I buy stability in a buying world: Social norms about materialism moderate the relation between perceived self-esteem stability and materialistic values

Abstract In three studies, the current research examined how the presence of descriptive social norms about materialism moderated the relationship between perceived self-esteem stability and materialistic values. In Study 1, a two-wave longitudinal design across five weeks showed that initial self-esteem stability negatively predicted later materialistic values when participants perceived higher social norms about materialism. In Studies 2 and 3, we measured self-esteem stability and experimentally manipulated social norms about materialism. Similar to Study 1, results indicated a negative association between self-esteem stability and materialistic values when social norms about materialism were high, but not when they were low. This research suggests that both individuals' trait self-esteem stability and the materialistic contexts in which people are embedded contribute to the adoption of materialistic values, supporting a person-environment interaction view of materialism.