TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Hoffmann, Stefan A1 - Hüttel, Alexandra T1 - How empowerment and materialism contribute to anti-consumers’ well-being JF - European journal of marketing N2 - Purpose Because steadily growing consumption is not beneficial for nature and climate and is not the same as increasing well-being, an anti-consumerism movement has formed worldwide. The renouncement of dispensable consumption will, however, only establish itself as a significant lifestyle if consumers do not perceive reduced consumption as a personal sacrifice. Since prior research has not yielded a consistent understanding of the relationship between anti-consumption and personal well-being, this paper aims to examine three factors about which theory implies that they may moderate this relationship: decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and the value of materialism. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on data from a large-scale, representative online survey (N = 1,398). Structural equation modelling with latent interaction effects is used to test how three moderators (decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and materialism) affect the relationship amongst four types of anti-consumption (e.g. voluntary simplicity) and three different well-being states (e.g. subjective well-being). Findings While both dimensions of empowerment almost always directly promote consumer well-being, significant moderation effects are present in only a few but meaningful cases. Although the materialism value tends to reduce consumers’ well-being, it improves the well-being effect of two anti-consumption styles. Research limitations/implications Using only one sample from a wealthy country is a limitation of the study. Researchers should replicate the findings in different nations and cultures. Practical implications Consumer affairs practitioners and commercial marketing for sustainably produced, high-quality and long-lasting goods can benefit greatly from these findings. Social implications This paper shows that sustainable marketing campaigns can more easily motivate consumers to voluntarily reduce their consumption for the benefit of society and the environment if a high level of market-control empowerment can be communicated to them. Originality/value This study provides differentiated new insights into the roles of consumer empowerment, i.e. both decision-control empowerment and market-control empowerment, and the value of materialism to frame specific relationships between different anti-consumption types and various well-being states. KW - sustainable consumption KW - anti-consumption KW - consumer well-being KW - materialism KW - consumer empowerment Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-04-2020-0284 SN - 0309-0566 SN - 1758-7123 VL - 57 IS - 4 SP - 1186 EP - 1218 PB - Emerald CY - Bradford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Balderjahn, Ingo A1 - Seegebarth, Barbara A1 - Lee, Michael S. W. T1 - Less is more! BT - The rationale behind the decision-making style of voluntary simplifiers JF - Journal of cleaner production N2 - Enhancing consumer satisfaction and well-being is an important objective of companies, retailers and public policy makers. In the current debate on climate change, a consistent theme is that consumers in developed countries must learn to consume less. The present study (based on representative data sets from the US, N = 1,017, and Germany, N = 1030) addresses these issues by using a scenario-based experiment to analyze how satisfied voluntary simplifiers (people who voluntarily abstain from consumption) are with their purchase decisions in the case of a muesli brand. The research question is whether people who follow a sustainable, simple lifestyle are more satisfied with their daily consumption choices than people who have a more consumerist lifestyle. If so, it would be easier for many people to change their lifestyles and consume less. In addition, this scenario experiment manipulates consumer empowerment and decision complexity since both factors are supposed to influence purchase satisfaction. The results are consistent across both countries and indicate that voluntary simplifiers experience a higher level of purchasing satisfaction than non-simplifiers, whereby empowerment and decision complexity play different roles. KW - voluntarily simplicity KW - well-being KW - consumer empowerment KW - decision complexity KW - sustainable consumption Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.124802 SN - 0959-6526 SN - 1879-1786 VL - 284 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam ER -