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The impact of values on consumer behaviour

Article in International Journal of Economics and Business Research · January 2013

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2013.054255

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400 Int. J. Economics and Business Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2013

The impact of values on consumer behaviour

Katalin Eibel-Spanyi*
Department of Business Administration,
Eastern Connecticut State University,
83 Windham Street, Willimantic, 06226, USA
E-mail: eibel-spanyik@easternct.edu
*Corresponding author

Agnes Hofmeister-Toth
Faculty of Business Administration,
Corvinus University of Budapest,
Fővám tér 8, 1093, Hungary
E-mail: agnes.hofmeister@uni-corvinus.hu

Abstract: Values are believed to have a substantial influence on the behaviour

of individuals (Rokeach, 1973; Rohan, 2000) and can also provide a powerful
explanation of consumer behaviour (Clawson and Vinson, 1978). Researchers
have suggested that we need a better understanding of the links between values
and behaviours, and special consideration of how values interact with various
situations (Beatty et al., 1985). In this empirical research, we discuss the results
of a survey which examined and compared values of undergraduate university
students in Hungary to those of students in Connecticut, USA. We scrutinise
the similarities and differences between the values of these two sample
populations with respect to certain key questions. The findings offer some
useful considerations for marketing managers, especially on topics such as
product positioning and communications.

Keywords: values analysis; lifestyle; consumer behaviour; primary research;

USA.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Eibel-Spanyi, K. and

Hofmeister-Toth, A. (2013) ‘The impact of values on consumer behaviour’,
Int. J. Economics and Business Research, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp.400–419.

Biographical notes: Katalin Eibel-Spanyi is a Professor of Marketing at

Eastern Connecticut State University, School of Education and Professional
Studies, Department of Business Administration, in Connecticut, USA. She
earned her doctorate degree at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences
in Hungary. Her research interest includes values and cross-cultural analysis,
knowledge transfer, innovation, services internationalisation, and small and
medium sized enterprises. She has worked in Europe, Canada and the USA and
has published in various journals in both Europe and North America.

Agnes Hofmeister-Toth is the Dean of the Faulty of Business Administration of

the Corvinus University of Budapest. She received her PhD in Marketing from
Budapest University of Economic Sciences. She spent periods as a Visiting
Professor at several universities abroad, e.g., Haas School University of
Berkeley, Hosei University Tokyo, Northwestern University, London Business
School, University of Passau. She is teaching consumer behaviour and

Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 401

negotiation for undergraduate and graduate students. She also supervises

several PhD students. Her research interests are cultural differences, transition
of consumer behaviour, changing consumer values, the silver generation,
sustainable consumption and symbolic consumption. She is the author of three
books and of a great deal of research studies published at national and
international journals as well.

1 Introduction

Several academic disciplines; including sociology, psychology and anthropology, have

made an effort to understand the role of personal values in order to better predict human
behaviour (Rokeach, 1973; Rankin and Grube, 1980). Values are fundamental social
representations of basic motivational goals that serve as guiding principles in people’s
lives (Rohan, 2000; Rokeach, 1973) and serve to shape behaviour by determining the
extent to which various courses of actions are viewed as attractive (Feather, 1975). In
marketing, value research has been of particular interest in the area of consumer
behaviour (Vinson, 1977; De Mooij, 2003 ).
Consumer behaviour includes an examination of the range of customers’ needs,
attitudes, and motivation to purchase (Borden, 1964). The foundational work on values is
generally considered to be carried out by Rokeach (Kamakura and Mazzon, 1991). A
value was defined by Rokeach (1973) as “an enduring belief that one mode of conduct or
end-state of existence is preferable to an opposing mode of conduct or end-state of
existence”. Vinson adapted Rokeach’s work to marketing and developed three categories
of the individual’s belief system in an organisation of the customer’s value-attitude
system: global values, domain specific values, and evaluations of product attributes. He
argued that global values are few in number, more centrally held and serve to guide
customers’ judgement and actions. Further, these values are abstract and generalisable
and they create the core of an individual value system (Vinson, 1977). Values that are at
the core of an individual value system and also generalisable can provide important
information for marketing professionals (Clawson and Vinson, 1978).
In this paper, we examine and compare the value system of undergraduate university
students in Hungary and in the USA. The political and economic system in the USA has
been relatively stable for many decades. On the other hand, the Hungarian political and
economical system has gone through extraordinary changes in the past two decades.
After the collapse of the iron curtain in 1989, people in Hungary (as in other former
communist regimes) faced a very different environment. In the transition to a free market
economy, what was bad, discouraged, and in some cases even prohibited in the old
political system, suddenly became good, and even praised. With the collapse of the
communist regime, the old value system became obsolete and new values needed to be
gradually formed, developed or adopted. These new values were at times in conflict with
the old value system (Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006).
We examine the values of a new generation, the values of young people who were
raised up in this transitional period in Hungary and compare these to the values of
students in the USA. As an individual’s value orientation tend to be influenced by culture
(Watchravesringkan and Yurchisin, 2007), the comparison of students’ values in the USA
and Hungary is both meaningful and interesting. As far back as the 1970s, researchers
402 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

