Consumer materialism cluster

Relevance of research

The topic of materialism has caused great interest among marketing and psychology researchers who have uncovered this phenomenon’s links with various social and psychological maladies. The higher the priority people assign to values and goals related to money and possession, compared with other life goals, the lower is these people’s satisfaction with life and poorer self-realization: such people are more prone to depression, experience more anxiety, behavioural disorders, and other forms of psychopathology. Materialism expressed as a permanent consumer concern for possession and faith in the ability of possessions to make life better can become an obstacle to sustainable production and consumption patterns. The consumer culture related with materialism encourages indifference to environmental concerns. Members of the public prone to increasing consumption are characterized by inferior personal budget management skills and are inclined to excessive consumption and uncontrolled, compulsive buying. Materialistic values determine risky consumer behaviour and financial debt. The negative effects of materialism on both personal and collective well-being actualize the need to research the causes and consequences of the phenomenon of materialism.

Reasearch aim

Recent works highlight that understanding of materialism can be enhanced by studies considering social interaction skills and their antecedents (e.g. empathy, emotional intelligence). The relationship between materialism and subjective well-being has been extensively researched. The body of research on compulsive buying as the consequence of materialism is also large. However, research that links emotional intelligence to materialism and compulsive buying is sparse (though it is suggested that materialism research may benefit from these studies). Even though the literature provides the theoretical basis to hypothesize relations among emotional intelligence, materialism, and compulsive buying, this type of studies has not been detected. Therefore the research cluster aims to shed light on the antecedents and consequences of materialism by exploring the underlying processes and boundary conditions of the relationship among materialism, emotional intelligence, subjective well-being and compulsive buying.

Theoretical contribution and practical implications

This research project will yield insights into the phenomenon of materialism, attention being paid both to the under-researched antecedents, as well as to consequences of the materialism. The assessment of the effect of emotional intelligence and its separate facets on materialism and compulsive buying will contribute to the deeper understanding of the phenomenon of materialism. Materialism is more likely a result of education, not naturally inherent in individuals. Therefore, the awareness of factors that evocate and suppress materialism, and its consequences, would enable the development of corresponding strategies for materialism reduction and would provide implications on how to mitigate negative consumer behaviour, manifested as uncontrollable compulsive buying, excess expenditure as well as overconsumption stemming from materialism.

Activities

Competence development

On the initiative of cluster member dr. Beata Šeinauskienė, Prof. dr. Ilan Alon, Professor of Strategy and International Marketing at the University of Agder and Editor-in-Chief of International Journal of Emerging Markets was invited to conduct a series of seminars in September 19-30, 2016. During this period prof. dr. Ilan Alon hosted a seminar for researchers and PhD students on following topics relevant to cluster research area: Hot topics in emerging markets researchOvercoming Challenges: Publication strategiesEthics of communication with the journal editorsWhat should a good paper look like? (September 20-22, 2016; event coordinator – dr. Beata Šeinauskienė).

Dr. Beata Šeinauskienė successfully completed the research methodology course (2 ECTS) Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Modelling (BERMSS011) given by Dr. Ioannis Evangelidis during the ERIM (Erasmus Research Institute of Management) Summer School (June 29 – July 1, 2016) in Rotterdam, Netherlands (Erasmus+ HE Staff Mobility for Training).

Asta Tarutė participated in the seminar “Paper Clinics Incentive. Preparation of Scientific Publication” (June 29- July 1, 2016, Kaunas) held by the professor of Delft University of Technology (Netherlands) and Åbo Akademi University (Finland), senior editor of international scientific journals “Electronic Markets” and “Telematics & Informatics” – prof. H. Bowman.

Aušra Rūtelionė has visited Strategic management and research Institute at Ratboud Universiteit (Netherlands) under Erasmus+ programme.  The involvement into EMS international network (involving 15 European countries and 3 BRIC countries) has been discussed during the visit. The aim of the network – performing research on current technological and organizational modernization trends in European Manufacturing industry. (30 May- 3 June, 2016)

Publications

  1. Publications in preparation, to be published
    1. Šeinauskienė, Beata; Maščinskienė, Jūratė; Petrikė, Indrė; Rūtelionė, Aušra. Materialism as the mediator of the association between subjective well-being and impulsive buying tendency // Engineering Economics.

