Differences in the demographic characteristics of highly materialistic consumers and those whose clothing consumption practices reflect material simplicity

Abstract

It has been suggested in past research that Materialism, where considerable importance is placed on the value and consumption of material goods, as well as Voluntary Simplicity, that refers to a desire to live simply and minimalistically, are essentially opposing consumer behavioural traits. In former research however, these constructs have always been studied individually, not on a single sample. This research aimed to identify the demographic characteristics of consumers who are more materialistically inclined, and those with a devoted materially simplistic behavioural orientation, in order to describe market segments with diverse orientations whilst discussing consequences relating to consumers’ decision making and purchasing behaviour and how that could be of interest to retail in terms of a better understanding of viable target markets. This exploratory and descriptive study implemented a survey design and used convenience and snowball sampling methods to distribute questionnires for self completion among willing respondents in Tshwane. A total of 1019 useful questionnaires were used for statistcal analysis with the support of the University of Pretoria’s Statistic Department. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, EFA, t-tests, MANOVA, post hoc Bonferroni tests and paired t-tests. This study revealed that none of the demographic segments were particularly materialistic. Findings however confirmed that there are indeed demographic differences in consumers’ materialistic (although it is only moderate) inclination. Demographic differences were also confirmed with regard to consumers’ materially simplistic clothing consumption behaviour, although material simplistic clothing consumtion behavior was found to be generally strong across all demographic groups. What is noteworthy, is that all demographic groups’ inclination to be materially simplistic, was significantly stronger than their inclination to be materialistic. Three of the dimensions of materialism that were identified through EFA, signified terminal values, while one dimension indicated instrumental values. With regard to the latter, gender and population differences were evident, indicating that men, and Black population groups are significantly more inclined to acquire possessions as a tool towards certain desirable outcomes (thus a stronger instrumental value). Income, although important to purchase commodities, does not seem to be useful to predict consumers’ materialistic behaviour. Male consumers, Millennials and Black population groups seem significantly more prone to associate possessions with their own happiness (thus a stronger terminal value). Millennials and consumers who are well educated, possessing a diploma or degree, are significantly more inclined to rely on unique possessions to distinguish themselves from others (a terminal value). Male consumers and Black population groups are significantly more inclined to associate progress in society with the possession of certain products/ commodities (a terminal value). Male consumers are more likely to associate possessions with achievement of success than females (also a terminal value). It was apparent in this study that, notwithstanding the demographic category, respondents were moderately materialistic. To the contrary, all the means for material simplicity, suggested relatively strong materially simplistic behavioural tendencies. Based on the overall results, consumers are more materially simplistic inclined rather than being materialistic. However, the results of the study contradicted findings of extant research, which is very important in understanding South African consumers. It was found that males, rather than females, are more materialistic, and that even lower income consumers are moderately materialistic, probably to experience a sense of success and distinctiveness. As expected from extant literature, Black population groups are significantly more materialistic. Overall, it was found that consumers are strongly materially simplistic with regards to their clothing behavioural practices: also indicating that conclusions about materialistic tendencies cannot be drawn by simply attending to a single product category such as clothing, even though it is a visually important commodity that has the potential to demonstrate all the qualities that are associated with materialism as a terminal value, i.e. happiness, distinctiveness, and success. This study makes a valuable contribution to literature and provides useful information whereby retail and industry could benefit in terms of skilful targeting of viable market segments.