WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING

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When Wanting is Better Than Having Research Implication Paper Ned G. Kendall III Walsh University

Marketing Management Dr. Julie Szendrey MBA 624 09/07/2013

WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING The article that I have chosen for the research implication paper is “When Wanting is

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Better than Having: Materialism, Transformation Expectations, and Product-Evoked Emotions in the Purchase Process.” (Richins, 2013) The focus of the article is the accuracy and claim that purchasing brings an individual happiness. I found this article to be of interest not only because it focuses on the ‘People’ aspect of the Modern Marketing Management Four Ps (Kotler & Keller, 2012), but it an interesting insight of consumer behavior from a psychological point of view. This article examines the emotions evoked before, during and after purchasing a product and introduces the concept of hedonic elevation. Hedonic elevation is simply the concept of relating to something with either a pleasant, or an unpleasant, sensation. Lastly, this article focuses on product-evoked emotions between high and low-materialism consumers through the performance of three separate studies, using five different hypotheses. The main emotions that are studied throughout article are joy, excitement, contentment, optimism and peacefulness. Materialism has three main components: a measure of personal success based on what one has acquired in life, that concept that acquisitions and happiness are interdependent, and the simple process of frequently acquiring possessions. This article is the first of its kind to study how various feelings, associated with purchasing a product, may change throughout the purchasing process. It is also an excellent study of the socio-cultural environment at a micro level. Study 1 includes the following hypotheses. The first hypotheses (H1) looks at the relationship between positive product evoked emotions and materialism. H1 states “Highermaterialism consumers (compared to those lower in materialism) will experience more positive emotions when anticipating, purchasing and using a product that is important to them” (Richins, 2013, pg. 2) the second hypothesis (H2) concentrates on the relationship between negative

WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING provoked emotions and materialism. It is possible that an individual will feel a combination of positive and negative emotions, favor one or the other or have a complete absence of each. H2

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states, “Higher-materialism consumers (compared to those lower in materialism) will experience stronger emotions of fear, anxiety, envy, and discontent when anticipating, purchasing, and using a product that is important to them”. (Richins, 2013, pg. 3) The findings from Study 1 support H2 through all three stages of the purchasing cycle. H1 was not supported during the post purchase process but was supported during the prepurchase stage. Essentially the studies found that high-materialism buyers experience stronger positive emotions before the purchase but their hedonic levels declined after purchasing the product. Eventually the materialist’s hedonic levels come down to be more in alignment with low-materialism buyers in the post purchase phase. Study 2’s main purpose was to look at the validity of Study 1 in terms of hedonic levels in low-materialism consumers and high-materialism consumers through hypothesis H3a and H3b. H3a states that “At the purchase stage of the purchase process, positive product-evoked emotions experienced by higher-materialism consumers will be higher than those experienced by lower-materialism consumers” and H3b states “Hedonic decline in product-evoked emotions will occur for higher-materialism consumers between the pre- and post-purchase stages of the purchase process. No such decline will occur for the lower-materialism consumers.” (Richins, 2013, pg. 3) Many believe that the decline in hedonic levels is what causes materialistic people to crave more products. Essentially, they want to experience the high they receive during the pre-purchase process. One can only look at Vanderbelt, Hurst and Seiberling to see that their appetites for materialistic possessions were chronic and eventual lead to their financial downfall. On a Freudian level, they were unconsciously chasing a tiger that they could never catch.

WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING Another explanation of declining hedonic levels has to do with how satisfied one is with their purchase. If someone does not like the product, his or her hedonic levels will naturally decline. This is especially true when the purchase is of high value. I remember when I got my last car. It was not a luxury vehicle by any means but I still was very excited to be purchasing a new car. Soon I began to notice flaws in the vehicle, which caused my hedonic levels to fall. The road noise was too loud, the brakes were squeaking and there was a rattling coming from various parts of the car. I took the vehicle over a dozen times to the dealership within the first three years of the warranty to ensure that these material defects were corrected. Eventually enough consumers complained and as a result, the manufacturer implemented recall notices and posted service bulletins about the brakes, and road noise.

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Another concept discussed in Study 2 is that high-materialism consumers tend to set very high standards, that are at times impossible to meet compared to their non-materialistic counter parts. One significant finding in H3b was there was an apparent gradual decline in positive feelings with high-materialism individuals during the purchase process. The second important finding was that high-materialism consumers reported higher negative emotions or psychological risks than their lower-materialism counterparts did. Study 3 primarily evaluated the purchase process by specifically examining expectations. Some of these expectations are highly influenced by the way products are marketed to the public. Commercials and advertisements strategically focus on the core concepts of needs, wants and demands and highlight the value and satisfaction that their products will bring to your life. H4 states, “Postpurchase product satisfaction will be lower for higher-materialism than for lowermaterialism consumers when the product they purchase is important to them” and H5 states, “The relationship between materialism and positive product-evoked emotions before acquisition

WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING is mediated by the transformation expectations the consumer holds for the contemplated acquisition.” (Richins, 2013, pg. 4) One key discovery of H4 was there was a direct correlation between product cost and positive emotions with materialists. The second import finding of Study 3 is three is a positive correlation between transformation expectations and materialist participants. The results of H5 found that transformation expectations are the main vehicle that produces a hedonic elevation with high-materialism participants when they think about their desired product. It was also found that low-materialism were less likely to associate transformative powers to products, thus producing lower hedonic levels when thinking about acquiring a product, even if it was deemed desirable or important.

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In summary, through all three studies it was determined that materialist do find happiness but that feeling only occurs during the pre-purchase phase. In addition, people who are materialistic tend to think about acquiring more products, which also leads to happiness. It was also concluded that high-materialism participants have higher positive emotions than lowermaterialism participants do, but again it was only noticed in the pre-purchase phase and they were short lived. All three studies also indicate that low-materialism participants tend to turn to relationships, spirituality or other outside factors for happiness. It was also discovered that materialists had more negative emotions overall, mainly the fear of being disappointed. It was also found that materialist expected more out of their purchases and expected inanimate objects to deliver a more transformative sensation than the products could actually deliver. The article goes as far to say that there is a direct correlation between neuroticism and materialism. Lastly, it is important to realize the correlation between psychology in relation to expectations and materialism. I think that further cultural research on this subject would be interesting to see what industrialized countries tend to have the highest level of materialism.

WHEN WANTING IS BETTER THAN HAVING References

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Kotler, P. & Keller K. (2012). Marketing Management (14th ed.), Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Richins, M. L. (2013) When Wanting is Better than Having: Materialism, Transformation Expectations and Product-Evoked Emotions in the Purchase Process. Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 40 Issue 1, p1-18.