have recognised the importance of culture on personal values. Munson and McIntyre
(1978) investigated the potential of the Rokeach value survey (RVS) to distinguish
cultural differences in personal value structures. Their results suggested that personal
values can be productively employed by marketers to discriminate peoples of culturally
diverse backgrounds.
The focus of this paper is to discern similarities and differences among Hungarian
and US samples with respect to their values as guiding principles and the reflection of
these values in personal life style. We also analyse statements about purchasing
behaviour and value orientation which give further insights on the consumption habits of
these young customers. Is the value system of young Hungarian university students
similar to their counterparts in the USA? To what extent may we find similarities in the
values of students in a former communist country to those held by students in a well
developed free market economy? Do they share similar views on personal lifestyles and
purchasing behaviour? To what extent are there similarities in a shift away from
‘materialist’ concerns about economic and physical wellbeing towards more emphasis
on freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life, or what is referred to as
‘post-materialist’ values? This comparison of US and Hungarian students’ values has the
potential to provide useful information to marketers on consumer behaviour in these
regions.
This paper presents a brief review of the literature, a summary of the research
methodology, a discussion of findings, statements on the limitations of this study, future
research and managerial implications.

2 Literature review

Value research has been an area of study focus for several decades in various disciplines
(Vinson, 1977). Although there are several definitions of value, there is not one
universally accepted precise definition. The concept of value is multifaceted and the
conceptualisations of value vary based on the context of the study (Babin et al., 1994;
Ravald and Grönroos, 1996). Rokeach (1973) argued that values are taught at an early
age and he assumed:
a that the total number of values a person possesses is relatively small
b that all people everywhere possess the same values to different degrees
c that the antecedents of human values can be traced to culture, society, and its
institutions (Rokeach, 1973; Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006).
Rokeach reported that certain combinations of values are effective in differentiating men
from women, hippies and non-hippies, good students and bad students, Jews and
Catholics, Republicans and Democrats, and so on (Rokeach 1968, 1969; Rokeach and
Ball-Rokeach, 1989).
Further, Rokeach identified two levels of values: terminal values and instrumental
values. Terminal values referred to desirable end-states of existence, while instrumental
values referred to desirable modes of conduct. Terminal values are goals that people want
to achieve and the instrumental values are motivators to reach goals, to reach the
desirable end-states of existence. Rokeach specified eighteen terminal and eighteen
instrumental values, which respondents were asked to rank in the original research
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 403

instrument known as the RVS. Accordingly, a value system can be viewed as a learned
organisation of principles and/or rules that help us to choose between alternatives, resolve
conflicts, and make decisions. The role of values as rules or norms influencing personal
judgements and choices with respect to objects, ideas, and people supports the
relationship of values to behaviour (Vinson, 1977). Schrum et al. (1990) examined the
stability of individual values in the RVS and while the RVS was originally applied in the
field of psychology, it became one of the first to be used in marketing (Kamakura and
Mazzon, 1991).
A more simple approach to values, called list of values (LOV), was developed by
Kahle and Timmer (1983). The LOV has a set of nine values and was designed such that
it could be used to classify people according to Maslow’s hierarchy (Kahle et al., 1986).
The theoretical development of LOV relied upon three sources; Maslow’s (1954)
hierarchy of needs, Rokeach’s (1973) value survey, and Feather’s (1975) work. Kahle
argued that LOV ‘is tied most closely to social adaptation theory’ and that the nine values
of LOV relate more closely to the values of life’s major roles such as marriage, parenting,
work, leisure, and daily consumption than the values in Rokeach’s value survey (Beatty
et al., 1985; Kahle et al., 1986). It has also been argued that using the LOV provides more
flexibility to researchers as it can be used to identify the two most important values of
respondents (Kahle, 1983) or to rank the values as in RVS (Rokeach, 1973; Beatty et al.,
1985), or evaluate the values through pair comparison (Reynolds and Jolly, 1980) or
assess them with rating approaches (Munson, 1984; Kahle et al., 1986).
A further method of assessing values was the values and life style (VALS)
methodology, developed at SRI International by Mitchell (Kahle and Timmer, 1983). It
was developed based on Maslow’s (1954) hierarchy of needs, the RVS (Rokeach, 1973;
De Mooij, 2003) and the concept of social character (Riesman et al., 1950; Kahle et al.,
1986). The VALS method was applied via a questionnaire of about 34 questions on
various attitude statements and demographic characteristics. VALS classified people into
one of nine life style groups and has often been used for market segmentation purposes.
Value research has been used widely to develop greater insight on various marketing
topics and has been applied to teenagers, young adults, university students and baby
boomers alike. One assessment of personal values and media exposure found that
personal values influence individuals’ media usage behaviour (Becker and Connor,
1981). Finch (2005) examined customers’ behaviour with respect to purchasing organic
food products. He found that there is a “complex interaction of consumption values that
shapes individuals” buying decisions. Tai (2008) examined the relationship between
personal values and the shopping behaviour of Chinese consumers. Value research was
used to study the lifestyle and behaviour of the ‘Net Generation’ versus that of previous
generation groups and identified differences in four segments within the ‘Net Generation’
cohort with respect to respondents’ views on the use of various types of media (Napoli
and Ewing, 2001).
Lowe and Worsley (2004) examined the relationship between values, lifestyle, and
food consumption in a sample of the adult Beijing population. The role of values has
provided a better understanding of materialism in consumer research and was used to
investigate the potential conflict between material values and other ‘collective-oriented
values’ such as family values (Burroughs and Rindfleisch, 2002). Value research was
applied to better understand university students’ values and gender based differences in a
sample of US students (Eibel-Spanyi and Hofmeister-Tóth, 2008). The theory of values
was also employed to examine the development of materialism in Hungary during a
404 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

