Conceptualizing and testing the multidimensionality of the materialism construct: concept explication and preliminary scale development

Abstract

This study discusses the relevance of the study of materialism to mass communication research, reviews multiple conceptualizations of materialism from several disciplines, and conducts an analysis of materialism through the process of concept explication. Following a meaning analysis of materialism, a multi-dimensional conceptualization of a new construct, social materialism, is proposed. An operationalization of social materialism is tested in two separate studies, and through a series of factor analyses, a preliminary social materialism scale is proposed. The internal consistency, reliability, and predictive, retrospective, convergent, and discriminant validity of the social materialism scale are assessed via correlational analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Special attention is paid to the relationships found to exist between various forms of television use and the properly explicated concept of social materialism. The implications for this study are discussed, and future lines of research are outlined.