Self-Esteem,Materialism,and Ethical Consumption Behavior Among Young Chinese And Norwegians

Introduction-Now more than ever,consumers try to understand what damage their consumption will have,not only on themselves,but also on the environment and society as a whole.In today's global market,consumers can choose from a wide variety of products and services from different companies.The development of the open web has made information more accessible than ever,which in turn cultivates knowledgeable consumers with great power.More so now than ever before,consumers require that companies act in a socially responsible manner.Nevertheless,we live in a materialistic world where the goal often seems to continually increase our consumption.This materialism which is being encouraged is said to have a negative societal effect,not only because we are generating a “waste” society which is damaging to the environment,but also the effect materialism is said to have one a person's well-being.Purpose–The aim of this study is to provide results which can contribute to answering the complex question of why some consumers choose to be ethically minded,whilst others do not care about ethics in relation to consumption.Specifically,the focus lies in investigating what impact young people's self-esteem has on their ethical consumption,and to further look at the differences between Norway and China.Materialism will be measured and used as a mediator to hopefully explain parts of the relationship.Methodology–In order to accomplish the purpose of the current research,a quantitative approach has been applied and a survey was developed.The survey consists of three main variables: self-esteem,materialism,and ethical consumption behavior.The sample consists of 298 Chinese respondents and 258 Norwegian respondents.Results–The overall sample of Norwegians and Chinese shows that young people were less inclined to agree that material possessions can lead to a happier and better life.On the questions regarding respondents? self-esteem the results indicate that people are more inclined to agree than disagree that they have a positive attitude towards themselves.Responses to the questions related to ethical consumption behavior indicate that the respondents were more prone to exhibit ethical consumption behavior more often than never.Further,the results indicate that Chinese people are slightly more materialistic than Norwegians,whilst the Norwegian respondents reported a higher self-esteem than the Chinese.In addition to this,the results relating to ethical consumption behavior demonstrated discrepancy between the two countries.The responses of the Norwegian people varied from rarely true and sometimes true,indicating that in the context of consumption it is rarely true to sometimes true that the respondents make an ethical consumption effort.The Chinese respondents,on the other hand,range from sometimes true to mostly true,with an incline towards mostly true.This means that Chinese respondents are inclined to make an ethical consumption decision more often than Norwegians.The proposed framework was supported in China but not in Norway.In the Chinese sample,self-esteem demonstrated a negative correlation with materialism,and a positive one with ethical consumption behavior,whilst materialism was negatively related to ethical consumption behavior.In the Norwegian sample,self-esteem was not related to materialism nor ethical consumption behavior,but materialism was negatively related to ethical consumption behavior.Contribution-This research contributes to discovering the effect self-esteem has on ethical consumption behavior,by identifying materialism as one of the underlying psychological factors.When policy makers obtain a better understanding of the reasons for people to not consume ethically,it will help them to address and change this behavior in order to create a more ethical and sustainable world.Further,a framework consisting of three recognized scales has been developed and can be used to compare other countries or groups in the future.