Money, Money, Money - Marquette University Research.pdf

Marquette University e-Publications@Marquette Marketing Faculty Research and Publications Business Administration, College of 1-1-2010 Money, Money, Money – How do Attitudes Toward Money Impact Vanity and Materialism? – the Case of Young Chinese Consumers Srinivas Durvasula Marquette University, srinivas.durvasula@ Steven Lysonski Marquette University, steven.lysonski@ Accepted version. J ournal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 27, No. 2 (2010): 169-179. DOI. © Emeral 2010. Used with permission. Money, money, money – how do attitudes toward money impact vanity and materialism? – the case of young Chinese consumers Authors: Srinivas Durvasula and Steven Lysonski; Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA Abstract: Purpose – China is undergoing a radical change as the forces of industrialization and modernization transform its society. Money is taking on an increasingly important role, particularly among young Chinese, as the Western ideals of individualism and hedonism thri ve. The goal of this research is to understand attitudes towards money in China and how these attitudes affect elements of consumer behavior such as materialism and vanity. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a well-accepted scale (with several dimensions) to explore attitudes towards money. Research questions examine how the dimensions of attitudes towards money affect materialism and achievement vanity. The sample comprises 127 young Chinese consumers. Statistical results based on confirmatory factor analysis as well as path analysis are reported. Findings – The findings clearly show that attitudes towards money in China are not monolithic; instead there are variations among young Chinese. Materialism is affected by the power-prestige and anxiety dimensions, but unaffected by the distrust dimension of money attitudes. Achievement vanity is affected by the power- prestige dimension of money attitudes. Research limitations/implicatio