Why do young people from Generation Z (born between 1995 and the mid-2000s) become nomophobic consumers of smartphones? This research aims for a better understanding of nomophobia, the fear of being without mobile phone contact, and this from a cross-national perspective. Data collected from 1,326 young people (aged 16-24) from Brazil, China, France, and the United States demonstrate that nomophobia is positively related to materialism, the value that consumers place on the acquisition of material objects. A structural equation model shows that the different dimensions of materialism do not affect nomophobia uniformly across national identity. Nomophobia is positively related to the happiness dimension (possessions needed for happiness) in Brazil, to the success dimension (possessions as indicators of success) in China, and to the centrality dimension (possessions as central for the self) in France and the United States. These findings have notable implications for practitioners and researchers.
AhamedA. F. M. J.LimbuY. B. (2018). Dimensions of materialism and credit card usage: An application and extension of the theory of planned behavior in Bangladesh. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 23(3–4), 200–209.
2.
AhnJ.JungY. (2016). The common sense of dependence on smartphone: A comparison between digital natives and digital immigrants. New Media & Society, 18(7), 1236–1256.
3.
AhuviaA.WongN. (1995). Materialism: Origins and implications for personal well-being. In HansenF. (Ed.), European advances in consumer research (Vol. 2, pp. 172–178). Association for Consumer Research.
4.
AkaliyskiP.WelzelC.BondM. H.MinkovM. (2021). On “nationology”: The gravitational field of national culture. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 52(8–9), 771–793.
5.
ArpaciI. (2019). Culture and nomophobia: The role of vertical versus horizontal collectivism in predicting nomophobia. Information and Development, 35(1), 96–106.
6.
ArpaciI.GundoganS. (2020). Mediating role of psychological resilience in the relationship between mindfulness and nomophobia. British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 50, 782–790.
7.
ArpaciI.KaratașK.BaloǧluM.KesiciȘ. (2021). A cross-cultural analysis of the influence of psychological needs and cultural individualism on problematic internet use. International Archives of Addiction Research and Medicine, 7(1), 1–8.
8.
AwanisS.SchlegelmilchB. B.CuiC. (2017). Asia’s materialists: Reconciling collectivism and materialism. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(8), 964–991.
BurroughsJ. E.RindfleischA. (2002). Materialism and well-being: A conflicting values perspective. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(3), 348–370.
17.
CavalcantiT. T.GuimaraesJ.NogueiraJ. (2009). Is Brazil the land of happiness? A comparative study using a sample with economics students from UFPE and Purdue. Brazilian Review of Econometrics, 29(1), 17–35.
18.
ChanK.ZhangH.WangI. (2006). Materialism among adolescents in urban China. Young Consumers: Insight and Ideas for Responsibility Markets, 7(2), 64–77.
19.
ChaoR. K. (1994). Beyond parental control and authoritarian parenting style: Understanding Chinese parenting through the cultural notion of training. Child Development, 65(4), 1111–1119.
20.
ChaplinL. N.JohnD. R. (2010). Interpersonal influences on adolescent materialism: A new look at the role of parents and peers. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 20(2), 176–184.
21.
ChaudharyN.SriramS. (2020). Psychology in the “backyards of the world”: Experiences from India. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51(2), 113–133.
22.
ChenF. F. (2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14(3), 464–504.
23.
CheungG. W.RensvoldR. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 233–255.
24.
ChristopherA. N.SchlenkerB. R. (2000). The impact of perceived material wealth and perceiver personality on first impressions. Journal of Economic Psychology, 21(1), 1–19.
25.
ClarkeI.MickenK. S. (2002). An exploratory cross-cultural analysis of the values of materialism. Journal of International Consumer Marketing, 14(4), 65–86.
26.
CsikszentmihalyiM.Rochberg-HaltonE. (1981). The meaning of things: Domestic symbols and the self. Cambridge University Press.
27.
