traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in china

8
Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China Gong Sun 1 , Steven D’Alessandro 2 and Lester Johnson 2,3 1 Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2 School of Management and Marketing, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia 3 Faculty of Business & Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia Keywords Chinese cultural values, political ideology, materialism, luxury products. Correspondence Steven D’Alessandro, School of Management and Marketing, Charles Sturt University, Panorama Avenue, Bathurst, New South Wales 2795, Australia. E-mail: [email protected] doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12117 Abstract China is now the second largest luxury market in the world. This study examines the effect of traditional Chinese cultural values and support for political ideologies on materialism and interest in luxury products. Results showed that both traditional Chinese cultural values (face, harmony and guanxi) and political ideology (Maoism vs. Deng’s theory) influenced materialistic aspirations and interest in luxury products. This suggests that researchers should also consider the influence of political ideology as much as they consider cultural values, as many developing societies are in transition. Introduction In 2012, Goldman Sachs reports that China’s luxury consumption has accounted for one-fourth of the global market (Zhan and He, 2012). The luxury market in China has been estimated at US$8.6 billion in 2008 making it the second largest in the world. It is also estimated that China will replace Japan as the largest luxury market by 2015 (BCG, 2009). Some attribute the emerging luxury market to globalized, western-style materialism (Brannen, 1992). While materialism has been seen as product of economic devel- opment and globalization, especially in western countries (Campbell, 1987; McCracken, 1988), there is evidence that con- sumers in ex-socialist and communist countries have much higher levels of materialism than those in more advanced economies (Ger and Belk, 1996; Podoshen et al., 2011). In understanding why materialism can be higher in less devel- oped countries, there is evidence that the type of cultural values along with changes in the political-social environment can explain this phenomena (Inglehart, 1977, 1981, 1990; Larsen et al., 1999; Griffin et al., 2004). People in collectivist countries, e.g., are con- sidered more likely to be materialistic because they are particu- larly susceptible to social influences (Ger and Belk, 1996; Webster and Beatty, 1997; Tatzel, 2002; Podoshen et al., 2011). The history and development of China has meant that there are strong traditional cultural values (face, harmony, guanxi) co-existing with two opposing political ideologies (Maoism and Deng’s theory), even in a one-party state. While research has found that these Chinese traditional cultural values influence various consumer behaviours, such as customer satisfaction (Yau, 1994), online shopping (Wu et al., 2011), thrift and spending (Lin et al., 2013), purchase decisions (Liang and He, 2012) and gift giving (Yau et al., 1999; Joy, 2001; Qian et al., 2007), there is little research as to the effect of these values on materialism and desire for luxury products. Chinese consumer culture is also unmistakably shaped by political ideology (Belk, 2002; Zhao and Belk, 2008b). This is because as an important human behaviour, consumption is largely saturated with political ideologies that exert impact on consump- tion by means of ideological propaganda and sumptuary laws (Brewer and Porter, 1993; Cohen, 2004; Zhao and Belk, 2008b). In the research context of China, traditional cultural values exist under a system where the state as a dominant group has substantial involvement in peoples’ daily life and indoctrinate a unified ide- ology (Ackerman et al., 2009), but there is in the past generations a dramatic change in the political ideology from Maoism to a pragmatism of Deng. This change has not meant that the old ideology of the communist state have been forgotten or repressed, indeed, Mao is still revered as a central figure in China today. Therefore, our research study asks two important questions: 1 What is the impact of traditional Chinese cultural values on materialism? 2 What is the impact of the two opposing political ideologies of Mao and Deng’s theory on materialism? Literature review Figure 1 presents the conceptual model of this study. It is consist- ent with the extant literature and will be used to guide the discus- sion to develop systematically related hypotheses. International Journal of Consumer Studies ISSN 1470-6423 International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 578

Upload: lester

Post on 11-Apr-2017

215 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism andluxury consumption in ChinaGong Sun1, Steven D’Alessandro2 and Lester Johnson2,3

1Department of Marketing and Management, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia2School of Management and Marketing, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia3Faculty of Business & Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia

Keywords

Chinese cultural values, political ideology,materialism, luxury products.

Correspondence

Steven D’Alessandro, School of Managementand Marketing, Charles Sturt University,Panorama Avenue, Bathurst, New SouthWales 2795, Australia.E-mail: [email protected]

doi: 10.1111/ijcs.12117

AbstractChina is now the second largest luxury market in the world. This study examines the effectof traditional Chinese cultural values and support for political ideologies on materialismand interest in luxury products. Results showed that both traditional Chinese culturalvalues (face, harmony and guanxi) and political ideology (Maoism vs. Deng’s theory)influenced materialistic aspirations and interest in luxury products. This suggests thatresearchers should also consider the influence of political ideology as much as theyconsider cultural values, as many developing societies are in transition.

IntroductionIn 2012, Goldman Sachs reports that China’s luxury consumptionhas accounted for one-fourth of the global market (Zhan and He,2012). The luxury market in China has been estimated at US$8.6billion in 2008 making it the second largest in the world. It is alsoestimated that China will replace Japan as the largest luxurymarket by 2015 (BCG, 2009). Some attribute the emergingluxury market to globalized, western-style materialism (Brannen,1992).

While materialism has been seen as product of economic devel-opment and globalization, especially in western countries(Campbell, 1987; McCracken, 1988), there is evidence that con-sumers in ex-socialist and communist countries have much higherlevels of materialism than those in more advanced economies (Gerand Belk, 1996; Podoshen et al., 2011).

