Abstract
To understand why adolescents pursue state-of-the-art cell phones, this study examines the role of materialism in affecting purchase intentions. The vanity traits of adolescents, peer groups, innovativeness, sales promotion, and advertising and celebrity endorsements were considered as antecedents of materialism to examine how they influence purchasing intentions. The findings reveal that materialism is a crucial personal value that motivates adolescents to purchase state-of-the-art cell phones. In addition, the vanity traits of adolescents, peer groups, innovativeness, and sales promotions strengthen materialism. The implications of the findings in relation to the conceptualization and management of adolescents’ materialism are briefly discussed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenreiner GB (1997) Materialism values and susceptibility to influence in children. In: Brucks M, MacInnis DJ (eds) Advance in Consumer Research, vol 24. Association for Consumer Research, Provo, pp 82–88
Anderson JC, Gerbing DW (1988) Structural equation modeling in practice: a review and recommended two-step approach. Psychol Bull 103(3):411–423
Bagozzi RP, Yi Y (1988) On the evaluation of structural equation models. J Acad Mark Sci 16:74–94
Bearden WO, Netemeyer RG, Teel JE (1989) Measurement of consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence. J Consum Res 15(4):472–480
Belk RW (1985) Materialism: Trait aspects of living in the material world. J Consum Res 12(4):265–280
Blair BL, Fletcher AC (2011) The only 13-year-old on planet earth without a cell phone: meanings of cell phones in early adolescents’ everyday lives. J Adole Res 26(2):155–177
Boush DM, Friestad M, Rose FM (1994) Adolescent skepticism toward TV advertising and knowledge of advertiser tactics. J Consum Res 21(1):165–175
Brislin RW (1970) Back-translation for cross-cultural research. J Cross-Cult Psycol 1(3):185–216
Campbell L, Diamond W (1990) Framing and sales promotions: the characteristics of a good deal. J Consum Mark 7(4):25–31
Carroll J, Howard S, Peck J, Murphy J (2002) A field study of perceptions and use of mobile telephones by 16- to 22-year-olds. J Info Tech Theory Prac 4(2):49–61
Caughey JL (1984) Imaginary social worlds: a cultural approach. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln
Caughey JL (1985) Mind games: imaginary social relationships in American sport. In: Fine GA (ed) Meaningful play, playful meaning. Human Kinetics, Champaign, pp 19–33
Chan K, Prendergast GP (2008) Social comparison, imitation of celebrity models and materialism among Chinese youth. Inter J Advert 27(5):799–826
Chan K, Zhang C (2007) Living in a celebrity-mediated social world: the Chinese experience. Young Consum 8(2):139–152
Chandon P, Wansink B, Laurent G (2000) A benefit congruency framework of sales promotion effectiveness. J Mark 64(4):65–81
Chang WL, Liu HT, Lin TA, Wen YS (2008) The influences of family communication structure and vanity trait on consumption behavior: a case study of adolescent student in Taiwan. Adolescence 43(170):417–436
Chang WL, Lu LC, Su HJ, Lin TA, Chang KY (2011) The relationship among consumer vanity trait, materialism and fashion anxiety. Afr J Bus Manag 5(9):3466–3471
Chaplin LN, John DR (2007) Growing up in a material world: age differences in materialism in children and adolescents. J Consum Res 34(4):480–493
Cheng JT (2011) Adolescents phone addiction anxiety by up to 93 %. http://www.kingcar.org.tw/newsDetail.php?id=35. Accessed 04 Nov 2012
Choi MC, La Ferle C (2004) Convergence across American and Korean young adults: socialization variables indicate the verdict is still out. Int J Advert 23(4):479–506
Dawson S (1988) Trait materialism: improved measures and an extension to multiple domains of life satisfaction. In: Shapiro S, Walle AH (eds) AMA Winter educators’ conference proceedings, American Marketing Association, Chicago, pp 478–481
Dawson S, Bamossy G (1991) If we are what we have, what are we when we don’t have? J Soc Behav Pers 6(Special Issue):363–384