DavidsonA.HabibiM. R.LarocheM. (2018). Materialism and the sharing economy: A cross-cultural study of American and Indian consumers. Journal of Business Research, 82(C), 364–372.
28.
DeCuir-GunbyJ.Williams-JohnsonM. (2014). Culture and emotions: Implications for education. In PekrunR.Linnenbrink-GarciaL. (Eds.), International handbook of emotions and education (pp. 539–558). Taylor & Francis.
DemirciK.OrhanH.DemirdasA.AkpınarA.SertH. (2014). Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the smartphone addiction scale in a younger population. Bulletin of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 24(3), 226–234.
31.
DienerE.SapytaJ.SuhE. (1998). Subjective well-being is essential to well-being. Psychological Inquiry, 9(1), 33–37.
32.
DingliA.SeychellD. (2015). The new digital natives. Cutting the chord. Princeton University Press.
33.
DurakH. Y. (2019). Investigation of nomophobia and smartphone addiction predictors among adolescents in Turkey: Demographic variables and academic performance. The Social Science Journal, 56(4), 492–517.
34.
FlurryL. A.SwimbergheK.AllenJ. (2021). Exposing the moderating impact of parent-child value congruence on the relationship between adolescents’ materialism and subjective well-being. Journal of Business Research, 128(C), 290–302.
35.
FornellC.LarckerD. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement errors. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.
36.
GablerC. B.HillR. P.LandersV. M. (2021). Saving behavior within and across developing nations: Implications for public policy makers. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 40(4), 354–371.
37.
GabrenyaW.HwangK. (1996). Chinese social interaction: Harmony and hierarchy on the good earth. In BondM. H. (Ed.), The handbook of Chinese psychology (pp. 309–321). Oxford University Press.
38.
GaoY.DaiH.JiaG.LiangC.TongT.ZhangZ.SongR.WangQ.ZhuY. (2020). Translation of the Chinese version of the nomophobia questionnaire and its validation among college students: Factor analysis. JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth, 8(3), Article e13561.
39.
GentinaE.DelécluseM. (2018). La generation Z: Des Z consommateurs aux Z collaborateurs [Generation Z: From Z consumers to Z co-workers]. Dunod (in French).
40.
GentinaE.RoweF. (2020). Effects of materialism on problematic smartphone dependency among adolescents: The role of gender and gratifications. International Journal of Information Management, 54, Article 10134.
41.
GoenkaS.ThomasM. (2020). The malleable morality of conspicuous consumption. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 118(3), 562–583.
42.
Górnik-DuroseM. (2019). Deconstructing materialism—Towards a better understanding of its connections with well -being. Polish Psychological Bulletin, 50(2), 174–183.
43.
GriffinM.BabinB. J.ChristensenF. (2004). A cross-cultural investigation of the materialism construct: Assessing the Richins and Dawson’s materialism scale in Denmark, France and Russia. Journal of Business Research, 57(8), 893–900.
44.
Gutiérrez-CarmonaA.UrzúaA. (2022). Mediators of the effects of cultural involvement on the wellbeing of indigenous Andean people. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 53(6), 570–582.
45.
HeineS. J.LehmanD. R.PengK. (2002). What’s wrong with cross-cultural comparisons of subjective Likert scales?: The reference-group effect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(6), 903–918.
46.
HeskethT.DingQ. J. (2005). Anxiety and depression in adolescents in urban and rural China. Psychological Reports, 96(2), 435–444.
47.
HofstedeG. (2001). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations. Sage.
IslamG. (2012). Happiness in Brazil. In SeleneH.DarveyG. (Eds.), Happiness across cultures: Views of happiness and quality of life in non-Western cultures (pp. 227–240). Springer.
59.
KashimaY. (2000). Conceptions of culture and person for psychology. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 31(1), 14–32.
60.
KimE.KaoruO. (2015). Mobile phone dependency among Korean adolescents: A comparative study of “The Emerging Adulthood” in East Asia. Journal of Marketing Thought, 2(3), 32–40.
