Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Family and television influences on materialism: a cross‐cultural life‐course approach

Family and television influences on materialism: a cross‐cultural life‐course approach Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine whether the development of materialistic values in early life reflects cultural norms or is the outcome of media and family influences. It seeks to examine the role of family communication and television, which were found to promote materialistic values in individualistic countries, by assessing their effects on youths in four countries that represent the Eastern and Western cultures: Japan, Malaysia, USA, and France. Design/methodology/approach – The study used an anonymous self‐administered survey of young adults aged 18 to 32 years in two diverse Eastern countries: Japan and Malaysia (total n=351); the sample size was approximately the same for the Western countries of USA and France (n=315). The samples were equivalent with respect to demographic characteristics. The Malaysian questionnaires were available in both English and Malay. Measurement scales included in the Japanese questionnaires come from available translated versions. The French questionnaires were subjected to back translation. Findings – The findings suggest that the influence of the socio‐oriented family communication structure on materialistic attitudes in Western cultures might be indirect by affecting the youth's patterns of television viewing. The findings also suggest that concept‐oriented family communication has no effect on youth's development of materialistic values, regardless of cultural background. Originality/value – The findings suggest that television might not be as important a socialization agent in the development of materialistic values of youths in collectivistic Eastern countries as it has been in individualistic Western countries http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Asia Business Studies Emerald Publishing

Family and television influences on materialism: a cross‐cultural life‐course approach

Download PDF
21 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/family-and-television-influences-on-materialism-a-cross-cultural-life-R2juM0d1mQ

References (87)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1558-7894
DOI
10.1108/15587891111152302
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine whether the development of materialistic values in early life reflects cultural norms or is the outcome of media and family influences. It seeks to examine the role of family communication and television, which were found to promote materialistic values in individualistic countries, by assessing their effects on youths in four countries that represent the Eastern and Western cultures: Japan, Malaysia, USA, and France. Design/methodology/approach – The study used an anonymous self‐administered survey of young adults aged 18 to 32 years in two diverse Eastern countries: Japan and Malaysia (total n=351); the sample size was approximately the same for the Western countries of USA and France (n=315). The samples were equivalent with respect to demographic characteristics. The Malaysian questionnaires were available in both English and Malay. Measurement scales included in the Japanese questionnaires come from available translated versions. The French questionnaires were subjected to back translation. Findings – The findings suggest that the influence of the socio‐oriented family communication structure on materialistic attitudes in Western cultures might be indirect by affecting the youth's patterns of television viewing. The findings also suggest that concept‐oriented family communication has no effect on youth's development of materialistic values, regardless of cultural background. Originality/value – The findings suggest that television might not be as important a socialization agent in the development of materialistic values of youths in collectivistic Eastern countries as it has been in individualistic Western countries

Journal

Journal of Asia Business Studies – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jul 26, 2011

Keywords: Family; Television; Materialism

There are no references for this article.