Dictionary.com. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/peer+group. Accessed 25 Oct 2012
Dodds WB, Monroe KB, Grewal D (1991) Effects of price, brand, and store information on buyer’s product evaluations. J Mark Res 28(3):307–319
Durvasula S, Lysonski S, Watson J (2001) Does vanity describe other cultures? A cross-cultural examination of the vanity scale. J Consum Aff 35(1):180–199
Erikson EH (1968) Identity, youth, and crisis. Norton, New York
Erikson EH (1980) Identity and the life cycle. Norton, New York
Feng S (2012) Nielsen: More than half of US teens now own smart phones. URL http://chinese.engadget.com/2012/09/11/nielsen-more-than-half-of-us-teens-now-own-smartphones/. Accessed 04 Nov 2012
FIND (2012) The popularity and application of Taiwan digital handset device. Digit Knowl 26:20–22
Fitzmaurice J (2008) Splurge purchases and materialism. J Consum Mark 25(6):332–338
Fournier S, Richins ML (1991) Some theoretical and popular notions concerning materialism. J Soc Behav Pers 6:403–414
Goldberg ME, Gorn GJ, Peracchio LA, Bamossy G (2003) Understanding materialism among youth. J Consum Psychol 13(3):278–288
Henderson S, Taylor R, Thomson R (2002) In touch: young people, communication and technologies. Inf Commun & Soc 5(4):494–512
Hirschman EC (1980) Innovativeness, novelty seeking and consumer creativity. J Consum Res 7:289–295
Hirschman EC, Holbrook MB (1982) Hedonic consumption: emerging concepts, methods and propositions. J Mark 46(3):92–101
Hur WM, Kim HK, Kim H (2013) Investigation of the relationship between service values and loyalty behaviors under high commitment. Serv Bus 7(1):103–119
Hurt HT, Joseph K, Cook CD (1977) Scale for the measurement of innovativeness. Hum Commu Res 4(Fall):58–65
III-FIND (2008) New opportunities in the Taiwanese mobile data services market. URL http://www.find.org.tw/mit/2009mit_eng/hotdata2009_1_eng.html. Accessed 26 Aug 2012
Im S, Mason CH, Houston MB (2007) Does innate consumer innovativeness relate to new product/service adoption behavior? The intervening role of social learning via vicarious innovativeness. J Acad Mark Sci 35:63–75
In-Stat (2005) Asian youth mobile trends: devices, data, and multimedia. http://www.instat.com/r/nrep/2005/IN0502372AW.html. Accessed 06 Oct 2012)
Josselson A (1991) Finding herself: pathways to identify development in women. Jossey-Bass, San Francisco
Kasser T, Ryan RM (1993) A dark side of American dream: correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. J Pers Soc Psychol 65(2):410–422
Kasser T, Ryan RM, Couchman CE, Sheldon KM (2004) Materialistic values: their causes and consequences. In: Kasser T, Kanner AD (eds) Psychology and consumer culture. American Psychology Association, Washington, DC
King MM, Multon KD (1996) The effect of television role models on career aspirations of African American junior high school students. J Career Dev 23(3):111–125
La Barbara PA, Gurhan Z (1997) The role of materialism, religiosity, and demographics in subjective well-being. Psychol Mark 14(1):71–97
La Ferle C, Chan K (2008) Determinants for materialism among adolescents in Singapore. Young Consum 9(3):201–214
La Ferle C, Edwards SM, Lee W (2000) Teen’s use of traditional media and the internet. J Advert Res 40(3):55–65
Lafferty BA, Goldsmith RE (1999) Corporate credibility’s role in consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions when a high versus a low credibility endorsement is used in the ad. J Bus Res 44(2):109–116
Mangleburg TF, Bristol T (1998) Socialization and adolescents’ purchase intentions and behavior? J Consum Mark 17(5):441–453
Mangleburg TF, Doney PM, Bristol T (2004) Shopping with friends and teens’ susceptibility to peer influence. J Retail 80:101–116
Manning KC, Bearden WO, Madden TJ (1995) Consumer innovativeness and the adoption process. J Consum Psych 4(4):329–345
Marsh HW, John RB, McDonald RP (1988) Goodness-of-fit indices in confirmatory analysis: the effect of sample size. Psychol Bull 103:391–410
Martin CA, Bush AJ (2000) Do role models influence teenagers’ purchase intentions and behavior? J Consum Mark 17(5):441–453
