Environmentally Friendly Materialism

Environmentally Friendly Materialism: History

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Subjects: Psychology

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Protection of the global environment has long been demanded. Companies that have created a large burden on the natural environment have been struggling to cope with this challenge. Companies are required to not only disclose information on their responses to the natural environment to shareholders, governments, and suppliers but also to consumers. In particular, the apparel industry has a massive environmental burden, and globally, consumers are paying attention to what they are dealing with. The increasing number of consumers possessing a global mindset has led to the emergence of environmentally friendly materialist consumers who find pleasure in owning environmentally friendly brands and products.

environmentally friendly materialism
global mindset
consumer
costly signaling theory (CST)
self-determination theory (SDT)
luxury

1. Introduction

Consumers, especially those who have an international perspective, are interested in the global situation and actively purchase products developed by multinational firms; thus, they are sensitive to the environmental efforts of firms [4]. Recently, there has been rapid spread and development of internet and social network services that encourage mutual communication between information senders and receivers. Consequently, there has been a proliferation of information dissemination worldwide and a rise in the number of consumers possessing a global mindset. This encompasses a range of factors, such as global environmental and social conditions, multinational corporations, and global brands [5]. Despite the presence of environmentally conscious materialism, why and how they emerge is still unclear [6,7]. Thus, companies are not only required to disseminate environmentally friendly information to consumers but also are faced with the problem of how to approach consumers about the sustainable aspects of their brands and products.

Luxury apparel developed by multinational companies is leading the apparel industry by clarifying each company’s recognition and values regarding the natural environment and actively communicating their visions [6,8]. For example, Dior has used “Dream in green” as its tagline for their branding and is developing products that strongly consider the conservation of natural resources and climate change. Similarly, Prada has developed a project called Re-Nylon, in which plastic waste collected from oceans is reused and cleaned to create new, beautiful products. Luxury apparel has been examined in conjunction with consumer materialism because of its conspicuousness [9,10]. Owning and showing off a brand or product is a status that increases consumers’ sense of wellbeing. Therefore, the luxury apparel market is ideal for discerning not only consumer materialism and environmentally conscious behaviors but also the presence of consumers who exhibit a harmonious combination of these attributes.

2. Global Minded Consumer

Consumer culture theories are useful in understanding how consumers respond to global brands [17]. People accumulate knowledge and change their behavior based on their cultural backgrounds [18]. This theoretical foundation suggests that people maintain their cultural identities in global, glocal, and local ways [19,20]. As information technology has developed in recent years, a consumer culture based on a global perspective has become more active. This degree is called self-identification with global consumer culture (IDT) [21]. As consumers become globalized, people will naturally look for products that are available globally [22]. It has also been demonstrated that global brands stimulate consumers’ materialistic values. Materialism is referred to an aspiration toward happiness and success in life through the acquisition and possession of goods [23,24]. It is also viewed as the tendency of people to value social image [25,26]. Consumers who are interested in overseas markets and actively gather information explore global brands to fulfill and express their fame, success, wealth, and social status [25,26]. Thus, it is expected that as consumers become more globally minded, their materialistic tendencies would increase [27,28].

Consumers with high IDT form a potentially influential reference group [17]. They position themselves as members of a group that holds global values, and they seek to express themselves through the products they own [29,30]. Consumers with a global mindset tend to be sensitive to information, and they view products as a medium for influencing others [27]. Luxury brands benefit consumers who want to present themselves as influential people with social status and prestige [31]. This type of luxury value is described as the extended self, and this implies the conspicuous benefits of brand consumption [31]. By possessing and consuming the brand, consumers can express their identity to others. Thus, the increasing tendency of high IDT consumers may result not only in increasing materialism but also in extended self behavior.

In addition, the acculturation to a global consumer culture has begun to affect the purchasing behavior of environmentally conscious products [32]. For example, Grinstein and Riefler [33] found that the more people focus on the world, the more they increase their environmentally conscious behavior. Environmental issues are occurring on a global scale and are difficult to solve within a single country. Additionally, people expect multinational corporations to respond to these problems [34]. As people become more aware of global information, it is expected that they will develop a greater understanding and sympathy for the state of environmental destruction in the world. Particularly, globally minded consumers are sensitive to rapid changes in society, and consumers build their own identity by supporting the ecological world by acquiring environmentally friendly products [33].

3. Costly Signaling Theory (CST)

The present research postulates a direct relationship between materialism and consumers’ exploratory buying tendencies for environmentally friendly products based on materialistic life goals and CST. Specifically, materialistic values emphasizing extrinsic life goals, such as material success and social status [24,26], are likely to strengthen an exploratory buying tendency toward environmentally friendly products. Given the assertion that one of the materialistic personality traits is nongenerosity, which is motivated by an egoistic interest in oneself rather than others [23], this conjecture may seem somewhat contradictory. However, CST reasonably accounts for it. The theory views seemingly wasteful behaviors carrying extra costs in terms of money, time, energy, or risk as reliable signals representing desirable individual qualities or resources [11,12]. Thus, individuals often engage in behaviors to convey truthful information about themselves even at high costs, expecting that these extra costs would increase the reliability of the information they signal [11,35]. Through costly signals, the senders compete for status in groups and ultimately seek to gain the power, mates, or economic resources correlated with that status [35].

