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Buying Life Experiences for the “Right” Reasons: A Validation of the Motivations for Experiential Buying Scale

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Abstract

Although numerous studies have demonstrated the hedonic benefits of spending money on life experiences instead of material possessions, there has been no attempt to determine how different motivations for experiential consumption relate to psychological need satisfaction and well-being. Across five studies (N = 931), guided by self-determination theory, we developed a reliable and valid measure of motivation for experiential consumption—the Motivation for Experiential Buying Scale—to test these relations. Those who spend money on life experience for autonomous reasons (e.g., “because they are an integral part of my life”) report more autonomy, competence, relatedness, flourishing, and vitality; however, those who spend money on life experiences for controlled (e.g., “for the recognition I’ll get from others”) or amotivated reasons (e.g., “I don’t really know”) reported less autonomy, competence, and relatedness. These results demonstrated that the benefits of experiential consumption depend on why one buys life experiences.

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Notes

  1. Throughout the article, we use the terms “experiential consumption,” “experiential purchase(s),” “spending money on life experiences,” “experiential buying,” and “buying life experiences” interchangeably.

  2. For clarification, we present the six items intended to measure introjected regulation here: “I feel an increase in self-esteem from the experience,” “I would feel bad if I didn’t purchase the experience,” “I would feel guilty if I didn’t purchase the experience,” “I would feel anxious if I didn’t purchase the experience,” “Buying this experience makes me feel good about myself,” “Because it is important to buy such things.” The original 43-items are available upon request from the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA

    Jia Wei Zhang & Ryan T. Howell

  2. Department of Clinical and Social Sciences in Psychology, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA

    Peter A. Caprariello

  3. Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Jia Wei Zhang

Authors
  1. Jia Wei Zhang
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  2. Ryan T. Howell
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  3. Peter A. Caprariello
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Correspondence to Ryan T. Howell.

Appendix: Motivation for Experiential Buying Scale (MEBS)

Appendix: Motivation for Experiential Buying Scale (MEBS)

There are many ways in which people can choose to utilize their money to make themselves happier. One such way is by acquiring life experiences—an event or series of events that you personally encounter or live through (e.g., eating out, going to a concert, traveling, etc.). When using money in this way, you do not acquire a physical, tangible object that remains in your possession. Instead, you obtain only a memory of the experience or the event. This is known as an experiential purchase.

We want you to think about the reasons you typically make experiential purchases. Please indicate to what extent you agree with each of the following items as the reasons you make experiential purchases.

One of the reasons I typically spend money on life experiences is…

  1. 1.

    They are part of how I have chosen to live my life

  2. 2.

    They are an integral part of my life

  3. 3.

    Because life experiences represent the kind of person I am

  4. 4.

    Because I find life experiences stimulating

  5. 5.

    They are in line with things I value in life

  6. 6.

    Because I value buying life experiences

  7. 7.

    Because life experiences improve the quality of my life

  8. 8.

    Because I enjoy the satisfaction of being immersed in the experiences

  9. 9.

    For the pleasure I feel during the life experience

  10. 10.

    Because it is important to buy life experiences

  11. 11.

    For the recognition I’ll get from others

  12. 12.

    Because life experiences allow me to be well regarded by people I know

  13. 13.

    For the chance to discover what others think of me

  14. 14.

    To avoid others thinking negative thoughts about me

  15. 15.

    Because people around me think it is really important to buy life experiences

  16. 16.

    To impress other people

  17. 17.

    I don’t know if I really had any good reason to buy life experiences

  18. 18.

    I don’t really know

  19. 19.

    Never thought about why; hard to say

  20. 20.

    I just buy life experiences without any reason

Participants responded to items on a scale from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree).

Autonomous Motivation: sum 1–10; Controlled Motivation: sum 11–16; Amotivation: sum 17–20. To compute the short version: items 2, 7, and 8 are autonomous motivation, items 11, 13 and 16 are controlled motivation, and items 21, 23, and 24 are Amotivation.

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Zhang, J.W., Howell, R.T. & Caprariello, P.A. Buying Life Experiences for the “Right” Reasons: A Validation of the Motivations for Experiential Buying Scale. J Happiness Stud 14, 817–842 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-012-9357-z

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