Materialism and Money Spending Disposition as Predictors of Economic and Personality Variables

This research explored the relationships between materialism and money spending attitudes on impulse buying tendencies, attitudes toward debt, sensation seeking, and openness to experience. Students and other adults (N = 266) completed a materialism scale, portions of two money conservation scales, an impulse buying scale, an attitudes toward debt scale, a sensation seeking scale, and an openness to experience scale. Simultaneous-entry multiple regression analyses revealed that materialism and money conservation were predictive of impulse buying, sensation seeking, and openness to experience. Two marginally significant interactions emerged. Individuals less materialistic and tight with money had particularly negative attitudes toward debt, and individuals less materialistic and loose with money were particularly open to experience. Results are discussed with respect to how materialism may be related to a variety of individual difference variables, both at the main effect level and in interaction with money spending attitudes. Tatzel (2002) proposed a taxonomy of "money worlds" in which she integrated the notions of materialism and money spending disposition. In her taxonomy, she cogently articulated how money spending penchants may combine with materialism to predict a number of other phenomena. The purpose of the current research is to empirically test some of the predictions she made. Materialism is "... a value representing the individual's orientation toward the role of possessions in life, serving to guide the types and quantities of goods purchased" (Mick, 1996, p. 108). To a great extent, research on materialism has tended to focus on materialism as a main effect. However, at least two studies have examined interactive effects of materialism. Burroughs and Rindfleisch (2002) examined how ownership of material objects and its negative relationship with well-being is a function of other important life values. Also, LaBarbera and Gurhan (1997) found that people high in materialism with lower incomes had lower levels of well-being than people high in materialism with higher incomes. Materialism at the main effect level has been a topic of a comprehensive study of how materialism is related to spending tendencies, saving, and debt. Watson (2003) found that materialistic people tended to be more likely to spend money, more likely to express positive attitudes toward borrowing money for luxury purchases, and less likely to own vehicles of savings (e.g., mutual funds) than were less materialistic people. The paucity of research on the interactions between materialism and other phenomena warrants further research. To better understand the different meanings that money holds for people, empirical research has focused primarily on the development of scales to assess such differences (e.g., Furnham, 1984; Tang, 1992; Yamauchi & Templer, 1982). These undertakings have each demonstrated that the meanings people ascribe to money are indeed diverse. For instance, in a factor analysis, Furnham (1984) found six distinct factors of money beliefs and behaviors, including obsession, power/spending, retention, security/conservatism, inadequacy, and effort/ability. In the current research, we were particularly interested in people's tendency to conserve (or not conserve) money, and how such a tendency may combine with materialistic values to predict economic attitudes (i.e., attitudes toward debt and impulse buying) and personality traits (i.e., sensation seeking and openness to experience). Money Attitudes, Materialism, and Tatzel's (2002) Taxonomy Tatzel (2002) proposed a litany of outcomes based on individuals' materialistic orientation and money spending penchants. She outlined the characteristics of four possible combinations of these variables as seen in Table 1. With respect to people who are loose with money, Tatzel distinguished between big spenders and experiencers. Big spenders are highly materialistic people who enjoy spending money, often view higher prices as a quality signifier, and who enjoy owning nice possessions. …