Seeking Lasting Enjoyment with Limited Money: Financial Constraints Increase Preference for Material Goods over Experiences

Tully, Stephanie; Hershfield, Hal E.; Meyvis, Tom

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucv007

Cited by 156 publications

(167 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Second, our exploratory analyses suggest that there might be a difference between material products and experiences: We found that the opportunity cost reminder had a stronger effect on low‐income individuals than high‐income individuals for material but not for experiential products. Previous research found that facing financial constraints increases interest in material over experiential products (Tully et al, ). Possibly, this change in preferences is associated with more opportunity cost neglect for material products.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor

Plantinga

Krijnen

Zeelenberg

et al. 2017

Behavioral Decision Making

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People often neglect opportunity costs: They do not fully take into account forgone alternatives outside of a particular choice set. Several scholars have suggested that poor people should be more likely to spontaneously consider opportunity costs, because budget constraints should lead to an increased focus on trade‐offs. We did not find support for this hypothesis in five high‐powered experiments (total N = 2325). The experiments used different products (both material and experiential) with both high and low prices (from $8.50 to $249.99) and different methods of reminding participants of opportunity costs. High‐income and low‐income participants showed an equally strong decrease in willingness to buy when reminded of opportunity costs, implying that both the rich and the poor neglect opportunity costs. © 2017 The Authors Journal of Behavioral Decision Making Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor

Plantinga

Krijnen

Zeelenberg

et al. 2017

Behavioral Decision Making

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“…Consumption is underlined by a solid logic, with its focus on saving money and caring for and maintaining possessions, especially the family home. Similarly, Tully, Hershfield and Meyvis (2015) find that financial constraints increase consumer desire for long-lasting material goods.…”

Section: Precaritymentioning

confidence: 95%

Liquid Consumption

Bardhi

Eckhardt

2017

Journal of Consumer Research

344

354

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This paper introduces a new dimension of consumption as liquid or solid. Liquid consumption is defined as ephemeral, access based and dematerialized, while solid consumption is defined as enduring, ownership based and material. Liquid and solid consumption are conceptualized as existing on a spectrum, with four conditions leading to consumption being liquid, solid, or a combination of the two: relevance to the self, the nature of social relationships, accessibility to mobility networks, and type of precarity experienced. Liquid consumption is needed to explain behavior within digital contexts, in access based consumption, and in conditions of global mobility. It highlights a consumption orientation around values of flexibility, adaptability, fluidity, lightness, detachment, and speed. Implications of liquid consumption for the domains of attachment and appropriation, the importance of use value, materialism, brand relationships and communities, identity, prosumption and the prosumer, and big data, quantification of the self and surveillance are discussed. Finally, managing the challenges of liquid consumption and its effect on consumer welfare are explored.Liquid consumption, Digital, Access based consumption, Dematerialization, Ephemerality, Bauman 4 In this paper we introduce a new dimension of consumption as solid and liquid. We define liquid consumption as ephemeral, access based and dematerialized, and solid consumption as that which is enduring, ownership based and tangible. The consumer behavior literature to date has focused primarily on solid consumption. Liquid consumption represents a novel concept in consumer behavior necessary to understand the types of consumption-related phenomena related to the digital, access-based practices, and global mobility. It argues for a different logic of consumption, from that of accumulation, appropriation, and celebration associated with solidity, to those practices embodying fluidity, use, access, immediacy, and dematerialization. That is, consumer value moves from appropriation to the acquisition, use and circulation states of the consumption cycle. Liquid consumption also argues for an ephemeral attachment to digital or physical consumption, which is valued temporarily and because of the access it provides, as well as the speed by which it provides access.In developing the concept of liquid consumption, we are inspired by Bauman's (2000; 2007a, b) theorizing of liquid modernity. In it, he uses the metaphor of liquidity to explain how everyday life has moved from being stable and secure to being more uncertain and rapidly changing. We apply a similar logic to the domain of consumption. We are not arguing that solid consumption will be disappearing. Rather, we conceptualize liquid consumption as existing along with solid consumption on a spectrum, and we point out factors which are likely to result in one or the other. Bauman (2000, 2007a, b) also points out that at the societal level, liquidity is rarely beneficial, as more uncertainty and less st...

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“…Tully, Hershfield, and Meyvis (2015) investigated why people with financial constraints may prefer material to experiential goods. When financial constraints were made salient, people provided with pairs of material versus experiential options were more likely to choose material over experiential goods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, ad appeals emphasizing the social‐connection benefits of experiential purchases could make such experiences more appealing (e.g., “Where family fun begins”). Although it may be hard to shift working‐class consumers' choices from material to experiential purchases (Tully et al, 2015), shifting their attention from monetary value to long‐term benefits may help to make experiential purchases more enjoyable.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stratification and segmentation: Social class in consumer behavior

2016

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Comparing working‐class and middle‐class consumers, Carey and Markus (2016, this issue) highlight the ways that social class determines consumer behavior through a set of mutually supportive culture cycles. We use their framework to re‐examine several core assumptions in marketing and consumer behavior, assumptions that may fit middle‐class consumers better than they do working‐class consumers. Revisiting previous findings with an emphasis on social class allows us to offer an agenda for future research regarding advertising and consumer persuasion, material versus experiential purchases, conspicuous and compensatory consumption, and market segmentation.

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Seeking Lasting Enjoyment with Limited Money: Financial Constraints Increase Preference for Material Goods over Experiences

Cited by 156 publications

References 20 publications

Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor

Evidence for Opportunity Cost Neglect in the Poor

Liquid Consumption

Stratification and segmentation: Social class in consumer behavior

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