Consumer researchers have often used CST to explain luxury, status, and conspicuous consumption [7,13,14,15,36]. The acquisition and possession of luxury products, even when functionally equivalent but cheaper products are available in the market, is a reliable way to signal one’s wealth and status effectively [7,13,14,15,37]. CST was first proposed to examine the biological behavior of animals [12]. Subsequently, the theory has also been applied to examine human behavior. Humans differ from animals in that they are social. Therefore, costly signaling through luxury brands is a beneficial social strategy, as the signaler can receive favorable treatment from others in social interactions [15].

CST can also explain the purchase of environmentally friendly products. Individuals sometimes engage in altruistic behaviors, such as philanthropy and charity, at their own expense [11]. According to CST, assisting others without asking for anything in return serves as a signal that an individual has a desirable altruistic quality and high status [11,16]. This type of altruism is referred to as competitive altruism, which is unlike reciprocal altruism that requires a return in-kind. What individuals expect from behaviors based on competitive altruism is for others to have a positive image of and treat them more favorably [11,38].

Purchasing environmentally friendly products can be considered in a similar vein. Prior research indicates that possessing green-labeled products that cost more than other functionally equivalent products makes the owner more environmentally conscious [13]. Although environmentally friendly products tend to be more expensive [16], one of the critical reasons for purchasing them is to gain a favorable reputation as an environmentally conscious altruist, thereby demonstrating a high social status [7,16]. Thus, the behavior of buying costly environmentally friendly products has an aspect of the buyer’s signal, aiming to achieve external goals, including status, fame, and reputation. Thus, materialism will likely facilitate purchasing environmentally friendly products, which serve as a medium to expand and express the owner’s image.

Therefore, the extrinsic aspect such as the extended self rather than the intrinsic aspect motivates consumers with materialistic value and low environmental consciousness to seek a product. Based on the World Values Survey, this study refers to environmental consciousness as a degree to which environmental protection is prioritized over economic development [39]. Consumers who are strongly influenced by international information and have a global mindset are particularly sensitive to how they see themselves in the world. In countries and regions with less environmentally conscious people, how one is viewed is a stronger motivation than the actual impact of their behavior on the environment. From this perspective, CST provides a plausible explanation of why materialistic consumers can readily have an exploratory buying tendency for environmentally friendly products. Highly materialistic consumers pursue extrinsic goals, such as financial success and status, rather than intrinsic goals [26,40]. Materialistic consumers will likely purchase environmentally friendly products to socially display their status and prestige.

4. Intrinsic Motivation for Purchasing Sustainable Luxury

Altruistic consumption behavior is not only for reasons related to extended self but also for individual self-fulfillment. Consumers have intrinsic and extrinsic motivations for their searching and buying behavior [41,42,43]. We posit that the emergence of environmentally conscious materialism can be driven by both external and internal motivations. Specifically, materialism is primarily fueled by external motivations, whereas environmentally conscious behavior originates from both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Consequently, individuals may seek to fulfill their materialistic desires for satisfying their intrinsic values by acquiring sustainable luxury goods. Materialistic values have three dimensions—centrality, happiness, and success [24,44]. Centrality implies a tendency to place the acquisition and possession of valuable goods at the center of one’s life, while happiness describes the tendency to consider the possession of goods as a condition. In addition, success means the tendency to judge wellbeing by the quality and quantity of possessions [44]. Each of these dimensions can be considered from a self-fulfillment perspective but not necessarily only in terms of an extended self perspective.

SDT can describe not only extrinsic motivation but also intrinsic consumer behavior. Self-determination theory (SDT) describes the human motivations driven by intrinsic resources for personality and describes the innate psychological needs for self-fulfillment and personal development [45,46]. Consumers build their identity by surrounding themselves with products matching their values and feeling a self-brand connection [47]. Luxury products tend to have clear values and visions for society and the environment, as brand building is essential for them. As consumers become more globally minded, they become more sensitive to social and environmental changes, and materialism increases due to their internal motivation to form relevant self-identities. For example, Shahid and Paul [48] found that consumers in emerging economies are shifting their interest from extrinsic motivation to intrinsic self-fulfilling motivation for purchasing luxury goods. Consumers are likely to collect environmentally friendly luxury products that are in line with their way of thinking. Furthermore, this motivation is more likely to occur in countries with a high level of environmental consciousness.

This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/su15086703

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