period of transition (Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006). Researchers have also

explored the importance of values and the connection to lifestyles, product choices and
brand selections. For example, Fraj and Martinez (2006) studied, environmental values
and lifestyles as determining factors of ecological consumer behaviour and Brunsø et al.
(2004) examined the gap between values and behaviour.
Values have also played an instrumental role in assessing the shift away
from ‘materialist’ concerns about economic and physical wellbeing towards more
emphasis on freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life, or what are referred to as
‘post-materialist’ values. Inglehart (1971) is credited with the foundational work on the
theory of value change linked to assessing materialism. Inglehart’s thesis was framed in
the context of political science, and while it inspired more research in some of the other
social sciences, it was not until the past two decades that interest increased in materialism
and post-materialism by marketing researchers (McLarney and Chung, 1999). In part, this
may have been driven by the identification of a significant trend toward post-materialist
values in Western Europe (Abramson and Inglehart, 1992). Burroughs and Rindfleish
(2002) examined the relationship between materials values and other life values and
argued that materialism was antithetical to well-being. Ahuvia and Wong (2002),
interested in the increasing concern over materialism, examined the relation between
materialism and subjective well-being. Yet, in examining the marketing challenge of
stimulating the desire for new sources of consumption, Simms (2003) pointed out that
there’s a dawning sense of post-materialism even in China where in the early 21st century
the average consumer spent $454 a year, compared with an average spend per head of
$25,450 in the USA. Studies have also attempted to link materialism directly to consumer
behaviour; for example, Fitzmaurice and Comegys (2006) examined materialism and
social consumption motivation in explaining shopping behaviour. A shift towards
post-materialism does not necessarily mean an abdication of interest in consuming
material goods. Instead, it may simply mean that non-material values take on increasing
relative importance (Smith, 2009). Further, even if Inglehart’s prediction of a shift to
post-materialism is correct, this shift is likely to be gradual as younger generations
replace older ones in the population of a society (McLarney and Chung, 1999).
Conservationists have also expressed concern regarding the impact of the consumer
society and materialism, as higher levels of consumption are perceived as one of the
major contributing forces towards ecological degradation (Ahuvia and Wong, 2002).
The application of value research towards a better understanding of consumer
behaviour has also raised a number of criticisms and a growing list of topics for further
research. While values can provide insight into consumer behaviour, Schrum et al. (1990)
suggested that true values are not easy to capture and depend in part on the respondent’s
level of self-reflection. It has also been suggested that differences in the cultural
environment affect the appropriateness of research instruments and instruments
developed by and for the North American context are too often exported indiscriminately
to other cultures (Hofstede, 1984). As such instruments tend to overemphasise items
related to North American values such as individualism and medium power distance and
lack items related to other cultures’ values. Thus, the entire research paradigm may merit
redefinition (Morrow, 1983; Hofstede, 1984). Yet, the analysis of cross-cultural value
systems dates back to the 1970s (Penner and Anh, 1977). Then, it has been suggested that
there are no universal values and the extent to which economic factors such as GNP per
capita have an impact on consumption patterns requires further analysis (De Mooij,
2003). Irwin (2003) drew attention to the gap in understanding the links between values
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 405

and material circumstances and the evolving role of women in the 21st century as distinct
from previously defined roles of men as the provider or ‘breadwinner’ and women as the
homemaker.
These criticisms notwithstanding, value research continues to play a key role in a
more profound understanding of consumer behaviour.

