Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Conspicuous Consumption Behaviors among Young Malaysian:
A Materialistic Value Orientation Framework
Wan-Nurisma Ayu Wan-Ismail*, Norhayati Zakaria**,
Asmat-Nizam Abdul-Talib***
Given the burgeoning affluent market in Asia, young customers known as the Generation
Y begin to demand for global-branded goods and services. Thus, the key question is, ‘What
is the effect of materialism value on conspicuous behavior of young Malaysian consumers?
The authors aim to test the consumers’ value orientation framework by using the multiple
regression analysis in order to understand the effect of materialism on conspicuous
consumption behavior and the role of attitude toward luxury brands as a mediator. The
findings are expected to contribute theoretically and practically in terms of a new emerging
consumer behavior which is known as conspicuous consumption as it is an emergent
phenomenon among young Malaysian consumers.
Introduction
The trend of consumer to buy branded goods for the purpose to showing off can be called as
conspicuous behavior. Conspicuous consumption behavior had been discussed by Thorstein
Veblen in 1899. Since then, this term has become an interest of many researchers from various
disciplines. This behavior is primarily discussed in Western culture. However because of the
spread of branded culture toward Asian countries, this behavior can be found among non-Western
culture. Therefore, there is a need to understand the behavior from other culture especially Asian
culture. This spreading of branded culture in Asian especially Malaysia can be seen as a “wake
up call” for the researcher to investigate and understand this culture from an Asian point of view.
Materialism has generally been associated with Western life (Cleveland and Chang, 2009;
Kilbourne and Pickett, 2008). However, more people in the developing world have begun to
emulate this Western-style material culture (Ger and Belk, 1996; Kilbourne and Pickett, 2008;
Podoshen, Li and Zhang, 2011; Podoshen and Andrzejewski, 2012) including Malaysia (Wan
Halim, 2004).
It is clearly argued by Wan Halim (2004) that Malaysian consumer has become materialisticoriented society. It is shown that the attitude of consumers toward luxury products (imported
products) in Malaysia has changed. This changing attitude may be influenced by the availability
of imported products and also easier access to information of imported products especially the
branded one. Hence, the objectives of this study are: 1) to understand the materialism value
among the society; 2) to explore how materialism value impacts the conspicuous consumption
behavior; and 3) to understand the relationship between materialism value and attitude toward
luxury brand.

Dr. Wan Nurisma Ayu Wan Ismail, School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok,
06010, Kedah, Malaysia, nurisma@uum.edu.my

Dr. Norhayati Zakaria, School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, 06010, Kedah,
Malaysia, yati@uum.edu.my

Dr. Asmat Nizam Abdul Talib, School of International Studies, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok, 06010,
Kedah, Malaysia, asmat.nizam@uum.edu.my
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Literature Review
What is Conspicuous Consumption Behavior?
Conspicuous consumption is a multidimensional construct that can be measured by many
variables depending on the social references that researchers use (Marcoux et al, 1997). In
contrast to the study from Marcoux et al (1997) which chose five specific items by which to
measure conspicuous consumption (materialistic hedonism, communication of belonging
to/dissociation from group, social status demonstration, interpersonal mediation and ostentation),
Chaudhuri and Majumdar (2006) examined conspicuous consumption at a conceptual level and
discuss the evolution of conspicuousness as shown in previous literature. They suggest that the
conspicuous consumption construct need not remain restricted to Veblen's (1899) original
meaning.
Moreover, Marcoux, Filiatrault and Cheron (1997) state that social status demonstration is a
dimension of conspicuous consumption. However, O’Cass and Frost (2002) tested conspicuous
consumption and status consumption separately in a study of brand association and consumption
behavior. The study examined four elements of brand association (brand familiarity, brand
symbolism, brand-aroused feeling and self-image/brand image congruency) in the context of
status consumption and conspicuous consumption tendencies.
Both types of consumption are variables under consumption behavior. Their analysis of the
relationships found that brand symbolism, self-image/brand-image congruency and brandaroused feelings were the strongest predictors for both status consumption and conspicuous
consumption of a specific brand. The evidence suggests that if consumers do not consider these
three items (brand symbolism, self-image/brand-image congruency and brand-aroused feeling) to
be important, they will not believe that brands can possess status, nor that they are suitable for
conspicuous consumption purposes. However, the findings related to brand familiarity indicate
that consumers do not have to be familiar with a brand in order to mark that brand as a status
brand and conspicuously consume it.
