Abstract
This empirical test of an extended model of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) applies three dimensions of materialism (success, centrality, and happiness) to predict consumers’ attitudes and behavioral intentions toward credit card use in a developing, non-Western country. The data, from 373 Bangladeshi credit card users, confirm the applicability of the TPB for explaining the credit card attitudes and intentions among this consumer sample. Success is the most important materialism dimension, with significant positive relationships with attitudes and social norms. Happiness exhibits an unexpectedly positive and significant association with perceived behavioral control (PBC). Both attitude and PBC mediate the relationships of success and centrality with intentions, whereas social norms do not. In a double mediation effect of subjective norms, this relationship arises through attitude and PBC. These findings accordingly provide a more comprehensive view of materialism and the applicability of the TPB in a developing, non-Western country.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahuvia, A., and N. Wong. 1998. The effect of cultural orientation in luxury consumption. In Advances in consumer research, vol. 25, ed. E.J. Arnould and L.M. Scott, 29–32. Ann Arbor, MI: Association for Consumer Research.
Ajzen, I. 1991. The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 50(2): 179–211.
Ajzen, I., and M. Fishbein. 1980. Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Eglewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Armitage, C.J., and M. Conner. 2001. Efficacy of the theory of planned behaviour: A meta-analytic review. British Journal of Social Psychology 40: 471–499.
Arvola, A., M. Vassallo, M. Dean, P. Lampila, A. Saba, L. Lähteenmäki, and R. Shepherd. 2008. Predicting intentions to purchase organic food: The role of affective and moral attitudes in the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Appetite 50(2–3): 443–454.
Bagozzi, R.P., and Y. Yi. 1988. On the evaluation of structural equation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science 16(1): 74–94.
Baker, R.K., and K.M. White. 2010. Predicting adolescents’ use of social networking sites from an extended theory of planned behaviour perspective. Computers in Human Behavior 26(6): 1591–1597.
Belk, R.W. 1985. Materialism: Trait aspects of living in the material world. Journal of Consumer Research 12(3): 265–280.
Burroughs, J.E., and A. Rindfleisch. 2002. Materialism and well-being: A conflicting values perspective. Journal of Consumer Research 29(3): 348–370.
Cakarnis, J., and S.P. D’Alessandro. 2015. Does knowing overcome wanting? The impact of consumer knowledge and materialism upon credit card selection with young consumers. Young Consumers 16(1): 50–70.
Chang, L., and R.M. Arkin. 2002. Materialism as an attempt to cope with uncertainty. Psychology & Marketing 19(5): 389–406.
Chattopadhyaya, D. 1959. Lokayata a study in ancient Indian materialism. New Delhi: PPH.
Chudry, F., G. Foxall, and J. Pallister. 2011. Exploring attitudes and predicting intentions: Profiling student debtors using an extended theory of planned behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 41(1): 119–149.
Diener, E. 2000. Subjective well-being: The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. American Psychologist 55(1): 34–43.
Dittmar, H. 2005. Compulsive buying–a growing concern? An examination of gender, age, and endorsement of materialistic values as predictors. British Journal of Psychology 96: 467–491.
Donnelly, G., M. Ksendzova, and R.T. Howell. 2013. Sadness, identity, and plastic in over-shopping: The interplay of materialism, poor credit management, and emotional buying motives in predicting compulsive buying. Journal of Economic Psychology 39: 113–125.
Easterlin, R.A. 1974. Does economic growth improve the human lot? Some empirical evidence. In Nations and households in economic growth, ed. P.A. David and M.W. Reder, 89–125. New York, NY: Academic Press.
Fitzmaurice, J., and C. Comegys. 2006. Materialism and social consumption. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 14(4): 287–299.
Fornell, C., and D.F. Larcker. 1981. Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research 18(1): 39–50.
Garðarsdóttir, R.B., and H. Dittmar. 2012. The relationship of materialism to debt and financial well-being: The case of Iceland’s perceived prosperity. Journal of Economic Psychology 33(3): 471–481.
Goldsmith, R.E., and R.A. Clark. 2012. Materialism, status consumption, and consumer independence. The Journal of Social Psychology 152(1): 43–60.
Guadagnoli, E., and W.F. Velicer. 1988. Relation of sample size to the stability of component patterns. Psychological Bulletin 103(2): 265–275.
Hayhoe, C.R., L. Leach, and P.R. Turner. 1999. Discriminating the number of credit cards held by college students using credit and money attitudes. Journal of Economic Psychology 20(6): 643–656.
Heaney, J.-G., R.E. Goldsmith, and W.J.W. Jusoh. 2005. Status consumption among Malaysian consumers: Exploring its relationships with materialism and attention-to-social-comparison-information. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 17(4): 83–98.
Islam, T., J. Wei, Z. Sheikh, Z. Hameed, and R.I. Azam. 2017. Determinants of compulsive buying behavior among young adults: The mediating role of materialism. Journal of Adolescence 61: 117–130.
Johnston, K.L., and K.M. White. 2003. Binge-drinking: A test of the role of group norms in the theory of planned behaviour. Psychology and Health 18(1): 63–77.
Karabati, S., and Z. Cemalcilar. 2010. Values, materialism, and well-being: A study with Turkish university students. Journal of Economic Psychology 31(4): 624–633.
Kennedy, B., and G. Wated. 2011. Predicting credit card debt among college students: The attitudes–behavior relation. Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences 22: 43–50.