3 Research methodology

A comparison of values between US and Hungarian undergraduate students represents an

interesting group for study as a consumer group, partly since the purchasing power of
students is expected to increase significantly in the years following graduation. Also of
note is that students in the USA have experienced a relatively stable economic
environment over the past two decades, while Hungarian students grew up during a
period of significant cultural and economic change due to the transition to a free market
economy.
Rokeach (1973) proposed that values provide a potentially powerful means to explain
human behaviour because they are limited in number and tend to be remarkably stable
over time. Values are learned at an early age and by the time children are nine years old
many have developed reasonably sophisticated consumption orientations although this
can vary by social background (Schröder and McKinnon, 2007). The original RVS
consisted of both terminal and instrumental values. There are however some limitations
of the original RVS, which include:
a subjects were asked to rank one value at the expense of another which may be
equally important to them (Alwin and Krosnik, 1985)
b the full list of 36 value items may have exceeded respondents’ ability to accurately
process information and may therefore have distorted the entire ranking procedure
c the ranking nature of the data precluded the use of a wide variety of useful statistical
analysis techniques that might otherwise have been usefully applied (Rankin and
Grube, 1980; Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006).
To address these perceived limitations of the RVS, several researchers have taken steps to
modify the RVS instrument (Munson and McIntyre, 1979; Rankin and Grube, 1980;
Miethe, 1985; Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006). A Modified Rokeach Value Survey
(MRVS) comprised of 24 values was used in this current study. This MRVS instrument
was based on a review of value lists (Windhorst, 1985; Kahle and Timmer, 1983) as well
as the results of qualitative research in Hungary in the 1990s, and included items from the
RVS and the Schürmann (1988) value list. The development of this current MRVS dates
back to a survey instrument which was applied in 1992 as part of the framework for the
ACE/EVE Project supported by the EU. The focus of the ACE/EVE project was to
evaluate female consumer behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe comparing various ex
communist countries and two western European countries. The original survey
instrument was modified and tested on three occasions in Hungary. The new value scale
included some items of the modified Rokeach scale, and items from the Schürmann
(1988) global value scale, which asked the respondents not only to rate the importance of
the single values items but also the realisation of them. During this period of survey
instrument development, a number of measurement approaches were examined, using
406 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

five-point, seven-point, and nine-point scales (Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006).

After the evaluation of these approaches, the five-point scales were applied in the current
MRVS reported below.
The MRVS was administered in Hungary and in the USA twice in the past few years.
The sample consisted of undergraduate students who were enrolled in business
administration programmes at the CORVINUS University of Budapest and at Eastern
Connecticut State University. The findings presented in this paper are based on a sample
of 429 students, 231 in the Hungarian sample and 198 in the USA, administered in the
2007/2008 and 2008/2009 academic years. With respect to the gender breakdown of
respondents, in the USA sample 44.4% were women and 55.6% were men and in the
Hungarian sample, 60.2% were men and 39.4% were women. The vast majority of
respondents were under the age of 23. In the USA sample, 94.4% were between the ages
of 18 and 23 and in the Hungarian sample 96.5% of respondents were between the ages
of 20 and 23.
The survey instrument contained the following five components:

• personal goals and values

• personal life style

• value orientation as consumers

• personal purchasing and consumer behaviour

• political objectives.

In addition to examining the value orientation of these young consumers which yields
insights on the consumption habits, we were also interested in comparing the degree of
materialism versus post-materialism of the respondents. The political objectives questions
are based on Inglehart’s basic four item measures, which has been used extensively by
researchers to assess materialism (Abramson et al., 1997). We asked respondents to rank
with #1, #2, and #3 the most important, the second and third most important political
objective implicit in the following four broad policy statements:

• maintain order in the society

• bigger influence by citizens on governmental decisions

• fight against increasing price inflation

• protect freedom of speech.

The following research questions were examined with respect to the data gathered
through the five components of the survey on personal goals and values, personal life
style, value orientation as consumers, personal purchasing behaviour and political
objectives.
1 What are the top ranked values of respondents and to what extent do some universal
values exist?
2 For the values that are ranked as more important, are these also ranked as being
realised at a higher level? If so, to what extent does this occur?
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 407

3 Are there significant differences between the ranking of values by US and Hungarian
students?
4 Are there differences in the personal life style perceptions between US and
Hungarian students?
5 Are there differences in the ranking of statements on value orientation as consumers
between US and Hungarian students?
6 What differences are there in the perceptions of students on personal purchasing
statements?

