Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-08-21
Abstract： Voluntary simplicity is a lifestyle in which individuals attain inner abundance and fulfillment in the process of simplifying their external lives, as to give up the possession and satisfaction of physical materials. Instead of living under stress, growing numbers of young people value life quality more and turn to a voluntary simplicity that allows a better qualitative life. Particularly during the covid-19 epidemic, consumers' lifestyles and consumption patterns have shifted, with increased acceptance of online purchases and reduced material needs in response to the risk of outings. Voluntary simplicity has emerged as an important lifestyle, and to explore the definition, influences and consequences of this lifestyle, this review is arranged as follows： First, the definition of voluntary simplicity was clarified in two aspects of personal behavioral patterns and values, then this lifestyle was distinguished with similar concepts. (1) The main difference between voluntary simplicity and green consumption lies in the quantity of consumption, where avoiding excessive consumption is one of the goals of voluntary simplifiers, rather than green consumers; (2) The difference between voluntary simplicity and minimalism centralized on the nature of consumption, compared with minimalists, voluntary simplifiers attach greater importance to the conservation of environment and stronger ecological consciousness. Second, the influencing factors of voluntary simplicity were profiled from both macro-environmental and micro-individual perspectives. At the macro-environmental perspective, culture exerts a significant influence on consumers' purchasing behavior, with studies showing that consumers in collectivist cultures exhibit more pro-environmental behavior. In addition, the outbreak of Covid-19 epidemic has somewhat reduced individuals’ consumption desire, which provides a specific time context for the emergence of voluntary simplicity. At the micro-individual perspective, individuals may choose voluntary simplicity to satisfy different psychological needs, which can be theoretically supported in reference to need theory and self-determination theory; also, consumers may be motivated by different personal values to shift their lifestyles, such as altruism and green consumption values. However, the current study overlooked personality which is a more reliable predictor; future studies should consider exploring the motivations of voluntary simplicity from the perspective of personality traits and conducting research in different cultural contexts to verify whether the mechanism is cross-culturally consistent. Finally, the effects of voluntary simplicity on the environment and individuals were also compiled. Voluntary simplifiers highly value the ecological consequences of their purchases, and emphasize on self-sufficiency and moderate consumption, which have a positive impact on environmental sustainability. The higher the degree of voluntary simplicity consumers have, the less ecological consequences of their consumption behavior and the more friendly to environmental sustainability. The higher the degree of voluntary simplicity consumers have, the less ecological consequences of their consumption behavior and the more friendly to environmental sustainability. Researches have shown that controlling consumption desires and satisfying psychological needs are important factors in explaining the relationship between voluntary simplicity and life satisfaction, yet the mechanisms underlying this positive effect of voluntary simplicity remain inconclusive. Future research should be conducted to investigate empirically the multiple effects of voluntary simplicity and further explore potential mechanisms between voluntary simplicity and its positive or negative effects.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Applied Psychology submitted time 2021-09-26
Abstract： It is usual for individual to feel socially excluded. As an unpleasant experience, social exclusion results in adverse effect on individual’s cognitive, physical and psychological functions. Social exclusion refers to a feeling of being ignored, rejected or isolated by other individuals or social groups. Previous studies have shown that individuals generally resort to consumption to alleviate the negative effects of social exclusion, for example, they have a preference for unique products and anthropomorphic products after being socially excluded. van Boven & Gilovich (2003) classified purchases into two types: experiential purchase and material purchase. Experiential purchase refers to those made with the main purpose of obtaining life experience such as watching a movie and going to a concert while material purchase refers to those made with the main purpose of obtaining a tangible good such as buying accessories and clothes. However, so far there are few studies attempting to examine the effect of social exclusion on experiential purchase and material purchase. The current research aims to explore the effect of social exclusion on experiential purchase and material purchase. Meanwhile, this research also interested in investigating the factors that might moderates the effects of social exclusion on experiential purchase and material purchase and factors that might mediate the moderating effects. Study 1a and 1b respectively used a single-factor (social exclusion vs. social inclusion) between-subject design to explore the effect of social exclusion on consumer purchase. Participants were asked to take times to imagine that they were the protagonist of the story and reported which consumption activity (experiential purchase or material purchase) to get involved after reading the story. In study 2, a two-factor (social exclusion vs. social inclusion; nostalgia vs. control) between-subject design were employed to investigate the moderating role of nostalgia and mediating role of social connectedness. Participants were randomly assigned to the socially included group or the socially excluded group. Social exclusion and inclusion were manipulated in the same way as study 1. Right after the exclusion or inclusion manipulation there was another task requiring participants to recall a nostalgic event or an ordinary event in order to manipulate nostalgia. Participants were also randomly assigned to nostalgic group and control group. Then they were required to report their feelings of social connectedness and decide which purchase (experiential purchase or material purchase) to have. Our findings are as follows：(1) Compared with those who are socially included, socially excluded individuals are more likely to have experiential purchase over material purchase. (2) Nostalgia moderates the effect of social exclusion on purchase. Specifically, after being socially excluded, there is a significant difference on the purchase decision between nostalgic individuals and control ones. Participants in the control group prefer to choose experiential purchase more than nostalgic individuals. However, for those who are socially included, there is no significant difference on purchase decision between nostalgic group and control one. (3) Social connectedness mediates this moderation effect. Taken together, these findings indicate that socially excluded consumers have a tendency towards experiential purchase, which enriches the researches of the antecedent of experiential purchase and the consequence of social exclusion. Furthermore, it reveals an important underlying mechanism to cope with the negative influence of social exclusion.
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