IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v165y2023ics0148296323003727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Person vs. purchase comparison: how material and experiential purchases evoke consumption-related envy in others

Author

Listed:
  • Park, Joowon
  • Banker, Sachin
  • Masters, Tamara
  • Yu-Buck, Grace

Abstract

Consumers feel envious of others more frequently than ever as they are constantly exposed to the purchases of others through social media. The extant literature is divided on whether consumers are more likely to envy the experiential purchases or material purchases of others. The current research identifies a moderator delineating when experiential vs. material purchases elicit greater feelings of envy. Specifically, we show that in a natural state when people compare the well-being of the purchaser to their own well-being, experiential purchases elicit greater envy than material purchases. In contrast, when people are prompted to compare the purchase to their own comparable purchase, material purchases elicit greater envy than experiential purchases. We further demonstrate the implications of understanding the psychology of consumption-related envy for marketers who seek to increase consumer engagement and purchase intention.

Suggested Citation

  • Park, Joowon & Banker, Sachin & Masters, Tamara & Yu-Buck, Grace, 2023. "Person vs. purchase comparison: how material and experiential purchases evoke consumption-related envy in others," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:165:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323003727
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323003727
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jennifer J. Argo & Katherine White & Darren W. Dahl, 2006. "Social Comparison Theory and Deception in the Interpersonal Exchange of Consumption Information," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 33(1), pages 99-108, June.
    2. Bearden, William O & Rose, Randall L, 1990. "Attention to Social Comparison Information: An Individual Difference Factor Affecting Consumer Conformity," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 16(4), pages 461-471, March.
    3. Wilson Bastos & Merrie Brucks, 2017. "How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 598-612.
    4. Stephanie M. Tully & Hal E. Hershfield & Tom Meyvis, 2015. "Seeking Lasting Enjoyment with Limited Money: Financial Constraints Increase Preference for Material Goods over Experiences," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 42(1), pages 59-75.
    5. De Clercq, Dirk & Haq, Inam Ul & Azeem, Muhammad Umer, 2018. "The roles of informational unfairness and political climate in the relationship between dispositional envy and job performance in Pakistani organizations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 117-126.
    6. Pillai, Kishore Gopalakrishna & Nair, Smitha R., 2021. "The effect of social comparison orientation on luxury purchase intentions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 89-100.
    7. Ferreira, Kirla & Botelho, Delane, 2021. "(Un)deservingness distinctions impact envy subtypes: Implications for brand attitude and choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 89-102.
    8. Ye, Jun & Zhou, Kun & Chen, Rui, 2021. "Numerical or verbal Information: The effect of comparative information in social comparison on prosocial behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 198-211.
    9. Niels Van de Ven & Marcel Zeelenberg & Rik Pieters, 2011. "The Envy Premium in Product Evaluation," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 37(6), pages 984-998.
    10. Wang, Le & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Li, Han, 2022. "Envy or conformity? An empirical investigation of peer influence on the purchase of non-functional items in mobile free-to-play games," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 308-324.
    11. Bastos, Wilson & Moore, Sarah G., 2021. "Making word-of-mouth impactful: Why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 110-123.
    12. Anthony Salerno & Juliano Laran & Chris Janiszewski & Darren W Dahl & Linda L Price & Cait Lamberton, 2019. "The Bad Can Be Good: When Benign and Malicious Envy Motivate Goal Pursuit," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 46(2), pages 388-405.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ferreira, Kirla & Botelho, Delane, 2021. "(Un)deservingness distinctions impact envy subtypes: Implications for brand attitude and choice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 89-102.
    2. Rajat Roy & Anirban Som & Vik Naidoo & Fazlul K. Rabbanee, 2024. "How Envy Encourages Beliefs in Unethical Consumer Behaviour: The Role of Religiosity and Moral Awareness," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 193(2), pages 345-361, August.
    3. van de Ven, Niels, 2022. "The envious consumer," Other publications TiSEM 12206afe-9244-410e-9f2f-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Wilson Bastos & Merrie Brucks, 2017. "How and Why Conversational Value Leads to Happiness for Experiential and Material Purchases," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(3), pages 598-612.
    5. Bastos, Wilson & Moore, Sarah G., 2021. "Making word-of-mouth impactful: Why consumers react more to WOM about experiential than material purchases," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 110-123.
    6. Jacob C. Lee & Sara Kim & Phyllis Xue Wang, 2022. "Anthropomorphizing makes material goods as happiness-inducing as experiences," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 33(1), pages 61-73, March.
    7. Bogner, Anna, 2023. "Memory asymmetries in experiential and material purchases: The role of self-expression," Junior Management Science (JUMS), Junior Management Science e. V., vol. 8(1), pages 163-187.
    8. Bastos, Wilson, 2020. "“Speaking of Purchases”: How Conversational Potential Determines Consumers' Willingness to Exert Effort for Experiential Versus Material Purchases," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-16.
    9. Zhang, Mingyue & Zhao, Haichuan & Chen, Haipeng (Allan), 2022. "How much is a picture worth? Online review picture background and its impact on purchase intention," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 134-144.
    10. Chen, Siyun & Kou, Sining & Lv, Linxiang, 2024. "Stand out or fit in: Understanding consumer minimalism from a social comparison perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    11. Wilson Bastos, 2020. "Want to make me happy? Tell me about your experiences but not your objects," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 978-1001, September.
    12. Suárez Vázquez, Ana & Dub, Li & del Río Lanza, Ana Belén, 2020. "Word of mouth: How upward social comparisons influence the sharing of consumption experiences," MPRA Paper 120089, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Zhang, Min & Li, Yuzhuo & Gu, Rongjie & Luo, Cheng, 2021. "What type of purchase do you prefer to share on social networking sites: Experiential or material?," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    14. Didem Kurt & Francesca Gino, 2023. "Income inequality and consumer preference for private labels versus national brands," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 463-479, March.
    15. Loureiro, Sandra Maria Correia & de Plaza, Maria Alejandra Pinero & Taghian, Mehdi, 2020. "The effect of benign and malicious envies on desire to buy luxury fashion items," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    16. Primidya K. M. Soesilo & Maureen L. Morrin & Nese Nur Yazgan Onuklu, 2021. "No longer green with envy: Objectifying and destroying negative consumer emotions," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 1111-1138, September.
    17. Xiaoming Fan & Anqi Lai & Hean Tat Keh, 2024. "Handmade vs. machine-made: the effects of handmade gifts on social relationships," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 1-14, September.
    18. Wang, Le & Luo, Xin (Robert) & Li, Han, 2022. "Envy or conformity? An empirical investigation of peer influence on the purchase of non-functional items in mobile free-to-play games," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 308-324.
    19. Zhao, Taiyang & Lu, Yan & Lynette Wang, Valerie & Wu, Banggang & Chen, Zhi & Song, Wei & Zhou, Liying, 2023. "Shared but unhappy? Detrimental effects of using shared products on psychological ownership and consumer happiness," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    20. Zou, Lili Wenli & Chan, Ricky Y.K., 2019. "Why and when do consumers perform green behaviors? An examination of regulatory focus and ethical ideology," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 113-127.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:165:y:2023:i:c:s0148296323003727. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.