Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Is Having a Taste of Luxury a Good Idea? How Use vs. Ownership of Luxury Products Affects Satisfaction with Life

  • Published:
Applied Research in Quality of Life Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Previous research showing that luxury consumption can be beneficial for one’s well-being equate consumption with ownership. The current paper experimentally investigates whether the impact of luxury consumption on one’s satisfaction with life differs when this consumption implies ownership versus mere use of (democratized) luxury products. While we find that ownership of luxury products is associated with a higher satisfaction with life compared to ownership of non-luxury products, the mere use of luxuries decreases an individual’s satisfaction with life. This finding is obtained for both a durable (a pen) and a non-durable (a chocolate).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ball, R. E., & Chernova, K. (2008). Absolute income, relative income, and happiness. Social Indicators Research, 88(3), 497–529.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharjee, A., & Mogilner, C. (forthcoming). Happiness from ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Journal of Consumer Research. doi: 10.1086/674724.

  • Boes, S., Staub, K., & Winkelmann, R. (2010). Relative status and satisfaction. Economics Letters, 109(3), 169–179.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bogaerts, T., & Pandelaere, M. (2013). Less is more: why some domains are more positional than others. Journal of Economic Psychology, 39(December), 225–236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyce, C. J., Brown, G. D. A., & Moore, S. C. (2010). Money and happiness: rank of income, not income, affects life satisfaction. Psychological Science, 21(4), 471–475.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, G. D. A., Gardner, J., Oswald, A. J., & Qian, J. (2008). Does wage rank affect employees’ well-being? Industrial Relations, 47(3), 355–389.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christen, M., & Morgan, R. M. (2005). Keeping up with the Joneses: analyzing the effect of income inequality on consumer borrowing. Quantitative Marketing and Economics, 3(2), 145–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins, R. L. (1996). For better or worse: the impact of upward social comparison on self-evaluations. Psychological Bulletin, 119(1), 51–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, J. R., & Henry, J. D. (2004). The positive and negative affect schedule (PANAS): construct validity, measurement properties and normative data in a large non-clinical sample. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 43(3), 245–265.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1997). Social comparisons and subjective well-being. In B. P. Buunk & F. X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory (pp. 329–357). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., & Oishi, S. (2000). Money and happiness: Income and subjective well-being across nations. In E. Diener & E. M. Suh (Eds.), Subjective well-being across cultures (pp. 185–218). Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Suh, E. M., Lucas, R. E., & Smith, H. L. (1999). Subjective well-being: three decades of progress. Psychological Bulletin, 125(3), 276–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diener, E., Ng, W., Harter, J., & Arora, R. (2010). Wealth and happiness across the world: material prosperity predicts life evaluations, while psychosocial prosperity predicts positive feeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 99(1), 52–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dittman, J., & Goebel, J. (2010). Your house, your car, your education: the socioeconomic situation of the neighborhood and its impact on life satisfaction in Germany. Social Indicators Research, 96(3), 497–513.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dunn, E. W., Aknin, L. B., & Norton, M. I. (2008). Spending money on others promotes happiness. Science, 319(5870), 1687–1688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Easterlin, R. (2001). Income and happiness: towards a unified theory. The Economic Journal, 111(473), 465–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7(2), 117–140.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frank, R. H. (1999). Luxury fever. Money and happiness in an era of excess. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frey, B., & Stutzer, A. (2002). What can economists learn from happiness research? Journal of Economic Literature, 40(2), 402–435.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujita, F. (2008). The frequency of social comparison and its relation to subjective well-being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 239–257). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guillen-Royo, M. (2008). Consumption and subjective well-being: exploring basic needs, social comparison, social integration and hedonism in Peru. Social Indicators Research, 89(3), 535–555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gulas, C. S., & McKeage, K. (2000). Extending social comparison: an examination of the unintended consequences of idealized advertising imagery. Journal of Advertising, 29(2), 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guven, C., & SØrensen, B. E. (2012). Subjective well-being: keeping up with the perception of the Joneses. Social Indicators Research, 109(3), 439–469.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hayes, A. F. (2013). An introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidrich, S. M. (1999). Self-discrepancy across the life span. Journal of Adult Development, 6(2), 119–130.

