The Mediating Role of Materialism on the Relationship between Values and Consumption

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between values and consumption, and to adduce the mediating roles of materialism in this association. Values have been investigated through Schwartz's main value dimensions in his Theory of Human Values: Self-Enhancement, Self-Transcendence, Openness to Change and Conservation. Through the scope of Homer and Kahle's Value-Attitude-Behavior model, the multiple relations and nomological network between the variables of individual values, materialism, and shopping were investigated. The study was conducted on 485 participants (314 females, 171 males), whose ages ranged between 18 and 66. The data was gathered through the administration of surveys including a demographic information form, Schwartz's Portrait Values Questionnaire, the Materialism Scale and the Consumption Habits Survey. In order to test the hypotheses, partial correlation analyses and hierarchical linear mediated regression analyses were used as statistical methods. The results showed that shopping frequency is positively related to Self Enhancement, while its associations with Self-Transcendence and Conservation were negative. In the analyses conducted to reveal the mediating role of materialism between the values of Self-Enhancement, Self-Transcendence and Conservation with frequency of shopping, it was found that when materialism was entered into the regression equation, the standardized regression coefficients of the values became insignificant, showing that materialism fully mediated the relationship between values and the frequency of shopping.