In understanding why materialism can be higher in less devel-oped countries, there is evidence that the type of cultural valuesalong with changes in the political-social environment can explainthis phenomena (Inglehart, 1977, 1981, 1990; Larsen et al., 1999;Griffin et al., 2004). People in collectivist countries, e.g., are con-sidered more likely to be materialistic because they are particu-larly susceptible to social influences (Ger and Belk, 1996; Websterand Beatty, 1997; Tatzel, 2002; Podoshen et al., 2011).

The history and development of China has meant that thereare strong traditional cultural values (face, harmony, guanxi)co-existing with two opposing political ideologies (Maoism andDeng’s theory), even in a one-party state. While research hasfound that these Chinese traditional cultural values influencevarious consumer behaviours, such as customer satisfaction (Yau,

1994), online shopping (Wu et al., 2011), thrift and spending (Linet al., 2013), purchase decisions (Liang and He, 2012) and giftgiving (Yau et al., 1999; Joy, 2001; Qian et al., 2007), there is littleresearch as to the effect of these values on materialism and desirefor luxury products.

Chinese consumer culture is also unmistakably shaped bypolitical ideology (Belk, 2002; Zhao and Belk, 2008b). This isbecause as an important human behaviour, consumption is largelysaturated with political ideologies that exert impact on consump-tion by means of ideological propaganda and sumptuary laws(Brewer and Porter, 1993; Cohen, 2004; Zhao and Belk, 2008b).

In the research context of China, traditional cultural values existunder a system where the state as a dominant group has substantialinvolvement in peoples’ daily life and indoctrinate a unified ide-ology (Ackerman et al., 2009), but there is in the past generationsa dramatic change in the political ideology from Maoism to apragmatism of Deng. This change has not meant that the oldideology of the communist state have been forgotten or repressed,indeed, Mao is still revered as a central figure in China today.Therefore, our research study asks two important questions:1 What is the impact of traditional Chinese cultural values onmaterialism?2 What is the impact of the two opposing political ideologies ofMao and Deng’s theory on materialism?

Literature reviewFigure 1 presents the conceptual model of this study. It is consist-ent with the extant literature and will be used to guide the discus-sion to develop systematically related hypotheses.

bs_bs_banner

International Journal of Consumer Studies ISSN 1470-6423

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

578

Page 2: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

Because of its significant impact on human behaviour, culturehas been widely linked to consumption (McCracken, 1988; Craigand Douglas, 2006; Yaprak, 2008). However, currently, most ofthe cultural theories and constructs that developed from Westernsocieties might be culturally biased and fail to catch the nuance inEastern society (Chinese Culture Connection, 1987; Adler et al.,1989). One of the few countries not fully colonized by Westernnations, China has retained much of its unique cultural character(Wang and Lin, 2009). Therefore, we argue that study of culture inChina should focus on traditional cultural values.

Traditional Chinese cultural values

Chinese traditional culture has been shaped by Confucianism,Taoism, Buddhism, Legalism and other ideologies, and has comedown from one generation to the next for thousands of years (Fan,2000; Pecotich and Yang, 2001; Yang, 2005; Wan et al., 2009).The three fundamental cultural values of Chinese culture are face,harmony and guanxi.

Face

Face (mianzi) refers to a sense of favourable social self-worth thata person wants others to have of him/her in a relational andnetwork context (Goffman, 1967). It reflects one’s social self-esteem and the desire to be respected during interpersonal inter-actions (Ting-Toomey and Kurogi, 1998). As face describes one’swealth and prestige (Hwang, 1987; Zhang and Cao, 2010), peoplewith strong face consciousness tend to pursue money and materialwealth, regardless of how rich or poor, to enhance their reputationand social status (Wong and Ahuvia, 1998; Lin et al., 2013).Hence face makes the features of materialism stand out (Li and Su,2007; Liao and Wang, 2009). We consider face as a cultural valuethat people tend to conform to, so it should be an antecedent ofmaterialism. The first hypothesis of the study is:

H1: The concept of face positively relates to materialism.

Harmony

Harmony refers to ‘one’s inner peace of mind, contentment, aswell as interpersonal harmony’ (Cheung et al., 1996, p. 185). It isan end-state of affairs in which there is a dynamic equilibriumachieved among various potentially opposing forces (Earley,1997). There are a number of studies which suggest that there is an

important role for harmony in Chinese cultural values (see Earley,1997; Kim and Markus, 1999; Leung et al., 2002) and that theseare linked to social behaviour.

As the foundation of Chinese culture, harmony leads to severalother values, such as reciprocation of favours, group orientation,solidarity with others, humbleness and non-competitiveness.

Harmony is a desired state that can be reached by conforming tothe doctrine of the mean. This philosophy teaches people not toincline to either side (Legge, 1960), so it is also called ‘the middleway approach’. The Mandarin word for China (zhongguo) can beliterally translated as ‘middle kingdom’ which demonstrates thatthe middle way philosophy has historically been ingrained inChinese society. In addition, this value stresses a high degree ofself-control and self-abasement (Yau, 1988). Confucianismbelieves good relations with others are the source of happiness andsocial stability (Yang, 2006).

Chinese consumers who place importance on harmony seematerialism as a negative value because it works against interper-sonal relationships (Chan and Prendergast, 2007). The values ofmaterialism of greater self-interest, being less likely to share,generating the envy of others (Belk, 1985; Tatzel, 2002) are inopposition to the values of harmony in Chinese society. The nexthypothesis is:

H2: The concept of harmony negatively relates to materialism.