    Published publications
    1. Šeinauskienė, Beata; Maščinskienė, Jūratė; Jucaitytė, Indrė. The relationship of happiness, impulse buying and brand loyalty // Procedia social and behavioral sciences : 20th international scientific conference economics and management 2015 (ICEM-2015) : [elektroninis išteklius]. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISSN 1877-0428. 2015, vol. 213, p. 687-693.
    2. Virvilaitė, Regina; Šeinauskienė, Beata; Šeštokienė, Giedrė. The link between standardization/adaptation of international marketing strategy and company performance // Inžinerinė ekonomika = Engineering economics / Kaunas University of Technology. Kaunas: Technologija. ISSN 1392-2785. 2011, Vol. 22, no. 1, p. 106-117.
    3. Virvilaitė, Regina; Šeinauskienė, Beata. The influence of the fit of export marketing strategy and ompetitive strategy on export performance from mediation and moderation perspectives // Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics – Vol. 1, Proceedings of the 15th Eurasia Business and Economics Society Conference EBES), Springer, 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-27569-7 ISBN 978-3-319-27570-3 (eBook), pp. 428-449.
    4. Virvilaitė, Regina; Šeinauskienė, Beata. The influence of psychic distance on export performance: the moderating effects of international experience // Procedia social and behavioral sciences : 20th international scientific conference economics and management 2015 (ICEM-2015) : [elektroninis išteklius]. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISSN 1877-0428. 2015, vol. 213, p. 665-670.
    5. Šeinauskienė, Beata; Virvilaitė, Regina; Bašinskienė, Loreta. Išskirtinės kokybės produktų ženklo poveikis vartotojų požiūriui ir jų pirkimo elgsenai // Maisto chemija ir technologija = Food chemistry and technology = Химия и технология пищи : mokslo darbai / Kauno technologijos universiteto Maisto institutas. Kaunas: KTU Maisto institutas. ISSN 1392-0227. 2015, t. 49, Nr. 2, p. 56-70.
    6. Gatautis, Rimantas; Banytė, Jūratė; Kuvykaitė, Rita; Virvilaitė, Regina; Dovalienė, Aistė; Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Gadeikienė, Agnė; Vitkauskaitė, Elena; Tarutė, Asta. Sužaidybinimu grįstas vartotojų įsitraukimas į vertės kūrimą IRT plėtros kontekste : mokslo monografija / Kauno technologijos universitetas. Kaunas : Ciklonas, 2015. 246 p. ISBN 9786098122220.
    7. Vaitkevičius, Sigitas; Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Dapkutė, Vilma. Vartotojų etnocentrizmas ir jo raiška Lietuvoje: pilotinio tyrimo rezultatai [elektroninis išteklius] : mokslo studija. Vilnius : Lietuvos agrarinės ekonomikos institutas, 2013. 168 p. ISBN 9789955481416.
    8. Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Dovalienė, Aistė; Virvilaitė, Regina. Consumer engagement in value co-creation: what kind of value it creates for company? // Inžinerinė ekonomika = Engineering economics / Kaunas University of Technology. Kaunas: KTU. ISSN 1392-2785. 2015, Vol. 26, no. 4, p. 452-460.
    9. Virvilaitė, Regina; Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Kliukaitė, Aušra. The relations between consumer perceived value and loyalty // Transformations in business & economics = Verslo ir ekonomikos transformacijos / Vilniaus universitetas, Brno technologijos universitetas, Latvijos universitetas. Vilnius: Vilnius University. ISSN 1648-4460. 2015, vol. 14, no. 1(34), p. 76-91.
    10. Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Kazakauskienė, Gintarė. Relations between consumer ethnocentrism, cosmopolitanism and materialism: Lithuanian consumer profile // Business challenges in the changing economic landscape : proceedings of the 14th Eurasia Business and Economics Society conference (EBES). Vol. 2. Cham: Springer, 2016. (Eurasian Studies in Business and Economics, vol. 2/2, ISSN 2364-5067), ISBN 9783319225920. p. 231-242.
    11. Lekavičienė, Rosita; Antinienė, Dalia (2015). Emocinis intelektas: Lietuvos jaunimo tyrimas: monografija. Kaunas: Technologija.
    12. Lekavičienė, Rosita; Antinienė, Dalia. Kognityviniai gebėjimai ir jų veiksniai : Lietuvos jaunimo tyrimas originalia metodika : mokslo studija / Kauno technologijos universitetas. Kaunas : Technologija, 2011. 58 p. ISBN 9786090202753.
    13. Lekavičienė, Rosita; Antinienė, Dalia. Studentų socialinės kompetencijos raiška ir dinamika : mokslo studija / Kauno technologijos universitetas. Kaunas : Technologija, 2013. 78 p. ISBN 9786090208045.
