Grand versus Mundane Nature:
The Elicited Feeling of Awe and its Effect on the
Decrease of Materialism Aspiration
MSc Marketing Management Thesis
Raysha SutopoS2528282
1st Supervisor: Yannick Joye
Table of Content
Introduction
Theoretical Framework
Conceptual Model
Methodology
Results
General Discussion
Introduction
•
Materialism: “the importance consumer attaches to worldly
possession
(Belk, 1984, p. 291).Related to with envy,
non-generosity and egoism undermine a person’s quality of life
Introduction
• Positive emotions Awe
• Move away from material possessions and towards and seek
something beyond the self (Koltko-Rivera, 2006)
• Nature as an elicitor awe creates positive response towards
customers (Hartmann and Apaloaza-Ibanez, 2010) & increase brand recall and
“Will the elicited feeling of
awe decrease materialism
Theoretical Framework- Materialism
• Materialism : “the extent to which consumers attempt to engage in
the construction and maintenance of the self through acquisition and use of products, services, experiences, or relationships that are perceived to provide desirable symbolic value” (Shrum et al., 2013, p. 1180).
• An individual centralized their lives around acquiring money &
possessions, mostly for status & power (Christandl, 2016; Richins, 1994).
• Self-enhancement: authority, wealth, social power, preserving
public image and social recognition (Scwartz, 1992)
• Negative long-term consequences: reduced life satisfaction (Richins & Dawson, 1992), reduced levels of happiness (Belk, 1985) and higher levels of
Theoretical Framework– The Elicited Feeling of Awe
• Perceived vastness & accommodation (Keltner & Haidt, 2003)
• Self-transcendence : individuals that have gone through the peak experience will go beyond the importance of one’s self (Maslow, 1961)
• Elicitors of awe: novel art and music, remarkable life-changing religious or supernatural events, and nature experiences (Keltner and Haidt, 2003; Shiota, Keltner and Mossmann, 2007)
• H1: Grand nature will evoke more awe in comparison to mundane nature.
Theoretical Framework– The Small-Self
• Feel diminished in the presence of something superior than the
self (Keltner and Haidt, 2003)
• Individuals feels more connected with others through seeing videos
of nature (Van Cappellen and Saroglou, 2012)
• Recollected a past personal experience of awe feel less significant &
less concern on personal day-to-day concerns (Shiota et al., 2007)
Theoretical Framework– Goal
Aspiration
• Associating goal contents with well-being (Ryan et al., 1996)
• A greater achievement in the fulfilment of goals individuals are more
satisfied and lead to a higher well-being (Ryan et al., 1996)
• Two goal aspirations (Kasser & Ryan, 1996):
- Intrinsic Aspiration: affiliation, personal growth, community
contribution and basic need satisfaction
- Extrinsic Aspiration: attaining wealth, fame, and image
• H4: The elicited feeling of awe which will decrease an individual’s
Methodology- Participants & Design
Statement
Participants 130 (originally 162)
Gender 48 males and 82 females (age: M = 27.65, SD = 9.86)
Nationality 60% Indonesian, 25% Dutch & 15% other nationalities
Method of Survey Qualtrics snowball referencing via social media
Dependent Variable Materialism Aspiration
Independent Variable Environmental Conditions (Grand or Mundane Nature)
Mediator The Small-Self
Methodology – Materials
Manipulation of awe
•
10 images per condition (total 20 images)
•
65 participants per condition
•
Exposure time: 10 seconds per image
•
Size: 800 x 530 pixels
Measurement Scale Cronbach’s Alpha Statement Source Emotion 7 point-Likert Scale (1=strongly disagree to 7=strongly agree) 0.82 awe, amusement, disgust anger, fear, sadness, happiness
Huta and Ryan (2010); Shiota et al.(2007)
The Small-Self 7 point-Likert Scale
0.80 I feel, “the presence of something greater
than myself”
Huta and Ryan, (2010); Shiota et al. (2007)
Goal Aspiration 7 point-Likert
Scale 0.80
“You will be the one in charge of
you”
Aspiration Index Kasser and Ryan,(1993)
Pre-Materialism 7 point-Likert Scale
0.75 “I admire people who own expensive
homes or cars”
Materialistic Value Scale (MVS)
Richins and Dawson (1992)
Materialism (Success, Centrality, Happiness) 7 point-Likert Scale (10 items reversed) 0.70 – 0.73 1 item removed
“I have all the things I need to really enjoy life”
Materialistic Value Scale (MVS)
Results - Effects of Environmental Conditions
towards Emotions
• One- Way ANOVA
• Awe is statistically significant, F (1,128) = 16.32, p <0. 001
• Participants in grand nature condition (M = 5.25, SD = 1.25) felt more in awe compared to mundane nature condition (M = 4.11, SD = 1.69)
• Hypothesis 1 supported 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Awe Amusement Disgust Anger Fear Sadness Happiness
Results - Effects of Environmental Conditions
towards Materialism
•
One-Way ANOVA
•
The difference between materialism and pre-materialism
measurement was taken as a dependent variable (materialism
aspiration)
•
Hypothesis 2 is supported
Grand Nature Mundane
Results – Mediation Analysis (The Small-Self)
• PROCESS (Model 4) developed by Andrew Hayes
• Significant effect of the environmental conditions on the mediator (the
small- self) , B = -0.74, t(130) = - 3.67, p < 0.05
• Significant effect of the mediator on the materialism aspiration, B = 0.16,
t(130) = 2.87, p < 0.05
Results – Moderation Analysis (Goal Aspiration)
• PROCESS (Model 1) developed by Andrew Hayes
General Discussion
• Grand nature elicits the feeling of awe more than mundane nature
• The first indicator of materialism, success significant result
whereas the second and third indicator of materialism, centrality and happiness insignificant result
• Grand nature elicits more feeling of awe only towards the indicator
of materialism success. Participants do not measure personal possessions as a sign of success, but they do believe that acquiring possessions are central for their life which will lead to happiness (Richins and Dawson, 1992)
• Participants with elicited feeling of awe feel small decrease
materialism aspiration
• Goal aspiration is not a strong moderator: high goal aspirations
Limitations & Future Research
• Grand and mundane nature conditions comprise of different kinds of awe and non-awe evoking pictures difficult to find which one evokes more awe/evoke less awe
• Mundane nature seem to evoke awe (small difference of mean between the two conditions).
Future research: use similar pictures (all mountains or all ponds). For non-awe evoking
pictures, use more mundane pictures (avoid green parks or large ponds)
• Length of the duration of the picture (affect the mood of the participants) Future research: investigate different clicking times of each picture
• Different significant results for each sub-scale of materialism aspiration
Future research: in – depth analysis of each sub-scale of materialism. Find a different elicitor of
awe for centrality & happiness
• Goal aspiration not a strong moderator and mundane nature along with high goal aspiration creates a stronger moderation effect
Future research: investigate why mundane nature has a connection with high goal aspiration
• Narrow participant samples (majority Indonesians with around 70% of the total participants)
