Gender perspectives on money attitudes and materialism amongst upwardly mobile South Africans

Abstract

The purpose of the research was to explore gender perspectives on Money Attitude and Materialism amongst upwardly mobile South Africans. The study sought to address three objectives: ¥ Firstly, the study sought to provide insights into the money attitude dimensions that promote materialism within an emerging market context. ¥ Secondly, the study sought to distinguish whether gender moderates the relationship between money attitude and materialism. ¥ Lastly, the study sought to investigate the presence of differences in levels of materialism between genders. Data from 217 South African professionals was collected for this quantitative study through the administration of an online questionnaire using adapted versions of Richins and DawsonÕs (2004) 9-item Material Value Scale and Yamauchi and TemplersÕ (1982) Money Attitude Scale. Predictive analysis in the study indicates that Power-Prestige, Distrust, Retention-Time, and Anxiety money attitudes explain the relationship between money attitudes and materialism in an emerging market context. Further, the research findings demonstrate that gender did not play a moderating role between money attitudes and materialism. However, findings demonstrate differences in the levels of materialism between gender suggesting that the propensity for materialistic behaviour will be higher amongst females than males. The outcome of the research contributes to the growing body of knowledge on consumer behaviour in an emerging market context.