    14. Antinienė, Dalia; Lekavičienė, Rosita. Социальные и демографические факторы, оказывающие влияние на когнитивные способности (на примере молодежи Литвы) // Вопросы психологии. Москва: Международная книга. ISSN 0042-8841. 2011, nr. 2, p. 45-55. [Science Citation Index Expanded (Web of Science)].
    15. Lekavičienė, Rosita; Antinienė, Dalia. High emotional intelligence: family psychosocial factors // Procedia social and behavioral sciences : Future Academy Multidisciplinary Conference “ICEEPSY & CPSYC & icPSIRS & BE-ci” 13-17, October, 2015 Istanbul : [elektroninis išteklius]. Amsterdam: Elsevier. ISSN 1877-0428. 2016, vol. 217, p. 609-617. [Science Direct].
    16. Krauss, Alexander; Rūtelionė, Aušra; Piligrimienė, Žaneta. SME in search for feasible concepts for systematic social responsibility in times of crisis // Economics and management = Ekonomika ir vadyba [elektroninis išteklius] / Kaunas University of Technology. Kaunas: Technologija. ISSN 1822-6515. 2010, no. 15, p. 635-641.
    17. Rūtelionė, Aušra. Socially responsible learning in SME: insights from eight EU countries // Economics and management = Ekonomika ir vadyba [elektroninis išteklius] / Kaunas University of Technology. Kaunas: Technologija. ISSN 1822-6515. 2011, no. 16, p. 597-604.
    18. Čiutienė, Rūta; Savanevičienė, Asta; Rūtelionė, Aušra. Middle level managers stressors study // Review of business research. Tula: IABE. ISSN 1546-2609. 2013, Vol. 13, no. 1, p. 57-62.
    19. Hopenienė, Rimantė; Rūtelionė, Aušra. Relationship quality in tourism: a case of local tourism cluster in Lithuania // Lex Localis – Journal of local self-government. Maribor: Institute for Local Self-Government and Public Procurement Maribor. ISSN 1581-5374. 2016, vol. 16, iss. 2, p. 225-250
    20. Banytė, Jūratė; Paškevičiūtė, Kristina; Rūtelionė, Aušra. Features of shocking advertizing impact on consumers in commercial and social context // Innovative marketing. Sumy: Business perspectives. ISSN 1814-2427. 2014, Vol. 10, iss. 2, p. 35-46.
    21. Banytė, Jūratė; Rūtelionė, AušraKazakevičiūtė (Tarutė), Asta. Determinants of compulsive buyers’ behaviour: the case of retail clothing market in Lithuania // International Journal Management Cases. Special issue : CIRCLE conference, 27-29, April, 2011, Dubrovnik, Croatia. Darwen: Access Press UK. ISSN 1741-6264. 2011, Vol. 14, iss. 1, p. 359-373.
    22. Gatautis, Rimantas; Banytė, Jūratė; Piligrimienė, Žaneta; Vitkauskaitė, Elena; Tarutė, Asta. The impact of gamification on consumer brand engagement // Transformations in business & economics = Verslo ir ekonomikos transformacijos / Vilniaus universitetas, Brno technologijos universitetas, Latvijos universitetas. Vilnius: Vilnius University. ISSN 1648-4460. 2016, vol. 15, no. 1(37), p. 173-191.
    23. Banytė, Jūratė; Tarutė, Asta; Taujanskytė, Inga. Customer engagement into value creation: determining factors and relations with loyalty // Inžinerinė ekonomika = Engineering economics / Kaunas University of Technology. Kaunas: KTU. ISSN 1392-2785. 2014, Vol. 25, no. 5, p. 568-577.
    24. Ruzgas, Tomas; Drulytė, Indrė. Kernel density estimators for Gaussian mixture models // Lithuanian journal of statistics = Lietuvos statistikos darbai. Vilnius: Lithuanian Statistical Association. ISSN 1392-642X. 2013, vol. 52, no. 1, p. 14-21.
    25. Rudzkis Rimantas, Ruzgas Tomas, Clustering Effect on the Statistical Estimation Accuracy of Distribution Density, Acta Applicandae Mathematicae, Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, ISSN 0167-8019. 2007, Vol. 97, No. 1–3, p. 211–219.
    26. Ruzgas, Tomas; Rudzkis, Rimantas; Kavaliauskas, Mindaugas. Application of clustering in the non-parametric estimation of distribution density // Nonlinear Analysis: modelling and control / Lithuanian Association of Nonlinear Analysis (LANA), Lithuanian Academy of Sciences. Vilnius: Institute of Mathematics and Informatics. ISSN 1392-5113. 2006, Vol. 11, no. 4, p. 393-411.
    27. Kavaliauskas, Mindaugas; Rudzkis, Rimantas; Ruzgas, Tomas. The projection-based multivariate density estimation // Acta et Commentationes Universitatis Tartuensis de Mathematica / University of Tartu, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. Tartu: Tartu University Press. ISSN 1406-2283. 2004, Vol. 8, p. 135-141.