Mason RS (1981) Conspicuous consumption. St. Martin’s Press, New York
Mela CF, Gupta S, Lehmann DR (1997) The long-term impact of promotion and advertising on consumer brand choice. J Mark Res 34(2):248–261
Mela CF, Jedidi K, Bowman D (1998) The long-term impact of promotions on consumer stockpiling behavior. J Mark Res 35(2):250–262
Mick DG (1996) Are student of dark side variables confounded by socially desirable responding? The case of materialism. J Consum Res 23(2):106–119
Moore-Shay ES, Berchmans BM (1996) The family environment in the development of share consumption values: An intergenerational study. In Adv Consum Res 23:484–490
Moschis GP (1987) Consumer socialization: a life-cycle perspective. Lexington Books, Lexington
Moschis GP, Churchill GA Jr (1978) Consumer socialization: a theoretical and empirical analysis. J Mark Res 15:599–609
Moschis GP, Moore RL (1982) A longitudinal study of television advertising effects. J Consum Res 9:279–286
Netemeyer RG, Burton S, Lichtenstein DR (1995) Trait aspects of vanity: measurement and relevance to consumer behavior. J Consum Res 21(4):612–626
Nunnally JC (1978) Psychometric Theory, 2nd edn. McGraw-Hill, New York
Ofcom (2011) A nation addicted to smartphones. http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/08/04/a-nation-addictedto-smartphones/. Accessed 06 Nov 2012)
O’Guinn TC, Faber RJ (1989) Compulsive buying: a phenomenological exploration. J Consum Res 16(September):147–157
Podoshen JS, Andrzejewski SA (2012) An examination of the relationships between materialism, conspicuous consumption, impulse buying, and brand loyalty. J Mark Theory Prac 20(3):319–333
Richins ML (1987) Media, materialism, and human happiness. In: Wallendorf M, Anderson P (eds) Advances in consumer research, vol 14. Association for Consumer Research, Provo, pp 352–356
Richins ML (1994) Valuing things: the public and private meanings of possessions. J Consum Res 21(3):504–521
Richins ML (2004) The material values scale: measurement properties and development of a short form. J Consum Res 31:209–219
Richins ML, Dawson S (1992) A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: scale development and validation. J Consum Res 19(3):303–316
Roberts JA, Manolis C, Tanner JF Jr, Jeff (2008) Interpersonal influence and adolescent materialism and compulsive buying. Soc Influ 3(2):114–131
Schroeder JE, Dugal SS (1995) Psychological correlates of the materialism construct. J Soc Behav Pers 10(1):243–253
Schultze QJ, Anker RM, Bratt JD, Romanowkski WD, Worst JW, Zuidervaart L (1991) Dancing in the dark: youth, popular culture, and the electronic media. Williams B, Eerdmans
Shim S (1996) Adolescent consumer decision-making styles: the consumer socialization perspective. Psycho & Mark 13(6):547–569
Solomon MR (2008) Consumer behavior: buying, having, and being, 8th edn. Prentice Hall, New Jersey
Steenkamp J-BEM, ter Hofstede F, Wedel M (1999) A crossnational investigation into the individual and national cultural antecedents of consumer innovativeness. J Mark 63:55–69
Wachtel PL, Blatt SJ (1990) Perceptions of economic needs and of anticipated future incomes. J Econ Psychol 11(September):403–415
Walsh SP, White KM (2006) Ring, ring, why did I make that call? Beliefs underlying Australian university students’ mobile phone use. Youth Stud Aust 25(3):49–57
Ward S, Wackman D (1971) Family and media influences on adolescent consumer learning. Am Behav Sci 14:415–427
Yue XD, Cheung KC (2000) Selection of favorite idols and models among Chinese young people: a comparative study in Hong Kong and Nanjing. Int J Behav Dev 24(1):91–98
Zeithaml VA, Berry LL, Parsuraman A (1996) The behavioral consequences of service quality. J Mark 60(2):31–46
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lee, HC., Wang, CY. & Hong, RS. The factors influencing adolescents’ purchase intentions of state-of-the-art cell phones in Taiwan. Serv Bus 7, 713–734 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-013-0203-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11628-013-0203-0