Guanxi

Guanxi literally means ‘interpersonal connections’ and refers to‘an informal, particularistic personal connection between twoindividuals who are bounded by an implicit psychological con-tract’ (Chen and Chen, 2004, p. 306). It is built upon intimacyoriented towards continued exchange of favours (Su andLittlefield, 2001). Quality guanxi requires the maintenance of along-term relationship, mutual commitment and obligation. It isregarded as a cultural orientation that reflects a series of traditionalethics such as hierarchy, interdependence and reciprocity (Hwang,1987). This leads to a society with large power distance (Hofstede,1980) and strict ordering relationships (Bond and Hwang, 1986).

Gao et al. (1996) found that in China the weight of one’s voiceheavily depends on his/her social position. People with highguanxi consciousness are sensitive to their positions in the socialstructure and have strong motivation to improve them to obtainmaterial benefit and deference from others (Leung and Chan,2003). To bring about the kinds of social relationships (guanxi)

Face

Harmony

Guanxi

Maoism

MaterialismLuxurypurchaseintention

Deng’stheory

H1 (+)

H2 (–)

H3 (+)

H4 (–) H5 (+)

H6 (+)

Figure 1 Conceptual model.

G. Sun et al. Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

579

Page 3: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

they wish to enter and show others their social power, consumerstend to chase upper social status and distinguish themselves fromlower social class through material possessions as a display ofwealth and achievement (Veblen, 1899; Mason, 1981). We hypoth-esize that:

H3: The concept of guanxi positively relates to materialism.

Political ideology

China has experienced different political and economic institu-tions before and after 1978, which greatly shaped the Chinesecontemporary culture (Pecotich and Yang, 2001) and help explainhow Chinese people behave today (Belk, 2002). Two politicalideologies have shaped the Chinese society since 1949, Maoismand Deng’s theory.

Maoism

Maoism (the thoughts of Mao) stated the political principles at thefoundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Rigidlyfollowing Marxism-Leninism, Maoism also conforms to puritancommunism. Maoism emphasizes egalitarianism and tries to eradi-cate social hierarchy (Mao, 1967). Maoism contends that capital-ism leads to a false way to happiness, through which consumersbelieve goods can bring happiness and lay stress on acquisition(Yang and Stening, 2013). Instead, happiness could only beachieved through doing meaningful work for the country (Belk,1988). Hung et al. (2007) found that the generation who came ofage during Mao’s era are significantly lower in materialism and lesslikely to use foreign brands and novelty products than the youngergeneration who grew up after 1978. Our next hypothesis is:

H4: The ideology of Maoism negatively relates to materialism.

Deng’s theory

In 1978, China started an era of economic reform. Deng Xiaoping,as the new leader of China, built a socialist market economy basedon diverse ownership forms. Often called ‘Deng’s theory’, thisideology proposes a pragmatic strategy that focuses on developingproductivity and raising people’s living standards (Zhao, 1997).Deng asserted that the market mechanism and advanced tech-niques have no ideological attributes and can be used in bothcapitalist and socialist societies (Deng, 1994). Deng’s theoryindoctrinated people that it is glorious to become rich (Yang,2006). The outcome of economic reform was measured in terms ofmaterial betterment in the society and higher income for house-holds (Zhao, 1997). Because these phenomena are highly relatedto material values, it is reasonable to postulate that Deng’s theorymight influence people’s material values. Hence;

H5: The ideology of Deng’s theory positively relates tomaterialism.

Materialism

Belk (1985, p. 291) defines materialism as ‘the importance aconsumer attaches to worldly possessions’. In terms ofoperationalization, it is based on the concept that the goods oneowns are his/her extended self.Amore popular operationalization isfrom Richins and Dawson (1992). They regard materialism as a

value which includes the dimension of acquisition centrality, acqui-sition as the pursuit of happiness and possession-defined success.

Materialists tend to own more possessions in order to enjoysocial status (Fitzmaurice and Comegys, 2006). Among these,pursuing a higher position in society is deemed as the most sig-nificant motivation. Goldsmith and Clark (2012) found a signifi-cant positive relationship across various countries betweenmaterialism and status consumption. Materialists are sensitive tothe social meanings of goods. They prefer products that couldsymbolize wealth and achievement and lay stress on price ratherthan utilitarian function. There is also research which suggest thatin emerging post-socialist economies, such as Romania, material-ism is linked to a desire for a higher standard of living, which inturn is linked to greater security (Ger and Belk, 1999, p. 190).Nevertheless, materialism plays an important part in these socie-ties in driving consumer consumption to reflect greater success.

Due to public meaning and symbolic value (Richins, 1994),luxury products could be a natural choice for materialists (Wongand Ahuvia, 1998; Tatzel, 2002). Wong (1997) maintains thatmaterialism is linked to luxury consumption through the dimen-sions of envy and possession-defined success. Recently, Podoshenand Andrzejewski (2012) and Gil et al. (2012) found a positiverelationship between materialism and conspicuous luxury con-sumption. Our last hypothesis is:

H6: Materialism has a positive effect on luxury purchaseintention.

Method

Research design and sample characteristics

A self-report survey was used to collect data. The sample consistsof students taking part in a business training course in Shanghai,East China and their family members. The students were given asurvey to complete in class. They also brought another one hometo ask one of their family members to complete, which were takenback to class the next week.