Throughout the twentieth century, research has been conducted on luxury in diverse disciplines;
including historical analysis (e.g. Berry, 1994), economic modeling (Bagwell and Bernheim, 1996;
Coelho and McClure, 1993), economic psychology (Braun and Wicklund, 1989, Leibenstein, 1950;
Mason, 1981; Veblen, 1899), and marketing (Dubois and Laurent, 1993; Kivetz and Simonson,
2002a, b). However, even though there are a quite number or research had been done during the
past decades, research on the topic of consumer attitudes toward luxury is still scarce (Dubois,
Czellar, & Laurent, 2005). A study by Dubois, Czellar and Laurent (2005) indicated 3 segments of
consumers toward the attitude of luxury: ‘elitist’ segment, ‘democratic’ segment and ‘distance
segment’. The differences between these three consumers are described in the table 1 below.
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Table 1: Consumer Segments Toward Luxury
Type of consumer
Attitude toward Luxury
Elitist
Traditional vision of luxury – appropriate only for a small
elite
The “happy few”
Luxury should be access by a few people
Some education is needed to fully appreciate luxury
goods and services
Use to differentiate themselves from others
Luxury is very expensive
Luxury goods cannot be massed produced
Luxury goods should not available in supermarkets
Have an open-minded attitude toward luxury
Many people should own luxury goods
Everyone should be able to have access to luxury goods
No special education is needed to fully appreciate it
Not synonym with “good taste” and not used to
differentiate from others
Necessarily very expensive
Luxury goods can be massed produced
Luxury goods should be able in supermarkets
Have a negative feeling toward luxury – luxury is old
fashioned and flashy
Luxury users is snobbish and emulate the rich
Luxury should be taxed more
Not very attracted by luxury personally (like luxury less,
less dream about luxury, do not think luxury makes life
beautiful , less interested in luxury and less likely to talk
for hours about luxury)
Have a negative vision of luxury – regard it as useless
and too expensive
More likely not to buy luxury goods
Have a feeling of estrangement – do not feel at ease in a
luxury shop, feel disguised if they used luxury goods, do
not know much about luxury.
Democratic
Modern vision of luxury – open to a larger audience
The “happy many”
Distance
Luxury is seen as a different world to which they do not
belong
Source: Dubois, Czellar and Laurent (2005)
Based on the table, consumers’ attitude toward luxury can be divided into 3 segments. These
three segments have their own characteristic and attitude toward luxury brands. By understanding
these three segments we can understand how they behave and react toward conspicuous
consumption. The desire for luxury items has take place of the desire for basic sustenanceoriented products (Cleveland and Chang, 2009), driven by a motivation need to display wealth or
the illusion of wealth.
In this study, we propose a simple research framework based on the value-attitude-behavior
system as illustrated in Figure 1 to understand the relationship between materialism values on
conspicuous consumption behavior. Rokeach (1973) referred value as an enduring belief that a
specific mode of conduct or end-state is personally preferable to its opposite. Values also
represent socially shared abstract ideas about what is good, right and desirable (Hofstede, 1984).
Values as a cognitive factor also will guide the individuals about which situation they want to enter
and what they do in those situation (Kahle, 1980 as cited from Homer and Kahle, 1988).
Therefore, in this study, consumer’s behavioral process is expected to flow from abstract values
to attitudes and to a specific behavior. Homer and Kahle (1988) called these flow as the value –
attitude – behavior hierarchy. Many researchers have suggested that values have a causal
influence on behaviors (Homer and Kahle, 1988) including William (1979) that contends that
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
explicit and fully conceptualized values become criteria for judgment, preferences, and choice. A
study from Carman (1977) stated that values influence behaviors both directly and indirectly
through intervening attitudinal variables. This study has developed a model proposing that there
are a causal relationship between terminal and instrumental values and consumption behavior.
Carman has study how values influence the behavior of shopping and media exposure patterns
(directly and indirectly) through the intervention of an attitude of activities, interests and opinions.
VALUE
ATTITUDE
MATERIALISM
VALUE
 Success
 Centrality
 Happiness
ATTITUDE
TOWARD
LUXURY
BRANDS
 Interest
toward Luxury
 Evaluative
attitude
toward luxury
BEHAVIOR
CONSPICUOUS
CONSUMPTION





Materialistic
Hedonism
Communication of
belonging
Social
status
demonstration
Interpersonal
Mediation
Ostentation
Figure 1: Research Framework
What is Materialism Value?
Many definitions of materialism have been offered in economic psychology and consumer
research. The definitions (see following table) are slightly different for both fields; however they
are similar in meaning.
Table 2: Definitions of materialism from various authors
Authors
Ward & Wackman (1971)
Mochis & Churchill (1978)
Belk (1985)
Rassuli & Hollander (1986)
Polanyi (1944)
Sahlin (1987)
Mukerji (1983)
Richin (1987)
Richins & Dawson (1992)
Definitions
An orientation in which people view material goods and money
as being important for personal happiness and social progress.