61.
KingA. L.ValençaA. M.NardiA. E. (2010). Nomophobia: The mobile phone in panic disorder with agoraphobia: Reducing phobias or worsening of dependence?Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology, 23(1), 52–54.
62.
KlineR. B. (2015). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Guilford.
63.
KluckhohnF.StrodtbeckF. (1961). Variations in value orientations. Row, Peterson.
64.
KonakV.GiglerD.MiklósiA. (2016). Humans’ attachment to their mobile phones and its relationship with interpersonal attachment style. Computers in Human Behavior, 11(61), 537–547.
65.
KwonM.KimD.ChoH.YangS. (2013). The smartphone addiction scale: Development and validation of a short version for adolescents. PLOS ONE, 8(12), 1–7.
66.
LarsenV.SirgyM. J.WrightN. D. (1999). Materialism: The construct, measures, antecedents, and consequences. Academy of Marketing Studies Journal, 3(2), 75–107.
67.
LeM. (2020). Social comparison effects on brand addiction: A mediating role of materialism. Heliyon, 6, Article e05460.
68.
LeeY.ChangC.LinY. (2018). How social anxiety and reduced self-efficacy induce smartphone addiction in materialistic people. Social Science Computer Review, 36(1), 36–56.
69.
LeeY.ChangC.LinY.ChengZ. H. (2014). The dark side of smartphone usage: Psychological traits, compulsive behavior and technostress. Computers in Human Behavior, 31(February), 373–383.
70.
LeungA. N.WongS. S.WongI. W.McBride-ChangC. (2009). Filial piety and psychosocial adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese early adolescents. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 30(5), 651–667.
71.
LewisJ. L. (1999). Sex and violence in Brazil: Carnaval, capoeira, and the problem of everyday life. American Ethnologist, 26(3), 359–557.
72.
LiaoJ.WangL. (2009). Face as a mediator of the relationship between material value and brand consciousness. Psychology & Marketing, 26(11), 987–1001.
Lopez-FernandezO.Honrubia-SerranoL.Freixa-BlanxartM.GibsonW. (2014). Prevalence of problematic mobile phone use in British adolescents. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 17(2), 91–98.
75.
LundstromW. J.WhiteS. D. (1999). Intergenerational and cultural differences in materialism: An empirical investigation of consumers in France and the USA. Journal of Euromarketing, 7(2), 47–65.
76.
MailleV.MorrinM.McIlnayR. R. (2020). On the other hand. . .: Enhancing promotional effectiveness with haptic cues. Journal of Marketing Research, 57(1), 100–117.
77.
MarkusH. R.KitayamaS. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.
78.
MeadeT. A. (2004). A brief history of Brazil. Checkmark Books.
79.
MenL. R. (2022). How should organizations engage and build relationships with mobile publics on social messengers. Journal of Brand Management, 29(3), 311–325.
80.
MilfontT. L.FischerR. (2010). Testing measurement invariance across groups: Applications in cross-cultural research. International Journal of Psychological Research, 3(1), 111–130.
81.
Morahan-MartinJ.SchumacherP. (2003). Loneliness and social uses of the Internet. Computers in Human Behavior, 19(6), 659–671.
82.
MowlabocusS. (2016). The “mastery” of the swipe: Smartphones, transitional objects and interstitial time. First Monday, 21(10), 1–10.
83.
NepomucenoM. V.LarocheM. (2015). The impact of materialism and anti-consumption lifestyles on personal debt and account balances. Journal of Business Research, 68(3), 654–664.
84.
NorrisJ. I.LambertN. M.DeWallN. C.FinchamF. D. (2012). Can’t buy me love? Anxious attachment and materialistic values. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(5), 666–669.
85.
O’GuinnT. C.FaberR. J. (1989). Compulsive buying: A phenomenological exploration. Journal of Consumer Research, 16(2), 147–157.