  • Higgins, E. T. (1987). Self-discrepancy: a theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review, 94(3), 319–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hopkins, E., & Kornienko, T. (2004). Running to keep in the same place. Consumer choice as a game of status. American Economic Review, 94(4), 1085–1107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsee, C. K., Xu, F., & Tang, N. (2008). Two recommendations on the pursuit of happiness. The Journal of Legal Studies, 37(3), 115–132.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudders, L., & Pandelaere, M. (2012). The silver lining of materialism: the impact of luxury consumption on subjective well-being. Journal of Happiness Studies, 13(3), 411–437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hudders, L., Pandelaere, M., & Vyncke, P. (2013). Consumer meaning making: the meaning of luxury brands in a democratized luxury world. International Journal of Market Research, 55(3), 69–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahneman, D., Knetsch, J., & Thaler, R. H. (1991). The endowment effect, loss aversion, and status quo bias. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 5(1), 193–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kashdan, T. B., & Breen, W. E. (2007). Materialism and diminished well-being: experiential avoidance as a mediating mechanism. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 26(5), 521–539.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, P., Kooreman, P., Soetevent, A., & Kapteyn, A. (2011). The effects of lottery prizes on winners and their neighbors: evidence from the Dutch postcode lottery. American Economic Review, 101(5), 2226–2247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Layard, R. (2005). Happiness: Lessons from a new science. USA: Penguin Press.

  • Luttmer, E. (2005). Neighbors as negatives: relative earnings and well-being. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 120(3), 963–1002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mandel, N., Petrova, P. K., & Cialdini, R. B. (2006). Images of success and the preference for luxury brands. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16(1), 57–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mentzakis, E., & Moro, M. (2009). The poor, the rich and the happy: exploring the link between income and subjective well-being. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 38(1), 147–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicolao, L., Irwin, J. R., & Goodman, J. K. (2009). Happiness for sale: do experiential purchases make consumers happier than material purchases? Journal of Consumer Research, 36(2), 188–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ordabayeva, N., & Chandon, P. (2011). Getting ahead of the Joneses: when equality increases conspicuous consumption among bottom-tier consumers. Journal of Consumer Research, 38(1), 27–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prelec, D., & Loewenstein, G. F. (1998). The red and the black: mental accounting of savings and debt. Marketing Science, 17, 4–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richins, M. L. (1991). Social comparison and the idealized images of advertising. Journal of Consumer Research, 18(1), 71–83.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richins, M. L. (1995). Social comparison, advertising, and consumer discontent. American Behavioral Scientist, 38(4), 593–607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richins, M. L. (2013). When wanting Is better than having: Materialism, transformation expectations, and product-evoked emotions in the purchase process. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(June), 1–18.

  • Richins, M. L., & Dawson, S. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 303–316.

  • Roberts, J. A., & Pirog, S. (2004). Personal goals and their role in consumer behavior: the case of compulsive buying. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 12(3), 61–73.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, K. M., & Lyubomirsky, S. (2006). Achieving sustainable gains in happiness: change your actions, not your circumstances. Journal of Happiness Studies, 7(1), 55–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Silverstein, M. J., & Fiske, N. (2003). Trading up: The new American luxury. London: Penguin Books Ltd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sirgy, J. M. (2012). The psychology of quality of life. Hedonic well-being, life satisfaction, and Eudaimonia (2nd Edition). Social Indicators Research Series (Vol. 50). London: Springer.

  • Sivanathan, N., & Pettit, N. C. (2010). Protecting the self through consumption: Status goods as affirmational commodities. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 46(3), 564–570.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stokburger-Sauer, N. E., & Teichmann, K. (2011). Is luxury just a female thing? The role of gender in luxury brand consumption. Journal of Business Research, 66(7), 889–896.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103(2), 193–210.

  • Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1991). Loss aversion in riskless choice: a reference-dependent model. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 106(4), 1039–1061.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Veblen, T. (1899/1979). The theory of the leisure class. New York: Penguin Books Ltd.

  • Winkelmann, R. (2012). Conspicuous consumption and satisfaction. Journal of Economic Psychology, 33(1), 183–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeoman, I., & McMahon-Beattie, U. (2006). Luxury markets and premium pricing. Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management, 4(4), 319–329.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhong, J. Y., & Mitchell, V. (2010). A mechanism model of the effect of hedonic product consumption on well-being. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20(2), 152–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Communication Sciences, Ghent University, Korte Meer 9, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    L. Hudders

  2. Department of Marketing, Ghent University, Tweekerkenstraat 2, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    M. Pandelaere

Authors
  1. L. Hudders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Pandelaere
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to L. Hudders.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Hudders, L., Pandelaere, M. Is Having a Taste of Luxury a Good Idea? How Use vs. Ownership of Luxury Products Affects Satisfaction with Life. Applied Research Quality Life 10, 253–262 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-014-9310-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11482-014-9310-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation