosocial behaviour  self-identity  threat (psychology)  well-being 

Citation:

L. J. Shrum, Tina M. Lowrey, Mario Pandelaere, Ayalla A. Ruvio, Elodie Gentina, Pia Furchheim, Maud Herbert, Liselot Hudders, Inge Lens, Naomi Mandel, Agnes Nairn, Adriana Samper, Isabella Soscia, and Laurel Steinfield (2014). Materialism: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Journal of Marketing Management, 30, Pages 1858-1881. https://doi.org/10.1080/0267257X.2014.959985