ParentN.ShapkaJ. (2020). Moving beyond addiction: An attachment theory framework for understanding young adults’ relationships with their smartphones. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 2(2), 179–185.
88.
ParkN.KimY. C.ShonH. Y.ShimH. (2013). Factors influencing smartphone use and dependency in South Korea. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(4), 1763–1770.
89.
PeattieK.PeattieS. (2009). Social marketing: A pathway to consumption reduction?Journal of Business Research, 62(2), 260–268.
90.
PietersR. (2013). Bidirectional dynamics of materialism and loneliness: Not just a vicious cycle. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(4), 615–631.
91.
PodoshenJ. S.LiL.ZhangJ. (2011). Materialism and conspicuous consumption in China: A cross-cultural examination. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 35(1), 17–25.
92.
PodsakoffP. M.MacKenzieS. B.LeeJ.PodsakoffN. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879–903.
93.
RetoF. (2006). Internet addiction: Measurement and relationship with materialism and compulsive buying. In GonzalezS.LunaD. (Eds.), Latin American advances in consumer research (pp. 87–88). Association for Consumer Research.
94.
RichinsM. L. (2004). The material values scale: Measurement properties and development of a short form. Journal of Consumer Research, 31(1), 209–219.
95.
RichinsM. L. (2017). Materialism pathways: The processes that create and perpetuate materialism. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 27(4), 480–499.
96.
RichinsM. L.DawsonS. (1992). A consumer values orientation for materialism and its measurement: Scale development and validation. Journal of Consumer Research, 19(3), 303–316.
97.
RobertsJ. A.PirogS. F. (2013). A preliminary investigation of materialism and impulsiveness as predictors of technological addictions among young adults. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 2(1), 56–62.
98.
RobertsJ. A.PulligC.ManolisC. (2015). I need my smartphone: A hierarchical model of personality and cell-phone addiction. Personality and Individual Differences, 79(June), 13–19.
99.
RobertsJ. A.YayaL. H.ManolisC. (2014). The invisible addiction: Cell-phone activities and addiction among male and female college students. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 3(4), 254–265.
100.
Rodriguez-GarciaA. M.Moreno-GuerreroA. J.López BelmonteJ. (2020). Nomophobia: An individual’s growing fear of being without a smartphone—A systematic literature review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(2), 580–599.
101.
RokeachM. (1973). The nature of human values. Free Press.
102.
RosellM. C.Sánchez-CarbonellX.JordanaC. G.FarguesM. B. (2007). Adolescent and information and communications technologies: Internet, mobile phone and videogames. Papeles del Psicólogo, 28(3), 196–204.
103.
RutkowskiL.SvetinaD. (2014). Assessing the hypothesis of measurement invariance in the context of large-scale international surveys. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 74(1), 31–57.
104.
SchaeferA. D.HermansC. M.ParkerR. S. (2004). A cross-cultural exploration of materialism in adolescents. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 28, 399–411.
105.
SchroederJ. E.DugalS. (1995). Psychological correlates of the materialism construct. Journal of Social Behavior & Personality, 10(1), 243–253.
106.
SchwartzS. H. (1994). Beyond individualism/collectivism: New cultural dimensions of values. In KimU.TriandisH. C.KâğitçibaşiÇ. Ç.ChoiS.YoonG. (Eds.), Cross-cultural research and methodology series: Vol. 18. Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method, and applications (pp. 85–119). Sage.
107.
SharmaP. (2011). Country of origin effects in developed and emerging markets: Exploring the contrasting roles of materialism and value consciousness. Journal of International Business Studies, 42(2), 285–306.
108.
ShekhawatH.BatraD. (2017). Psychological characteristics and mobile phone addiction among adolescents. International Journal of Management & IT, 15(2), 76–82.
109.
ShinD. (2012). Cross-analysis of usability and aesthetic in smart devices: What influences users’ preferences?Cross Cultural Management, 19(4), 563–587.