An orientation that emphasizes possessions and money for
personal happiness and social progress.
The importance a consumer attaches to worldly possessions
An interest in getting and spending
A cultural system in which material interests are not made
subservient to other social goals
The idea that goods are a means to happiness; that satisfaction
in life is not achieved by religious contemplation, social
interaction, or a simple life, but rather by possession of and
interaction with goods.
A value that guides people’s choices and conduct in a variety of
situation including consumption
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Materialism and any topics related to it were popular among researchers a decade ago (Torlak
and Koc, 2007). As cited in Smith, Speck and Roy (2008), there is not much literature on
materialism. Ger and Belk (1996a) identified only twenty-two articles that discussed materialism.
In order to understand the concept of materialism, we first need to understand the definition of
materialism in either psychology or consumer behavior. However, Smith, Speck and Roy (2008)
point out that materialism has become an interest of other fields such as cross-cultural research
(e.g., Burroughs and Rindfleisch, 2002; Griffin, Babin & Christensen, 2004).
Mochis and Churchill (1978) classify materialism as a sum of attitudes among consumers who
emphasize the importance of possessions and money for personal happiness and social progress.
Later, Daun (1983) noted that materialism can be defined as a lifestyle in which consumers make
a high level of material consumption a goal of their life.
Materialism also can be categorized as viewing acquisition as a path to happiness. This is
supported by Belk (1984) who sees materialism as a combination of three personality traits:
possessiveness, envy and non-generosity. These traits reflect the importance consumers attach
to worldly possessions. Materialism has generally been seen as a trait of cultures in North America
and Europe (Swinyard, Kau and Phua, 2001). However, because of globalization, this trait may
be spreading to other parts of the world (Belk, 1988; Swinyard , Kau and Phua, 2001).
Materialism can also be defined as a cultural system in which material interests is putting as a
priority than any other social goals (Mukerji, 1983, Polanyi, 1944 and Sahlins, 1976, Richins and
Dawson, 1992). In this study, materialism is discussed as a value, as suggested by Richins and
Dawson (1992), in order to understand its significance in conspicuous consumption motivations
among young Malaysian consumers. This is based on the study by Richins and Dawson (1992)
and Ahuvia & Wong (2002) whose defined materialism as a value with the construct of “personal
value materialism”. Materialism value scale by Richins and Dawson (1992) consisted of 3
components: 1) acquisition centrality; 2) acquisition as the pursuit of happiness and 3) possession
defined success.
Relationship Between Materialism and Conspicuous Consumption
Richins and Dawson (1992) found negative correlations between materialism and relationships
with friend and satisfaction with family. Furthermore, materialistic-oriented person will not bother
if they are suffering in their life as long as they can get what they want in terms of material
possessions (Belk, 1984). Many later studies have also proven this negative relationship, including
Richins (1987), Richins and Dawsons (1992), Dawsons and Bamossy (1991), Kasser (2002) and
Ryan and Dziurawiec (2001).
High materialism people will suffer in at least three aspects: lower level of life satisfaction (Ahuvia
& Wong, 1995; Belk, 1984; Kasser, 2002; Keng et.al, 2002; Richins and Dawson, 1992), high
depression and social anxiety (Schroeder & Dugal, 1995) and lower level of self-actualization if
they put more priority on financial success (Kasser, 2002). Therefore, there is evidence that
people with high materialism put money and other material parts as their centrality. It is mean that
the aspect of material things and money are more important than others such as interpersonal
relationships with others.
Research has shown that materialism has been linked to a variety of consumer behaviors with
normally negative outcomes, including social consumption motivation (Fitzmaurice and Comegy,
2006), compulsive buying (Rindfleisch, Burroughs, and Denton,1997) and social anxiety
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
(Schroeder and Dugal, 1995). Materialism has been found to be inversely related to well-being,
quality of life and dissatisfaction with life in general (Roberts and Clement, 2007). It is significant
with the study from Inglehart (1989) that there is a clear inverse relationship between materialism
and happiness.
Richins and Dawson (1992) stated that materialistic-oriented people use material goods to display
their success, status or prestige to others. They also found that materialist people place a greater
importance on the acquisition and possession of products and services which can increase their
social status. This finding is closely related to the idea that possession is a way of defining
success. The most important point is that materialist people tend to buy more luxury products
than others (Belk, 1985).
