Keeping the American Dream Alive: The Interactive Effect of Perceived Economic Mobility and Materialism on Impulsive Spending
研究发现，物质主义消费者在感知高经济流动性时不易冲动消费，而在感知低流动性时则相反；但当购买被视为实现财务成功的手段时，效应反转。
This research illustrates how perceived economic mobility moderates the linkage between materialism and impulsive spending. Using various data sources, four studies show that materialistic consumers do not easily engage in impulsive spending when they perceive high economic mobility, whereas they tend to spend impulsively when they perceive low economic mobility. However, perceived economic mobility functions in the opposite manner when the purchase is a means to achieve financial success. The authors trace this effect to the self-regulation process of materialistic consumers, such that when perceiving high economic mobility, these consumers regulate their behavior toward long-term financial success, sacrificing the pleasure of acquisitions in the present. By elucidating the important role that perceived economic mobility plays in impulsive spending, the current research sheds new light on consumer research and offers managerial and public policy implications.