The impact of financial management practices and financial attitudes on the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying

Although materialism has a robust relationship with compulsive buying, psychological theories also suggest that financial attitudes and financial management practices would significantly predict compulsive buying severity even after controlling for materialism. We also expected that financial attitudes and financial management practices would moderate the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying. Results partially supported our hypotheses. Financial management practices, but not financial attitudes, significantly predicted compulsive buying severity after controlling for materialism. In addition, financial management practices, but not financial attitudes, significantly moderated the relationship between materialism and compulsive buying severity. These findings support the inclusion of financial management components in current psychosocial interventions and indicate that highly materialistic individuals with poor financial management practices are particularly prone to compulsive buying problems. Further implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.