Materialism is significantly related to conspicuous. People who have bought branded goods or
luxury products are trying to portray publicly that they are consuming branded brand. By using
brand name items they can show off their symbol of status. Materialism people are fit with this
intention. Materialistic-oriented people will emphasize more on material items which can be
recognized by others. Materialistic-oriented people can be referred as people who view material
possession as a goal of life (de Mooij and Hofstede, 2011). They view their success based on the
accumulated wealth that they can own. They also think that they can gain happiness with the
material objects they own and can be expressed to others. Therefore, the suggested hypothesis
is:
H1:
There is a positive relationship between materialism values and conspicuous
consumption
Attitude Toward Luxury Brands as A Mediator
Economic and social school of thought had suggested that people who consume luxury brands
are people who want to achieve higher social status rather than for economic or physiological
utility of products (Phau and Prendergast, 2000). Findings also found that materialism had
influences consumption pattern on the type of goods purchased and the quantity of good
purchased (Richins and Dawson, 1992). Attitude toward luxury brand (ATLB) was chosen as the
mediating variable in this study because attitudes are affected by people’s values and can be used
to measure consumers’ motivation towards conspicuous consumption behaviour. Materialism can
influence what consumer thinks about luxury brands (evaluative dimension) and whether they
consider luxury brands as important and also can raised the curiosity about luxury brands among
consumers (interest dimension).
Desire to consume luxury good is taken over the desire for basic utility of goods (Cleveland &
Chang, 2009). This aspiration is driven by the attitude towards luxury items and a motivation to
display wealth. Eastman et al. (1999) argued that conspicuous consumption is driven by the
motivation of individuals to improve their social standing and live up to their value of materialism.
Materialism is a significant factor in shaping attitudes towards luxury brands since materialists use
luxury and foreign goods to symbolize their status and prestige and make it visible to others (Zhou
& Wong, 2008). Therefore, hypothesis is suggested as follow:
H2:
Attitude toward luxury brands will mediate the relationship between
materialism value and conspicuous consumption
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
22 - 23 February 2016, Hotel Istana, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
Relationship between
Consumption.
Attitude
toward
Luxury
Brand
and
Conspicuous
A study from Chen, Aung, Zhou and Kanetkar (2005) also looked at conspicuous consumption as
a dependent variable. Their study investigated the moderating and mediating effect of
acculturation on the relationship between Chinese identification and conspicuous consumption of
Chinese consumer goods in Canada. Acculturation dimensions may function as moderators or
as mediators. The dimensions of acculturation are language, media exposure, social interaction
and national (in this case Canadian) identification. The dimensions of conspicuous consumption
are status, ostentation and materialism. Chen et al.'s (2005) findings indicate that ethnic
identification is related to conspicuous consumption.
The more consumers seek for social status, the more positive their attitude toward luxury brands
and the more they will engage in conspicuous consumption (Eastman et al., 1999) in order to
achieve their extrinsic goal (Truong, McColl, & Kitchen, 2010). Extrinsic goals normally include
financial stability (money and luxury), social recognition (fame) and proper appearance (Truong,
McColl, & Kitchen, 2010). Therefore, materialism can influence what a consumer thinks about
luxury brands (evaluative dimension) and whether they consider luxury brands as important, and
can also boost curiosity about luxury brands among consumers (interest dimension).
H3:
There is a positive relationship between attitude toward luxury brands and
conspicuous consumption
Conclusion and Implication
Although conspicuous consumption behavior is observed in all parts of the world, there is still a
need to understand the motivation of conspicuous consumers in Malaysia as well as in many other
emerging countries in Asia such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, and many thriving countries.
It was clearly noted by Chen et.al (2005) that in the early studies of this phenomenon, this behavior
was observed only in affluent Western cultures. It is also important to understand the reasons
why developing countries such as Asia -- especially Malaysia-- have become conspicuous
consumers as they inhabit a different culture from Westerners (Amaldoss & Jain, 2005). This study
will contribute significantly to the knowledge of the relationship between materialism value and
conspicuous consumption behavior.
From a practical standpoint, this research will provide relevant information on how conspicuous
consumers behave, and will be of significant use to marketers, especially product or brand
managers. For example, this study will be of interest to domestic or international marketers who
wish to market their products in Malaysia. Therefore, marketers need to understand the concept
of conspicuous consumption accurately, because there has not been enough response from the
marketing field to explain a concept like conspicuousness (Brewer, 1991). This under research
topic of the conspicuous consumption phenomenon can raise some challenges for marketers if
not clearly understood in terms of the different market segmentation and consumer behaviors,
especially marketers of luxury goods. This is because marketers and retailers often times believe
that demand might drop if they price their products lower (Amaldoss and Jain, 2005). Besides
understanding, measuring, and assessing firm behavior and pricing aspects, the exact nature of
the motivation for conspicuous consumption has not been fully investigated (Chaudhuri and
Majumdar, 2006).
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Proceedings of 10th Asia - Pacific Business and Humanities Conference
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ISBN: 978-1-925488-00-5
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