ABSTRACT
Materialism has often been viewed as a negative value which is often associated with envy, lack of generosity, greed and jealousy. Despite a broad interest towards the understanding of materialism, an understanding pertaining to the relationship between consumption values, particularly materialism, and young consumers’ social-cognitive development towards the purchasing of material goods remains unexplored. The current study attempts to address this gap by examining young consumers’ perceptions on the possession of branded goods and their materialistic value orientation. Results of this study suggest that young consumers relate the possessions of branded goods with self-confidence, friendship and prosperity. Nonetheless, young consumers with a lot of branded goods were also perceived as arrogant, wasteful, vain and superficial. On the other hand, young consumers without a lot of branded goods were perceived as easygoing, friendly, simple and sincere but may have a lower self-esteem and lower confidence levels. Further, findings from the study showed that respondents were able to appreciate the value of branded possessions which is not only based on emotional attachment, personality association but also on social meaning. Implications and recommendations are also presented.
Keywords
Young Consumers, Perception, Branded Goods, Materialistic Value Orientation