Shanghai’s residents have much higher disposable incomes thanthe national average (Zhan and He, 2012). It is a model that othercities aspire to (Ralston et al., 2006). They historically have a strongappetite for Western material goods, culture and lifestyle (Belk andZhao, 2003; Zhao and Belk, 2008a). Therefore, Shanghai wasconsidered a suitable location to conduct this research.After check-ing for erroneous responses, such as acquiesce and repeated mid-response bias, the survey provided a valid sample of 425.

About half (52.9%) of the participants were female, with 78.1%aged between 21 and 30 years old. Two-thirds of respondents(67%) had monthly salary between 3000 Renminbi and 10 000Renminbi (US$489 to $1631). According to McKinsey and com-pany’s definition, consumers in households with annual income of40 001–100 000 Renminbi (or US$543.67 to $1359.17 month) arecategorized as the upper middle class in China (Farrell et al.,2006). Therefore, the respondents well represented China’semerging middle class.

Measures

Face was measured by four items of the dimension desire togain face from Zhang et al.’s (2011) scale which treats face

Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries G. Sun et al.

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

580

Page 4: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

consciousness as a general personality trait in the social context. Asample item is, ‘I hope people think that I can do better than mostothers’. Reviewing the relevant literature such as Cheung et al.(1996), four items were developed to measure harmony that refersto the tendency to maintain a harmonious relationship with others.Asample item is, ‘I take great care that my words and actions do notmake others uncomfortable’. Four items were adopted from Yang’s(2005) study on Chinese psychological traditional values andmodernity to measure guanxi. It measures an individual’s orienta-tion towards using guanxi to solve daily problems suchas looking for a job or promotion.Asample item is, ‘It is not difficultto find a job if one has enough guanxi or good family background’.

Maoism and Deng’s theory were measured by the scales fromYang (2006). Each includes four items. Sample items of Maoismand Deng’s theory are ‘All our leaders, no matter how high theirrank, are the servants of public’ and ‘Market mechanisms canboost the growth of the economy most efficiently’.

Materialism was measured using nine items from the materialvalue scale developed by Richins and Dawson (1992). The itemsrelate to the three facets of materialism – possession-definedsuccess, acquisition centrality and acquisition of happiness, withthree items each. Sample items include ‘I admire people who ownexpensive homes, cars and clothes’, ‘I usually buy only the thingsI need’ and ‘My life would be better if I owned certain things Idon’t have’. Luxury consumption intention was measured by twoitems adapted from O’Cass (2004) and an extra item ‘In the nextyear, I intend to buy luxury products’.

The study employed a Chinese version of the questionnaire. Thetranslation and back-translation method was used for those origi-nally English items to ensure that the statements could be wellunderstood by Chinese consumers (Brislin, 1970). Specifically,two bilingual individuals translated the items independently. Aftertranslation, a third bilingual, native Chinese speaker reconciledany differences in the two translations and back-translated theinstruments into English. Lastly, the authors compared the back-translated version with the original scale and found no meaningfuldifference existing. All measures were 7-point Likert-type scaleswith poles strongly disagree to strongly agree.

Results

Measurement model

Before testing the hypothesized relationships between the vari-ables in a structural equation model, the measurement modelneeds to be estimated first (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988). Con-firmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to develop meas-urement models for use in further analysis. First, a CFA wasperformed on each construct. Four items were removed because oflow factor loadings less than 0.7 (Hair et al., 1998): one fromguanxi, one from Maoism and two from materialism. The finalmeasurement model consists of nine constructs measured by 28observed items. The results indicated an overall good fit: Chi-square = 561.2, df = 314, Chi-square/df = 1.79, CFI = 0.94,GFI = 0.91, TLI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.04.

The findings of the overall CFA (Table 1) show that all factorloadings were greater than the critical value of 0.5 (ranging from0.50 to 0.86) for adequate individual item reliability (Bagozzi andYi, 1988). They were statistically significant (P < 0.05), providing

evidence of convergent validity (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988;Bollen, 1989).

The composite reliabilities of all scales were greater than therecommended cut-off of 0.6, which indicated sound psychometricproperties (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988; Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994).Furthermore, the average variance extracted for six out of ninemeasures were above 0.5. Others were greater than 0.46. Nocorrelation between any two variables exceeds the square root oftheir average variance extracted, demonstrating adequate discrimi-nant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).

Structural model

The hypotheses were tested through structural equation modelling.The model has good explanatory power – accounting for 46%,34% and 39% of the variance in the three dimensions of materi-alism – possession-defined success, acquisition centrality andacquisition of happiness respectively. Table 2 shows that culturalorientations and political ideologies affect at least one dimensionof materialism in the hypothesized direction. This further verifiesthat it is necessary to treat the subdimensions of materialismseparately. Specifically, face positively relates to the dimensions ofsuccess (β = 0.45) and happiness (β = 0.39); whereas harmonydiscourages the other dimension – centrality (β = −0.21). Guanxipositively influences the dimensions of success (β = 0.15) andcentrality (β = 0.17). The results suggest that the traditional cul-tural orientations, especially face, supports materialism. The nega-tive impact of harmony on materialism is relatively weak and onlyfor the dimension of acquisition centrality.

Maoism impairs the dimensions of success (β = −0.18) andcentrality (β = −0.35). Deng’s theory strengthens the dimensionsof success (β = 0.35) and happiness (β = 0.32). The only unex-pected result is that Deng’s theory negatively relates to the dimen-sion of centrality (β = −0.21). This might be because people whobelieve in Deng’s theory tend to live with a pragmatic lifestyle.This leads them to ‘keep life relatively simple’ and ‘buy only thethings they need’.