7 What differences are there in the degree of materialism and post-materialism

between US and Hungarian respondents?

4 Discussion of findings

4.1 The importance and realisation of values

Table 1 depicts the top five ranked values by both US and Hungarian respondents. In
examining the extent to which there may exist some universal values, we found three
values among the five most important values were the same in both countries: family,
happiness and health. The other two values among the five most important values were
different. In the case of Hungarian students, lust for life and wisdom were listed while US
students identified freedom and education. The five least important values were listed by
respondents in both countries were the same: originality, modesty, order, prestige, and
thrifty. contrary to the view that there are no universal values (De Mooij, 2003), these
findings appear to provide support for the case that there may well be some values that
transcend geographic boundaries and may be considered universal. Note that the top
ranked values of family, happiness and health are markedly different from what has been
referred to as ‘western-looking white models’ encompassing values such as ‘modernity’,
‘hedonism’, ‘sexuality’, ‘romance’ and ‘individuality’ (Gram, 2007). As Tai and Pae
(2002) have remarked, any study based on university students may be limited by the
tendency that students generally may be more cosmopolitan than the population at large,
and as such, may have more universal cultural norms. Nevertheless, the nature of the top
ranked values such as family, happiness and health holds the potential for the existence of
some universal values which may transcend both geographic and cultural boundaries.
Comparing the importance of values to the realisation of the values we found more
differences then similarities. The five values ranked as most realised in Hungary were
Honesty, Wisdom, Education, Sincerity and Family. The five most realised values
according to US respondents were Family, Education, Honesty, Happiness, and Freedom.
Only two of these values were the same in both countries’ top five; these are Family and
Honesty. It is interesting to note that Honesty was not among the top five values of the
importance ranking in either of the countries. One possible explanation for this
observation might be that honesty is one of those qualities where respondents may not
rank it as important and yet would not be likely to rate their realised behaviour as
dishonest. That may explain why honesty is ranked high on realisation in both
geographies, and yet did not make the list of top five values in terms of importance.
408 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

Table 1 Personal goals and values importance

VALUES_IMP_HU N M SD
Happiness 231 4,81 .435
Health 231 4,78 .532
Lust for Life 231 4,76 .504
Family 231 4,64 .671
Wisdom 231 4,61 .585
VALUES_IMP_USA N M SD
Family 198 4.74 .506
Happiness 196 4.73 .529
Freedom 198 4.63 .638
Health 198 4.61 .617
Education 198 4.57 .639

We compared the importance and realisation of personal goals and values, calculating
deltas of the means of values and found some major differences. The gap
between importance and realisation may in part be related to the stage of life of the
respondents. Young university students may rank certain values as very important,
but may not yet have the opportunity to realise these values. These differences
were generally much larger among Hungarian respondents than for US respondents.
That may reflect the economic differences between the USA and Hungary, where
due to more positive economic conditions at the time that the data was gathered, US
students had a greater opportunity of realising the importantly ranked values.
The biggest deltas in terms of importance versus realisation for Hungarian
respondents were Health (delta: 1), Happiness (0.97), and Harmony (0.89), while the
biggest deltas for US were success (delta: 0.78), wealth (0.69), and wisdom and
achievement with a delta of 0.64. The extent to which marketers can position products
and services such that these are perceived as a means of closing these gaps is potentially
meaningful.
A visual presentation is provided in Figures 1(a) and Figure 1(b): mapping the
importance and realisation. As the figures illustrate, the importance and realisation of the
values generally follow a similar same pattern; that is, the more importantly ranked
values are also realised at a higher level.
We analysed the relationship between the scores given for importance and for
realisation, and found a strong correlation. This means that those who consider a value
important also make a greater effort to realise it in their life conduct. This finding
supports the argument that values serve as guiding principles in life and may actually
influence behaviour (Hofmeister-Tóth and Simányi, 2006)
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 409

Figure 1 Mapping the differences between the importance and realisation of personal goals and
values among Hungarian and the US respondents

(a)

(b)

4.2 Values, lifestyle and consumer behaviour

Lifestyle is an indication of consumers’ preferences in product and services types, and
statements on lifestyle do reflect personal values to a certain extent. We examined
various statements relating to personal interest and lifestyle. Activities generally reflect
how individuals live their everyday life. As indicated earlier, we used a five point
Likert’s scale for studying the impact of certain statements on personal lifestyle. We
found that in both countries respondents rated the statement highest that examined how
often the respondents meet with their friends and acquaintances. This is not surprising as
410 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

