Materialism and purchase-evoked happiness: A moderated mediation model of purchase type and purchase’s impact on self

Although it is suggested that materialism value leads to more purchase-evoked happiness, limited research has investigated the underlying mechanism of the relationship. The purpose of the paper is to fill the research gap, demonstrating how materialism increases purchase-evoked happiness. Two surveys with a student sample (n = 112) and an Amazon Mechanical Turk sample (n = 207) were conducted. Bootstrapping analysis was used to examine the data. The findings identify the mediating role of purchase’s impact on self plays between materialism and purchase-evoked happiness, and reveal that purchase type (material vs. experiential purchase) moderates the mediation. For material purchases, higher-materialism value leads to more perceived impact of the purchases on self, which in turn, results in more purchase-evoked happiness. For experiential purchases, there is no such mediation effect of the purchases’ impact on self between materialism and purchase-evoked happiness. This paper is the first research providing empirical support for materialists’ belief that material possessions influence them personally and identifying the mechanism under which materialism increases purchase-evoked happiness. It expands the research on materialism and purchase type by showing that materialism as a personal value interplays with purchase type in influencing how happiness is obtained from purchases.