Lastly, all of the three dimensions in materialism contribute toluxury consumption intention, although the influence of the hap-piness dimension is marginally significant. This indicates that thedimensions of success and centrality are the primary motivationsthat drive luxury purchase intentions in China.

Discussion and conclusionsThe results support most of the proposed hypotheses. The positiverelationship between Deng’s theory and materialism supports theproposition that the nations that have experienced economic scar-cities will place strong priorities on economic growth and materialpossessions (Inglehart, 1990; Ger and Belk, 1996). The positiverelationships of face and guanxi with materialism suggest thatpeople could gain social meaning, prestige and status throughmaterial possessions. The negative influence of harmony indicatesthat the self-expression character of materialism is still not com-pletely accepted in China.

The result exhibits that although materialism originates fromindividualistic societies, it has some collectivistic character. Wongand Ahuvia (1998) maintain that the materialism in Asian societiesmay not reflect internal personal tastes, traits or goals like that in

G. Sun et al. Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

581

Page 5: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

Western countries. Instead, it may reflect the orientation of socialconformity in a hierarchical culture. Specifically, in China andother Eastern countries where interpersonal influence is strong,people tend to endorse an interdependent sense of self that focuseson communal goals, norms and obligations (Markus andKitayama, 1991). The relatively uniform ideology in Chinastrengthened by its historically centralized institutional structurehas meant the importance of social norms and practices beingacculturated across the whole of society (Yang and Stening, 2013).

When trying to understand the rise of materialism in China andtaking into account its cultural context, it could be said that mate-rialism has become a political and social norm that people want orfeel they need to conform to. Yang (1998) notes that the mainmotivation for young people’s new-wave behaviours in Taiwan,such as dressing in the latest fashions, drinking imported wine and

visiting underground clubs, is not to express individualisticautonomy, but to conform to contemporary mainstream norms.

No study is without limitations. The nature of the sample maylimit somewhat the generalizability of results, but we feel thatthere is an avenue for future research to consider other age cohortsand areas of China. More inland and rural parts of China, whichare less developed, may have more traditional Chinese culturalvalues than the coastal areas of China, which have been exposed towestern influence over a longer period of time (Zhao and Belk,2008a). Older Chinese consumers who experienced the culturalrevolution may have less materialistic values and a political ide-ology closer to Maoism (Hung et al., 2007).

It is also important that future research considers the globalcontext of materialism and how it is changing between nations.Studies suggest that social and economic dynamism is leading to

Table 1 List of measurement items

Scale and items and loadings of latent constructsFactorloadings

Compositereliability

Averagevarianceextracted

Face1. I hope people think that I can do better than most others. 0.732. I hope that I can talk about things that most others do not know. 0.693. It is important for me to get praise and admiration. 0.67 0.77 0.464. I hope that I have a better life than most others in others’ view. 0.61Harmony1. When dealing with others I consider their feelings. 0.812. At work I am always controlled and measured, avoiding excessiveness. 0.783. I take great care that my words and actions do not make others uncomfortable. 0.86 0.86 0.604. When dealing with others I restrain myself and keep a low profile. 0.64Guanxi1. It is not difficult to find a job if one has enough guanxi or good family background. 0.822. Things will be easier if someone with power speaks for you. 0.86 0.79 0.573. When joining a new organization, one should pay special attention to the powerful people. 0.55Maoism1. Everyone should have equal amount of fortune. 0.502. To be poor is not shameful. 0.72 0.71 0.463. The spirit of absolute selflessness makes a person pure, noble-minded and valuable to the people. 0.78Deng’s theory1. To be rich by one’s efforts is glorious. 0.602. We should utilize any advanced know-how and technology developed in Western countries. 0.75 0.76 0.463. Market mechanisms can boost the growth of economy most efficiently. 0.804. Economic development should be the centre of all the tasks. 0.51Materialism – Possession-defined success1. I admire people who own expensive homes, cars, and clothes. 0.692. Some of the most important achievements in life include acquiring material possessions. 0.74 0.78 0.543. The things I own say a lot about how well I’m doing in life. 0.77Materialism – Acquisition centrality1. I usually buy only the things I need. 0.83 0.65 0.502. I try to keep my life simple, as far as possessions are concerned. 0.56Materialism – Acquisition of happiness1. My life would be better if I owned certain things I don’t have. 0.72 0.71 0.552. I’d be happier if I could afford to buy more things. 0.76Luxury consumption intention1. Luxury products are important to me. 0.712. I am interested in luxury products. 0.85 0.81 0.593. In the next year, I intend to buy luxury products. 0.73

χ2[314] = 561.2, χ2/df = 1.79, Comparative Fit Index = 0.94, Goodness of Fit Index = 0.91, Tucker-Lewis coefficient = 0.93, Root Mean Square Errorof Approximation = 0.04.

Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries G. Sun et al.

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

582

Page 6: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

the existence of an increasingly global ‘world standard’ for mate-rial goods that has a strong bearing on cross-cultural materialism.Podoshen et al. (2011), e.g., found that a greater importance ofconspicuous consumption and higher levels of materialism inyounger Chinese adults, 18–35 year old, than US consumers.Whereas 5 years earlier, research by Schaefer et al. (2004) foundthat Chinese teenagers, who are now these young adults, had muchlower levels of materialism than Japanese and US consumers.

We argue that future research should also consider political aswell as cultural factors in developing countries experiencing dra-matic social change. Another avenue for future research may wellbe to explore the link between traditional cultural values andpolitical ideology and how this relationship influences individualattitudes and actions towards capitalism and the value of compe-tition (Yang and Stening, 2013).

