Less is more! A pathway to consumer's transcendence

In the 1987 film ‘Wall Street’, apart from telling the world that “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good.“, Gordon Gekko, portrayed by Michael Douglas, notably remarked, “I create nothing. I own.†As a result, the last part of the millennium was given to excess and the never-ending pursuit of wealth and material possessions. However, recent years have seen an alternate mindset take shape. From the ‘KonMari’ method to Dorothy Breininger's ‘five-point scale’, we are now being urged to discard, declutter, and refrain from purchasing. But there are questions about why such a ‘minimalist’ lifestyle resonates with so many consumers worldwide. Building upon self-determination theory, the objective of the current research is to reveal the motivational goal (what), intrinsic (why) and extrinsic (when) motives that underlie minimalistic consumption. Our study examines the relationship between minimalism and perceived transcendence, along with the mediating and moderating roles of moral identity and descriptive norms, respectively. Findings from a cross-sectional sample of 529 shoppers show that minimalistic value enables consumers to fulfill their aspiration for transcendence, and that moral identity and descriptive norms explain why and when, respectively, consumers are motivated to reach this aspiration. Our study signifies the importance of cultivating the value of minimalism that helps navigate human well-being since its development provides us with a better understanding of our self-awareness as a membership in a universal unity of being, thereby expanding moral identity from self to all. We also provide theoretical and practical implications for consumers, marketers, and policymakers and shed light on further research in this emerging research domain.