the respondents are university students with high social needs. The second and third
highest mean for the US respondents were statements of: “I enjoy life very much” and “I
find my happiness in my spare time rather than in my job”. The statement of “I enjoy life
very much” is also very reflective of Hungarian respondents rated as third highest mean,
after the statement that “My family life in order”. This latter statement by Hungarian
respondents may reflect the more deeply embedded family values in the central European
culture. There appear to be meaningful similarities in the scoring of life style statements
by students in both the USA and Hungary. This is in spite of significant economic
differences. For example, the GDP per capita in the USA was estimated to be $48,300.00
in 2008 while the comparative statistic for Hungary was $20,100.00, (CIA, 2009).
We also examined the means of the statements referring to value orientation as
consumers and ranked the first three most important statements based on the highest
means for the two samples. In both samples the statement that “We should purchase those
goods that we can afford” was listed among the three most important statements, and
interestingly the rank of this statement is the second most important in both countries.
However, the other two statements were different. In case of US the highest ranked
statement was “We should save money before we purchase certain items” and the
Hungarian respondents ranked the statement “We should not follow all fashionable
trends” with the highest mean. The third most important statement for US was “We
should invest our money mostly into things of lasting value”, while the corresponding
statement for Hungarian respondents was; “If we purchase something, then we should
buy the best”. If we interpret that the best item purchased also reflects a lasting value,
then we can say that the two statements are somewhat similar. We observed that both sets
of respondents emphasise the importance of quality and affordability.
Examining the statements relating to personal purchasing consumer behaviour we
found that two of the most highly ranked statements are the same in both of the two
samples. Both US and Hungarian respondents ranked highest the statement of “Quality is
important to me.” The statement of “I plan my bigger expenditures well in advance” is
ranked second among Hungarian respondents and third among the US respondents. The
other two highly ranked statements are “I pay special attention to the expiry dates of
products” ranked second by US respondents, and “I have high brand loyalty with a lot of
products” ranked third by Hungarian respondents. While these results are not conclusive,
there are some clear similarities in the scoring of personal purchasing consumer
behaviour statements by students in both the USA and Hungary.

4.3 Values and materialism

Respondents were categorised as materialist or post-materialist based on the four political
objective statements established by Inglehart. Respondents who ranked materialist
statements at first and second place were categorised as materialist. Respondents who
ranked post-materialist statements at first and second place were categorised as
post-materialist. In case of mixed rankings, respondents were categorised based on the
statement they ranked first place as either rather materialist or rather post-materialist. We
were interested in examining not only the differences and similarities in these rankings,
but also the results of the importance of values, personal lifestyle and value orientation of
these groups.
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 411

Based on the above categorisation, 20% of Hungarian respondents were materialist

(n = 43), 42% were rather materialist (n = 90), and 14% were post-materialist (n = 30),
24% were rather post-materialist (n = 52). Of note is that 16 respondents were not
categorised because of missing values, so the number of analysed respondents was 215
among Hungarian students. After merging the materialist with the rather materialist
groups, and the post-materialist with the rather post-materialist group, 62% of the
respondents fall into the materialist group, and 38% fall into the post-materialist group.

Figure 2 Materialist and post materialist groups (see online version for colours)

(a)

(b)
412 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

With respect to the USA sample, 21% of the US respondents were materialist
(n = 34), 31% were rather materialist (n = 49), 16% were post-materialist (n = 26), 32%
were rather post-materialist (n = 50). Note that 39 respondents were not categorised
because of missing values, so the number of analysed respondents was 159 among US
students. After merging materialist and rather materialist, as well as post-materialist and
rather post-materialist groups, 52% of the respondents fall into the materialist, and 48%
fall into the post-materialist group. In summary, we developed four groups: the US and
Hungarian materialists, and the US and Hungarian post-materialists. The following
analyses are based on these four groups.
Both materialists and post-materialists are approximately in the same proportion in
both Hungary and the USA. The proportion of rather materialists is higher in Hungary.
The proportion of rather post-materialists is higher in the USA. Given the significant
difference in GDP per capita between these two nations, the relatively small gap between
materialists and post-materialist would appear to indicate some degree of convergence.
In examining the differences in the importance ranking of values by materialist and
post materialist group, there were significant differences among the groups in almost all
values except: honesty, achievement, progress, generosity and success, where the
differences were minimal. The first three most important values among the materialist
respondents in Hungary were: happiness, lust for life, and health, while among the
materialist respondents in the USA were: safety, originality, and health. The least
important values were: modesty, order, and thrifty in case of Hungarian respondents; and
they were wisdom, contentedness, and generosity in case of the US respondents.