Dramatic political change in China has substantially changedthe social norms and individuals’ behaviours in China (Davis,2013). Even with globalization the influence of tradition remainsstrong (Wang and Lin, 2009; Fang, 2010). Thus, conflicting andparadoxical forces co-exist in contemporary Chinese society(Faure and Fang, 2008).

ReferencesAckerman, D., Hu, J. & Wei, L.-Y. (2009) Confucius, cars, and big gov-

ernment: impact of government involvement in business on consumerperceptions under Confucianism. Journal of Business Ethics, 88 (S3),473–482.

Adler, N.J., Cambell, N. & Laurent, A. (1989) In search of appropriatemethodology: from outside the People’s Republic of China lookingin. Journal of International Business Studies, 20, 61–74.

Anderson, J. & Gerbing, D. (1988) Structural equation modeling inpractice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychologi-cal Bulletin, 103, 411–423.

Bagozzi, R.P. & Yi, T. (1988) On the evaluation of structuralequation models. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,16, 74–94.

BCG. (2009) Chinese luxury market: Boston Consulting Group.Belk, R.W. (1985) Materialism: trait aspects of living in a material

world. The Journal of Consumer Research, 12, 265–281.Belk, R.W. (1988) Possessions and the extended self. The Journal of

Consumer Research, 15, 139–168.Belk, R.W. (2002) The Chinese consumer revolution. Advances in Con-

sumer Research, 29, 339–341.Belk, R.W. & Zhao, X. (2003) China’s first encounter with global

brands: Pre-Communist Shanghai. In The Romance of MarketingHistory (ed. by E.H. Shaw), pp. 220–228. Association for HistoricalResearch in Marketing, Boca Raton, FL.

Bollen, K.A. (1989) Structural Equations with Latent Variables. JohnWiley & Sons, Inc, New York, NY.

Bond, M.H. & Hwang, K.K. (1986) The social psychology of Chinesepeople. In The Psychology of the Chinese People (ed. by M.H. Bond),pp. 213–266. Oxford University Press, Hong Kong.

Brannen, M.Y. (1992) Cross-cultural materialism: commodifying culturein Japan. In Meaning, Measure, and Morality of Materialism (ed. byF. Rudmin & M.L. Richins), pp. 167–180. Association for ConsumerResearch, Provo, UT.

Brewer, J. & Porter, R. (1993) Consumption and the World of Goods.Routledge, New York, NY.

Brislin, R.W. (1970) Back-translation for cross-cultural research.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 1, 185–216.

Campbell, C. (1987) The Consumer Ethic and the Spirit of ModernHedonism. Basil Blackwell, Oxford.

Chan, K. & Prendergast, G. (2007) Materialism and social comparisonamong adolescents. Social Behavior and Personality, 35, 213–228.

Chen, X.-P. & Chen, C.C. (2004) On the intricacies of the Chineseguanxi. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21, 305–324.

Cheung, F.M., Leung, K., Fan, R.M., Song, W.-Z., Zhang, J.-X. &Zhang, J.-P. (1996) Development of the Chinese personality assess-ment inventory. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 27, 181–199.

Chinese Culture Connection (1987) Chinese values and the search forculture-free dimensions of culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychol-ogy, 18, 143–164.

Cohen, L. (2004) A consumers’ republic: the politics of mass consump-tion in postwar America. The Journal of Consumer Research, 31,236–239.

Craig, C.S. & Douglas, S.P. (2006) Beyond national culture: implica-tions of cultural dynamics for consumer research. International Mar-keting Review, 23, 322–342.

Davis, L.Y. (2013) Let us go shopping: exploring Northwest Chineseconsumers’ shopping experiences. International Journal of ConsumerStudies, 37, 353–359.

Deng, X. (1994) Selected works of Deng Xiaoping. China Foreign Lan-guage Press, Beijing.

Earley, P.C. (1997) Face, Harmony, and Social Structure: An Analysis ofOrganizational Behaviour Across Cultures. Oxford University Press,New York, NY.

Fan, Y. (2000) A classification of Chinese culture. Cross Cultural Man-agement – An International Journal, 7, 3–10.

Fang, T. (2010) Asian management research needs more self-confidence:reflection on Hofstede (2007) and beyond. Asia Pacific Journal ofManagement, 27, 155–170.

Table 2 Structural model results

Hypothesis RelationshipStandardizedcoefficient

H1 Face → Materialism-success 0.45**H1 Face → Materialism-centrality −0.05H1 Face → Materialism-happiness 0.39**H2 Harmony → Materialism-success −0.10H2 Harmony → Materialism-centrality −0.21*H2 Harmony → Materialism-happiness −0.11H3 Guanxi → Materialism-success 0.15*H3 Guanxi → Materialism-centrality 0.17*H3 Guanxi → Materialism-happiness 0.04H4 Maoism → Materialism-success −0.18*H4 Maoism → Materialism-centrality −0.35**H4 Maoism → Materialism-happiness 0.10H5 Deng’s theory → Materialism-success 0.35**H5 Deng’s theory → Materialism-centrality −0.21*H5 Deng’s theory → Materialism-happiness 0.32**H6 Materialism-success → Luxury

consumption intention0.29**

H6 Materialism-centrality → Luxuryconsumption intention

0.30**

H6 Materialism-happiness → Luxuryconsumption intention

0.13***

**P < 0.001, *P < 0.05, ***P < 0.10.χ2[322] = 646.6, χ2/df = 2.01, Comparative Fit Index = 0.93, Goodnessof Fit Index = 0.90, Tucker-Lewis coefficient = 0.91, Root Mean SquareError of Approximation = 0.05.