Kilbourne, W., M. Grünhagen, and J. Foley. 2005. A cross-cultural examination of the relationship between materialism and individual values. Journal of Economic Psychology 26(5): 624–641.
Limbu, Y.B., B.A. Huhmann, and B. Xu. 2012. Are college students at greater risk of credit card abuse? Age, gender, materialism and parental influence on consumer response to credit cards. Journal of Financial Services Marketing 17(2): 148–162.
Litwin, M.S., and A. Fink. 1995. How to measure survey reliability and validity. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
Mazar, N., D. Mochon, and D. Ariely. 2018. If you are going to pay within the next 24 hours, press 1: automatic planning prompt reduces credit card delinquency. Journal of Consumer Psychology 28(3): 466–476.
Melnyk, V., E. Van Herpen, and H. Trijp. 2010. The influence of social norms in consumer decision making: A meta-analysis. In NA—Advances in consumer research, vol. 37, ed. M.C. Campbell, J. Inman, and R.P. Duluth, 463–464. Duluth, MN: Association for Consumer Research.
Mick, D.G. 1996. Are studies of dark side variables confounded by socially desirable responding? The case of materialism. Journal of Consumer Research 23(2): 106–119.
Mitchell, T.R., and A.E. Mickel. 1999. The meaning of money: An individual-difference perspective. Academy of Management Review 24(3): 568–578.
Nga, J.K., L.H. Yong, and R. Sellappan. 2011. The influence of image consciousness, materialism and compulsive spending on credit card usage intentions among youth. Young Consumers 12(3): 243–253.
Norvilitis, J.M., M.M. Merwin, T.M. Osberg, P.V. Roehling, P. Young, and M.M. Kamas. 2006. Personality factors, money attitudes, financial knowledge, and credit-card debt in college students. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 36(6): 1395–1413.
Nunnally, J.C., and I. Bernstein. 1994. Psychometric theory. McGraw-Hill series in psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Park, H.-J., and L.D. Burns. 2005. Fashion orientation, credit card use, and compulsive buying. Journal of Consumer Marketing 22(3): 135–141.
Park, N. 2004. The role of subjective well-being in positive youth development. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 591(1): 25–39.
Preacher, K.J., and A.F. Hayes. 2008. Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods 40(3): 879–891.
Richins, M.L. 2004. The material values scale: Measurement properties and development of a short form. Journal of Consumer Research 31(1): 209–219.
Richins, M.L., and S. Dawson. 1992. A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research 19(3): 303–316.
Robb, C.A. 2011. Financial knowledge and credit card behavior of college students. Journal of Family and Economic Issues 32(4): 690–698.
Rutherford, L., and S. Devaney. 2009. Utilizing the theory of planned behavior to understand convenience use of credit cards. Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning 20(2): 48–63.
Sirgy, M.J. 1999. Materialism: The construct, measures, antecedents, and consequences. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal 3(2): 78–110.
Sparks, P., R. Shepherd, N. Wieringa, and N. Zimmermanns. 1995. Perceived behavioural control, unrealistic optimism and dietary change: An exploratory study. Appetite 24(3): 243–255.
Tai, S.H., and J.L. Tam. 1996. A comparative study of Chinese consumers in asian markets—A lefestyle analysis. Journal of International Consumer Marketing 9(1): 25–42.
Tatzel, M. 2002. “Money worlds” and well-being: An integration of money dispositions, materialism and price-related behavior. Journal of Economic Psychology 23(1): 103–126.
Terry, D.J. 1993. Self-efficacy expectancies and the theory of reasoned action. In The theory of reasoned action: Its application to AIDS-preventive behavior, ed. D.J. Terry, C. Gallois, and M. McCamish, 135–151. Oxford: Pergamon.
Trafimow, D., P. Sheeran, M. Conner, and K.A. Finlay. 2002. Evidence that perceived behavioural control is a multidimensional construct: Perceived control and perceived difficulty. British Journal of Social Psychology 41(1): 101–121.
Van Boven, L., M.C. Campbell, and T. Gilovich. 2010. Stigmatizing materialism: On stereotypes and impressions of materialistic and experiential pursuits. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 36(4): 551–563.
Watchravesringkan, K. 2012. Cross-cultural equivalence of materialistic values scale (MVS): An exploratory study between the United States and Thailand. Journal of Targeting, Measurement and Analysis for Marketing 20(3–4): 235–253.
Watkins, P.C., K. Woodward, T. Stone, and R.L. Kolts. 2003. Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude, and relationships with subjective well-being. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal 31(5): 431–451.
Watson, J.J. 2003. The relationship of materialism to spending tendencies, saving, and debt. Journal of Economic Psychology 24(6): 723–739.
Xiao, J.J., C. Tang, J. Serido, and S. Shim. 2011. Antecedents and consequences of risky credit behavior among college students: Application and extension of the theory of planned behavior. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 30(2): 239–245.
Xiao, J.J., and J. Wu. 2008. Completing debt management plans in credit counseling: An application of the theory of planned behavior. Financial Counseling and Planning 19(2): 29–45.
Zhou, F. 2009. Income gap, materialism, and attitude toward the rich in developing countries. In Peace psychology in Asia. Peace Psychology book series, vol. 4, ed. C.J. Montiel and N.M. Noor, 275–286. Berlin: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahamed, A.F.M.J., Limbu, Y.B. Dimensions of materialism and credit card usage: an application and extension of the theory of planned behavior in Bangladesh. J Financ Serv Mark 23, 200–209 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41264-018-0058-5
Revised:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41264-018-0058-5