Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death
This study investigates the mediated moderating relationship of self-concept clarity, materialism, and social consumption motivation in the context of COVID-19 pandemic based on the terror management theory. The findings suggest that Malaysian consumers have high self-concept clarity about their mat...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
IGI Global
2022
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/ http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/1/do%20materialistic%20consumers%20buy%20more.pdf |
| _version_ | 1848802199041212416 |
|---|---|
| author | Toh, Seong-Yuen * Yuan, Siew-Wai Kaur, Ranita* |
| author_facet | Toh, Seong-Yuen * Yuan, Siew-Wai Kaur, Ranita* |
| author_sort | Toh, Seong-Yuen * |
| building | SU Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This study investigates the mediated moderating relationship of self-concept clarity, materialism, and social consumption motivation in the context of COVID-19 pandemic based on the terror management theory. The findings suggest that Malaysian consumers have high self-concept clarity about their materialistic orientation. This materialistic orientation may be of hedonistic-utilitarian nature that is internally directed for self-satisfaction and not exclusively directed externally in material consumption to portray an image to others. Furthermore, this study posits that cultural factors like collectivism and uncertainty avoidance delimits the applicability of terror management theory in Malaysia,suggesting that the development of the theory draw heavily from Western ideology of individualism not directly relevant in the Asian context. Finally, this study offers an understanding of the self-concept clarity from the Asian context, addressing the appeal by Dunlop to investigate the construct of self-concept clarity particularly in non-Western context |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T21:19:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | sunway-2103 |
| institution | Sunway University |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T21:19:33Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | IGI Global |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | sunway-21032022-08-23T05:43:06Z http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/ Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death Toh, Seong-Yuen * Yuan, Siew-Wai Kaur, Ranita* HF Commerce This study investigates the mediated moderating relationship of self-concept clarity, materialism, and social consumption motivation in the context of COVID-19 pandemic based on the terror management theory. The findings suggest that Malaysian consumers have high self-concept clarity about their materialistic orientation. This materialistic orientation may be of hedonistic-utilitarian nature that is internally directed for self-satisfaction and not exclusively directed externally in material consumption to portray an image to others. Furthermore, this study posits that cultural factors like collectivism and uncertainty avoidance delimits the applicability of terror management theory in Malaysia,suggesting that the development of the theory draw heavily from Western ideology of individualism not directly relevant in the Asian context. Finally, this study offers an understanding of the self-concept clarity from the Asian context, addressing the appeal by Dunlop to investigate the construct of self-concept clarity particularly in non-Western context IGI Global 2022 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_nc_4 http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/1/do%20materialistic%20consumers%20buy%20more.pdf Toh, Seong-Yuen * and Yuan, Siew-Wai and Kaur, Ranita* (2022) Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death. International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management (IJCRMM), 13 (1). pp. 1-18. ISSN 1947-9247 https://www.igi-global.com/article/do-materialistic-consumers-buy-more-during-the-covid-19-pandemic/289203 doi: 10.4018/IJCRMM.289203 |
| spellingShingle | HF Commerce Toh, Seong-Yuen * Yuan, Siew-Wai Kaur, Ranita* Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title | Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title_full | Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title_fullStr | Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title_short | Do Materialistic Consumers Buy More During the COVID-19 Pandemic?: Social Consumption Motivation of Anxious Malaysians in the Face of Existential Threat of Death |
| title_sort | do materialistic consumers buy more during the covid-19 pandemic?: social consumption motivation of anxious malaysians in the face of existential threat of death |
| topic | HF Commerce |
| url | http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/ http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/ http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/ http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/2103/1/do%20materialistic%20consumers%20buy%20more.pdf |