IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v170y2024ics0148296323006665.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Stand out or fit in: Understanding consumer minimalism from a social comparison perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Chen, Siyun
  • Kou, Sining
  • Lv, Linxiang

Abstract

Consumer minimalism has been gaining popularity globally over the past few years. Drawing from social comparison theory, the current research investigates how social comparison affects minimalist consumption (i.e., reduced possessions and mindful purchases). Specifically, four studies convergently show that consumers who make downward (vs. upward) social comparisons are more (vs. less) likely to engage in minimalist consumption (Study 1). Notably, status (vs. affiliation) motives mediate this effect (Study 2). Furthermore, the core effect will be strengthened among consumers with strong (vs. weak) spending-implies-wealth (SIW) beliefs (Studies 3 and 4). In addition to contributing to the literature on social comparison and consumer minimalism, these findings also suggest new insights for managers and policymakers to promote minimalist campaigns and consequently facilitate sustainable marketing.

Suggested Citation

  • Chen, Siyun & Kou, Sining & Lv, Linxiang, 2024. "Stand out or fit in: Understanding consumer minimalism from a social comparison perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0148296323006665
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114307
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296323006665
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114307?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0148296323006665. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.