Materialism moderates the impact of mortality salience on impulsive tendencies toward luxury brands
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Published on: September 27, 2019
Catherine Audrin1,2,3, Boris Cheval1, Julien Chanal1,3
1a Department of Psychology , University of Geneva , Geneva , Switzerland.
Abstract:
Luxury goods have been shown to help individuals coping with death-related anxiety. However, the extent to which the symbolic value allocated to possessions (i.e., materialism) moderates this effect is still unclear. Here, we investigated the impact of materialism on impulsive approach tendencies toward luxury clothing brands in a context of mortality salience. Results showed that the impact of mortality salience was moderated by materialism with lower impulsive approach tendencies toward luxury clothing brands observed in non-materialistic participants. These findings highlight how materialism values may impact luxury consumption through impulsive pathways in a situation of death-related anxiety.
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