About the Project

Introduction

How we see materialistic goods and possessions affect many of our life decisions, such as choice of career paths, or selection of a life partner. Hong Kong is a consumer society. Many people, including children and youth, are exposed to tremendous amounts of advertising and marketing messages. These messages encourage them to consume, to buy the latest models, or even to spend beyond their means. Irresponsible consumption causes debt problems. Survey results in the past show that endorsement of materialistic values has negative effects on our psychological well-being.

What factors may make children and adolescents adopt materialistic values? In the past 15 years, we conducted 14 studies on the topic in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Macao (Macau), and Singapore. Different research methodologies were used, including surveys and autovideography. The website shares the data, the research instruments, the drawings, and the interviewing transcripts of these studies. It also provides a visualization of the results in an online platform. It helps educators, parents, and researchers to develop models, test hypothesis, and conduct cross cultural analysis.

Applications:

Educators and parents can obtain empirical evidence on how much children and young people endorse materialistic values. Policy makers can make informed choices on regulating marketing communication activities in the media. Postgraduate students can use the survey data for model building in their research.

Project team:

Professor Chan, Ka Wah Kara	Principal Investigator
Dr. Tam, Laying	Senior Research Associate
Mr. Chiu, Tak Sang Alvis	Project Assistant
Ms. Lo, Yan Yi Annie	Project Assistant
Department of Communication Studies, Hong Kong Baptist University

Ms. Wong, Shun Han Rebekah	Senior Assistant Librarian and Head
Ms. So, Pui Lam	Web Developer
Mr. Yeung, Sit Timothy	Library Assistant II
Digital and Multimedia Services Section, University Library, Hong Kong Baptist University

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank The Hong Kong S.A.R. Government, the Hong Kong Baptist University and the Macao S.A.R. Government in supporting the studies. We would also like to thank the students of Hong Kong Baptist University in conducting the drawing studies and the interviews.

We also thank the Hong Kong Baptist University Library and its Digital Scholarship Grant for providing funding and technical support for the development of this website and corresponding data visualizations.

Project names and funding agencies:

• Growing up in Macao: A study of materialistic values among children and adolescents, funded by Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, HK$155,600 in 2008
• Interpersonal communication and media influence on materialistic value orientation among young people in Hong Kong, funded by FRG/04-05/II-45, HK$160,600 in 2005
• A study of television advertising and children: Persuasion, education and marketing in a Chinese context, funded by the Research Grants Council, HK$375,200 (with Professor James U. McNeal) in 2001