4.4 Materialism and personal life style statements

In examining the differences in personal life style statements by the materialist and post
materialist groups, we found significant differences in 9 statements out of the 19
statements. These are depicted in Table 2.
As one might have expected, the Hungarian materialist group was not satisfied with
their current standard of living and this differs significantly from the US groups in this
respect. Both materialist groups, the Hungarian and US appear to be less active politically
than the post-materialist groups in both countries. The respondents in the Hungarian
materialist group appear to be much less active in sports than their US counterparts. This
might be expected given the predominance of sports and the keen focus on
competitiveness in the USA collegiate system (Rosandich, 2002).
The HU post-materialists appear to be the most active politically and pay the highest
attention to arts and culture. This is consistent with the general view that the arts are
emphasised more in Europe than in the USA. The respondents in the US materialist
group have the strongest feelings that hard work yields superior performance. They
believe that they have a high standard of living, and they are the most active in sports
among all groups.
The US post-materialists enjoy their life best among all groups and they find their
happiness in their spare time rather than in their job; however, they do live a modest
lifestyle, as one might expect for a student population. Interestingly they are the least
engaged in arts and culture. The US respondents feel they live a more modest lifestyle
comparing to the HU respondents. Their answers reflect a higher sensitivity for social
issues. This may be due to the fact that discussion of social values is more prevalent in
the US education system than it is in the HU education system at this point in time.
 Table 2

HU HU USA USA
Total M PM HU USA
materialistic post-materialistic materialistic post-materialistic
M SD M SD M SD M SD M SD Δ(HU-USA) Δ(HU-USA) Δ(M-PM) Δ(M-PM)
I work hard and I perform well. 3.49 0.99 3.14 0.95 3.33 1.03 3.92 0.89 3.83 0.85 –0.77 –0.50 –0.19 0.09
I have a high standard of living. 3.40 0.97 3.21 0.92 3.23 0.91 3.76 0.99 3.54 0.97 –0.55 –0.31 –0.02 0.22
(see online version for colours)

I have a very modest lifestyle. 2.99 1.03 2.74 0.97 2.76 1.18 3.27 0.87 3.36 0.93 –0.52 –0.60 –0.01 –0.09
I enjoy life very much. 3.92 0.96 3.74 1.06 3.82 0.82 4.10 0.98 4.14 0.83 –0.35 –0.33 –0.07 –0.05
I pay high attention to politics. 2.37 1.19 2.09 1.08 2.68 1.27 2.36 1.12 2.54 1.25 –0.27 0.14 –0.59 –0.18
I help people in need a lot. 2.68 1.08 2.26 0.98 2.51 0.89 3.11 1.08 3.14 1.10 –0.85 –0.63 –0.26 –0.03
I am highly engaged in arts and culture. 2.80 1.19 2.94 1.15 3.16 1.06 2.37 1.16 2.63 1.28 0.57 0.53 –0.22 –0.26
The impact of values on consumer behaviour

I do sports frequently. 3.13 1.32 2.91 1.25 2.95 1.29 3.46 1.39 3.35 1.31 –0.55 –0.40 –0.04 0.11
I find happiness in my spare time rather than in my 3.73 1.03 3.69 1.09 3.50 1.03 3.87 0.95 3.92 0.98 –0.17 –0.42 0.19 –0.05
job.
Note: Most agreed with the statement in red; least agreed with the statement in blue.
Personal life style statements by the materialist and post materialist groups
413
414 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

4.5 Materialism and value orientation as consumers

In examining the value orientation as consumers of these groups, there were significant
differences in 14 out of 23 statements by respondents from the two countries. The US
respondents evaluated their level of comfort as being high, and they appeared more open
to listening to advertisements. With respect to prestige, US respondents paid higher
attention to material possessions, including clothing. US respondents’ brand loyalty was
lower, especially comparing to Hungarian post-materialists. This may partly be explained
in that the discretional income of the US respondents is higher, and as such, the US
respondents probably have lower perception of risk in experimenting with new brands
than the Hungarian respondents.
Going shopping makes Hungarian respondents happy when they get a good deal, as
opposed to simply having the possession of a purchased item. Price appears to be very
important to the HU respondents and HU respondents are less willing to pay higher prices
for environmentally friendly products.
There appears to be an important difference between the two societies with respect to
conscientiousness. The US respondents seem to make deliberate decisions for purchasing
items that they really need, and they are more inclined to condemn those companies that
do not respect the environment. This result might be influenced by the greater emphasis
on environmental factors in the USA media at this point in time.
There is a significant difference among the HU and US post-materialists with
respect owing beautiful items. Although both groups have higher aesthetic needs,
the US respondents fulfil these needs by purchasing beautiful items and the HU
respondents fulfil these needs by paying more attention to arts and culture. Another
difference is that purchasing only useful and necessary items was highly rated by
US post-materialists and yet regarded as one of the least important statement by HU
post-materialists.
Are respondents in both countries moving from materialism to post-materialism?
Based on this survey, it appears that some movement in this direction may indeed be
taking place. To what extent is there convergence between the values, the ranking of life
style statements, and the groups’ value orientation as consumers? This survey found that
there is a noticeable trend towards such convergence. In interpreting data, it should be
noted that the survey administration happened at two different times. In Hungary the
survey was administered before the 2008 credit crisis, and in the US it was administered
in the spring of 2009, after the October 2008 credit crisis.

