Briefing report examines materialism’s impact on success perceptions and happiness in South Africa, indicating cultural beliefs.
The FSCA Financial Literacy Baseline Survey included a short, 9-item version of the Material Values Scale (MVS) that was developed by marketing professor Marsha Richins (2004). The scale was designed to measure three dimensions of materialism, namely (i) how much people think possessions reflect success in life, (ii) the degree of centrality of materialism to individual desires, and (iii) how much people believe wealth and possessions leads to happiness. The response categories for all items made use of a fivepoint scale, ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'strongly disagree'.
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Human Sciences Research Council (2026) studied this question.
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