G. Sun et al. Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

583

Page 7: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

Farrell, D., Gersch, U. & Stephenson, E. (2006) The value of China’semerging middle class. The McKinsey Quarterly, 2, 60–69.

Faure, G.O. & Fang, T. (2008) Changing Chinese values: keeping upwith paradoxes. International Business Review, 17, 194–207.

Fitzmaurice, J. & Comegys, C. (2006) Materialism and socialconsumption. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, 14,287–299.

Fornell, C. & Larcker, D.F. (1981) Evaluating structural equationmodels with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journalof Marketing Research, 18, 39–50.

Gao, G., Ting-Toomey, S. & Gudykunst, W.B. (1996) Chinesecommunication processes. In The Handbook of Chinese Psychology(ed. by M.H. Bond), pp. 280–293. Oxford University Press,Hong Kong.

Ger, G. & Belk, R.W. (1996) Cross-cultural differences in materialism.Journal of Economic Psychology, 17, 55–77.

Ger, G. & Belk, R.W. (1999) Accounting for materialism in four cul-tures. Journal of Material Culture, 4, 183–204.

Gil, L.A., Kwon, K.-N., Good, L.K. & Johnson, L.W. (2012) Impact ofself on attitudes toward luxury brands among teens. Journal of Busi-ness Research, 65, 1425–1433.

Goffman, E. (1967) Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face to FaceBehavior. Anchor, Garden City, NY.

Goldsmith, R.E. & Clark, R.A. (2012) Materialism, status consumption,and consumer independence. The Journal of Social Psychology, 152,43–60.

Griffin, M., Babin, B.J. & Christensen, F. (2004) A cross-cultural inves-tigation of the materialism construct: assessing the Richins andDawson’s materialism scale in Denmark, France and Russia. Journalof Business Research, 57, 893–900.

Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. & Black, W.C. (1998) Multi-variate Data Analysis with Readings, 5th edn. Prentice Hall,Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

Hofstede, G. (1980) Culture’s Consequences: International Differencesin Work-Related Values. Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.

Hung, K.H., Gu, F.F. & Yim, C.K. (2007) A social institutionalapproach to identifying generation cohorts in China with a compari-son with American consumers. Journal of International BusinessStudies, 38, 836–853.

Hwang, K.-K. (1987) Face and favor: the Chinese power game. TheAmerican Journal of Sociology, 92, 944–974.

Inglehart, R. (1977) The Silent Revolution: Changing Values and Politi-cal Styles among Western Publics. Princeton University Press, Prince-ton, NJ.

Inglehart, R. (1981) Post-materialism in an environment of insecurity.The American Political Science Review, 75, 880–900.

Inglehart, R. (1990) Cultural Shift in Advanced Industrial Society.Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.

Joy, A. (2001) Gift giving in Hong Kong and the continuum of socialties. The Journal of Consumer Research, 28, 239–256.

Kim, H. & Markus, H.R. (1999) Deviance or uniqueness, harmony orconformity? A cultural analysis. Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 77, 785–800.

Larsen, V., Sirgy, M.J. & Wright, N.D. (1999) Materialism: the con-struct, measure, antecedents, and consequences. Academy of Market-ing Studies Journal, 3, 78–110.

Legge, J. (1960) The Chinese Classics. Hong Kong University Press,Hong Kong.

Leung, K., Koch, P.T. & Lu, L. (2002) A dualistic model of harmonyand its implications for conflict management in Asia. Asia PacificJournal of Management, 19, 201–220.

Leung, T.K.P. & Chan, R.Y. (2003) Face, favour and positioning – aChinese power game. European Journal of Marketing, 37, 1575–1598.

Li, J.J. & Su, C. (2007) How face influences consumption: a compara-tive study of American and Chinese consumers. International Journalof Market Research, 49, 237–256.

Liang, B. & He, Y. (2012) The effect of culture on consumer choice: theneed for conformity vs. the need for uniqueness. InternationalJournal of Consumer Studies, 36, 352–359.

Liao, J. & Wang, L. (2009) Face as a mediator of the relationshipbetween material value and brand consciousness. Psychology & Mar-keting, 26, 987–1001.

Lin, L., Xi, D. & Lueptow, R.M. (2013) Public face and private thrift inChinese consumer behaviour. International Journal of ConsumerStudies, 37, 538–545.

McCracken, G. (1988) Culture and Consumption: New Approaches tothe Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities. IndianaUniversity Press, Bloomington, IN.

Mao, T.-T. (1967) Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung. Foreign LanguagePress, Beijing.

Markus, H.R. & Kitayama, S. (1991) Culture and the self: implicationsfor cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98,224–253.

Mason, R. (1981) Conspicuous Consumption: A Study of ExceptionalConsumer Behavior. St Martin’s Press, New York, NY.

Nunnally, J.C. & Bernstein, I.H. (1994) Psychometric Theory. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.

O’Cass, A. (2004) Fashion clothing consumption: antecedents and con-sequences of fashion clothing involvement. European Journal of Mar-keting, 38, 869–882.

Pecotich, A. & Yang, S. (2001) Traditional Chinese culture and socialistideology in personal selling: an exploratory evaluation. Paper pre-sented at the ANZMAC2001, Auckland, New Zealand.

Podoshen, J.S. & Andrzejewski, S.A. (2012) An examination of the rela-tionships between materialism, conspicuous consumption, impulsebuying, and brand loyalty. Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice,20, 319–333.