5 Limitations of the study

One limitation of our study is that although students are convenient subjects for academic
researchers, they do not represent the general population. Further, the respondents in our
study were limited to students enrolled in business administration programmes at two
universities, and as such samples may not represent the general student population. The
intent is to broaden the student sample as part of future research to include students from
other disciplines.
 The impact of values on consumer behaviour 415

6 Future research

We intend to broaden the student sample as part of future research to include students
from other disciplines. We also aim to analyse in greater depth the rotated factor analysis
for the values part of our survey both for the Hungarian and US sample. We are
encouraged by that the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) tests yielded hopeful results as KMO
values were above .8. We also plan to extend the sample to students in other countries
such as Australia and conduct a multi-country comparison of results. By so doing, we
anticipate gaining further insights into the values that appear to transcend geographic
boundaries, the size of the gap on the importance and realisation of personal goals and
values, and the extent of the movement towards post-materialism. We propose to apply
and extend cluster analysis of these results as part of our future research.
We also performed rotated factor analysis for the values part of our survey both for
the Hungarian and US sample. In both cases the KMO Test produced encouraging results
as KMO values were above .8. Our results yielded six factors for the Hungarian sample
and five factors for the US sample. We then performed cluster analysis applying the
Ward’s method and created three clusters for the US sample and two clusters for the
Hungarian. We intend to examine this analysis as part of our future research.

7 Managerial implications

There are a number of potentially useful managerial implications based on our findings.
Let’s note that an understanding of what values are most important to potential customers
can provide useful information making decisions about product positioning and
communications. There appears to be a small cluster of values; such as, happiness,
health, and family, which may well be universal and can be used by marketers in product
positioning and communications. However, the complex interaction of values is such that
caution and careful thought need be applied by marketing professionals with respect to
the indiscriminate export of promotional programmes to other countries and cultures.
This caution applies in particular to ‘western-looking white models’ including values
such as ‘modernity’, ‘hedonism’, ‘sexuality’, ‘romance’ and ‘individuality’ as noted by
Gram (2007). Nonetheless, products designed to appeal to the values of happiness,
health, and family may well be able to command a premium price in both regions.
Marketers may also benefit by better understanding the large gaps between
importance and realisation of key values and consider marketing actions which would
appeal to these young consumers in closing these gaps as their consumption power
increases. This may apply in particular to messages around values such as harmony,
wealth and success. The result of lifestyle statements indicates that social needs are high
on the agenda for respondents in both countries and this is something that can be
embedded in promotional messages. The statements on respondents’ value orientation as
consumers and personal purchasing consumer behaviour imply that affordability and
quality are product/service attributes that both sets of respondents perceive to be
essential, and therefore merit emphasis.
Marketers should also note the tendency towards post-materialism in both countries,
with more emphasis by respondents on freedom, self-expression, and the quality of life.
Given the significant difference in GDP per capita between these two nations, the
relatively small gap between materialists and post-materialist appears to indicate some
416 K. Eibel-Spanyi and A. Hofmeister-Toth

degree of convergence. Accordingly, products that are designed and advertised to appeal
to these post-materialistic values may well attract the attention of young consumers in
both regions.

8 Summary

Personal values provide useful information to marketers with respect to consumer

behaviour. In this research we examined the values of university students and that how
these values reflect in their personal life style. We applied a MRVS instrument to
measure the importance and realisation of various values and the degree to which a set of
lifestyle statements were typical or representative.
We found that there were some values that appear to transcend geographic boundaries
and may well be universal in nature such as happiness, health, and family. There were
both similarities and differences in values, and statements around personal life styles,
purchasing behaviour and political objectives between US and Hungarian students. In
comparing the importance and realisation of personal goals and values, we found a gap
between importance and realisation that may in part be related to the stage of life of the
respondents. There were clear similarities in the scoring of personal purchasing consumer
behaviour statements by students in both the USA and Hungary. The degree of
materialism versus post materialism of respondents was examined, and some movement
towards post-materialism appeared to be taking place according to respondents in both
countries. Further, some evidence of convergence was identified, although more research
is needed in these areas.
Finally, based on our findings, we outlined some managerial implications for
marketers in making marketing decisions in product positioning and communications.

Acknowledgements

An earlier version of this paper has been presented at the B&ESI 2010 conference in
Athens. The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their feedback and suggestions.

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