110.
ShrumL. J.WongN.ArifF.ChuganiS. K.GunzA.LowreyT. M.NairnA.PandelaereM.RossS. M.RuvioA.ScottK.SundieJ. (2013). Reconceptualizing materialism as identity goal pursuits: Functions, processes, and consequences. Journal of Business Research, 66(8), 1179–1185.
SingelisT. M.TriandisH.BhawukD.GelfandM. (1995). Horizontal and vertical individualism and collectivism: A theoretical and measurement refinement. Cross-Cultural Research, 29(3), 240–275.
113.
SlaterS.Yani-de-SorianoM. (2010). Researching consumers in multicultural societies: Emerging methodological issues. Journal of Marketing Management, 26(11–12), 1143–1160.
114.
SneedP. (2008). Favela utopias: The bailes funk in Rio’s crisis of social exclusion and violence. Latin American Research Review, 43(2), 57–79.
115.
SteenkampJ. E. M.BaumgartnerH. (1998). Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research. Journal of Consumer Research, 25(1), 78–90.
116.
SueD. W.SueD. (1990). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). John Wiley.
117.
SugarmanA. (2017). The transitional phenomena functions of smartphones for teens. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 70(1), 135–150.
118.
TakaoM.TakahashiS.KitamuraM. (2009). Addictive personality and problematic mobile phone use. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 12(5), 510–517.
119.
TwengeJ. M.KasserT. (2013). Generational changes in materialism and work centrality, 1976-2007: Associations with temporal changes in societal insecurity and materialistic role modeling. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 39(7), 883–897.
120.
VeenhovenR. (2013). Average happiness in 149 nations 2000-2009 [Rank report average happiness]. World Database of Happiness. https://worlddatabaseofhappiness.eur.nl/
121.
VelosoA. R.HildebrandD. F. N.CampomarM. C. (2011). Do Brazilian children have materialistic values: Drawings from high and low income children around 9 years old. Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Conference, Marketing fields forever, Liverpool.
122.
WangH.SigersonL.ChengC. (2019). Digital nativity and information technology addiction: Age cohort versus individual difference approaches. Computers and Human Behavior, 90(January), 1–9.
123.
WangP.NieJ.WangX.WangY.ZhaoF.XieX.LeiL.OuyangM. (2018). How are smartphones associated with teen materialism?Journal of Health Psychology, 16, 334–361.
124.
WangQ.PomerantzE. M. (2009). The motivational landscape of early adolescence in the U.S. and China: A longitudinal investigation. Child Development, 80(4), 1272–1287.
125.
WatchravesringkanK. (2012). Cross-cultural equivalence of Materialistic Values Scale (MVS): An exploratory study between the U.S. and Thailand. Journal of Targeting Measurement and Analysis for Marketing, 20(3), 235–253.
126.
WongN.AhuviaA. C. (1998). Personal taste and family face: Luxury consumption in Confucian and Western societies. Psychology & Marketing, 15(5), 423–441.
127.
WorkmanJ. E.LeeS. (2011). Materialism, fashion consumers and gender: A cross-cultural study. International Journal of Consumer Studies, 35, 50–57.
128.
WuP. C. (2013). Addictive behavior in relation to the happy farm Facebook application. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 41, 539–554.
YildirimC.CorreiaA. P. (2015). Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire. Computers in Human Behavior, 49(August), 130–137.
131.
ZhangY.DingY.HuangH.PengQ.WanX.LuG.ChenC. (2022). Relationship between insecure attachment and mobile phone addiction: A meta-analysis. Addictive Behaviors, 133, Article 107317.
132.
ZimbardoP.ClementsN.LeiteU. (2017). Time perspective and financial health: To improve financial health, traditional financial literacy skills are not sufficient. Understanding your time perspective is critical. In KostićA.ChadeeD. (Eds.), Time perspective: Theory and practice (pp. 9–40). Palgrave Macmillan.