Podoshen, J.S., Li, L. & Zhang, J. (2011) Materialism and conspicuousconsumption in China: a cross-cultural examination. InternationalJournal of Consumer Studies, 35, 17–25.

Qian, W., Razzaque, M.A. & Keng, K.A. (2007) Chinese cultural valuesand gift-giving behavior. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 24, 214–228.

Ralston, D.A., Pounder, J., Lo, C.W.H., Wong, Y.Y., Egri, C.P. &Stauffer, J. (2006) Stability and change in managerial work values: alongitudinal study of China, Hong Kong, and the U.S. Managementand Organization Review, 2, 67–94.

Richins, M.L. (1994) Valuing things: the public and private meaningsof possessions. The Journal of Consumer Research, 21, 534–547.

Richins, M.L. & Dawson, S. (1992) A consumer values orientation formaterialism and its measurement: scale development and validation.The Journal of Consumer Research, 19, 303–316.

Schaefer, A.D., Hermans, C.M. & Parker, R.S. (2004) A cross-culturalexploration of materialism in adolescents. International Journal ofConsumer Studies, 28, 399–411.

Su, C. & Littlefield, J.E. (2001) Entering guanxi: a business ethicaldilemma in Mainland China. Journal of Business Ethics, 33,199–210.

Tatzel, M. (2002) ‘Money worlds’ and well-being: an integration ofmoney dispositions, materialism and price-related behavior. Journalof Economic Psychology, 23, 103–126.

Ting-Toomey, S. & Kurogi, A. (1998) Facework competence in intercul-tural conflict: an updated face-negotiation theory. InternationalJournal of Intercultural Relations, 22, 187–225.

Veblen, T. (1899) The Theory of the Leisure Class. Vanguard Press, NewYork, NY.

Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries G. Sun et al.

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

584

Page 8: Traditional culture, political ideologies, materialism and luxury consumption in China

Wan, W.W.N., Luk, C.-L., Yau, O.H.M., Tse, A.C.B., Sin, L.Y.M.,Kwong, K.K. & Chow, R.P.M. (2009) Do traditional Chinese culturalvalues nourish a market for pirated CDs? Journal of Business Ethics,88 (S1), 185–196.

Wang, C.L. & Lin, X. (2009) Migration of Chinese consumption values:traditions, modernization and cultural renaissance. Journal of Busi-ness Ethics, 88 (s3), 399–409.

Webster, C. & Beatty, R.C. (1997) Nationality, materialism, and posses-sion importance. Advances in Consumer Research, 24, 204–210.

Wong, N.Y. (1997) Suppose you own the world and no one knows?Conspicuous consumption, materialism and self. Advances in Con-sumer Research, 24, 197–203.

Wong, N.Y. & Ahuvia, A.C. (1998) Personal taste and family face:luxury consumption in Confucian and Western societies. Psychology& Marketing, 15, 423–432.

Wu, L., Cai, Y. & Liu, D. (2011) Online shopping among Chinese con-sumers: an exploratory investigation of demographics and value orien-tation. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 35, 458–469.

Yang, K.S. (1998) Chinese responses to modernization: a psychologicalanalysis. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 1, 75–97.

Yang, K.S. (2005) Chinese individual traditionality and modernity:Conceptualization extension and instrument building. Taipei: NationalScience Council.

Yang, S. (2006) Antecedents of materialism and its impact on subjectivewell-being: The case of cultural influence on Chinese consumers.Paper presented at the Australian New Zealand Marketing EducatorsConference, Brisbane.

Yang, S. & Stening, B.W. (2013) Mao meets the market: reconcilingideology and pragmatism in China. Management InternationalReview, 53, 419–448.

Yaprak, A. (2008) Culture study in international marketing: a criticalreview and suggestions for future research. International MarketingReview, 25, 215–229.

Yau, O.H.M. (1988) Chinese cultural values: their dimensions and mar-keting implications. European Journal of Marketing, 22, 44–57.

Yau, O.H.M. (1994) Consumer Behaviour in China: Customer Satisfac-tion and Cultural Values. Routledge, London.

Yau, O.H.M., Chan, T.S. & Lau, K.F. (1999) The influence of Chinesecultural values on consumer behavior: a proposed model of gift-purchasing behavior in Hong Kong. Journal of International Con-sumer Marketing, 11, 97–116.

Zhan, L. & He, Y. (2012) Understanding luxury consumption in China:consumer perceptions of best-known brands. Journal of BusinessResearch, 65, 1452–1460.

Zhang, X.-A. & Cao, Q. (2010) For whom can money buy subjectivewell-being? The role of face consciousness. Journal of Social andClinical Psychology, 29, 322–346.

Zhang, X.-A., Cao, Q. & Grigoriou, N. (2011) Consciousness of socialface: the development and validation of a scale measuring desire togain face versus fear of losing face. The Journal of Social Psychol-ogy, 151, 129–149.

Zhao, B. (1997) Consumerism, confucianism, communism: makingsense of China today. New Left Review, 1, 43–59.

Zhao, X. & Belk, R.W. (2008a) Advertising consumer culture in 1930sShanghai: globalization and localization in Yuefenpai. Journal ofAdvertising, 37, 45–56.

Zhao, X. & Belk, R.W. (2008b) Politicizing consumer culture: advertis-ing’s appropriation of political ideology in China’s social transition.The Journal of Consumer Research, 35, 231–244.

G. Sun et al. Traditional culture, ideology in China, luxuries

International Journal of Consumer Studies 38 (2014) 578–585© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

585