Reflection of Consumers’ Material Values on Brand Bullying

The concept of materialism which expresses the importance given to material objects, expresses devotion to material needs and desires. Materialism affects people's attitudes and behaviors. For materialists, property, life and identity are important concepts. In addition, materialistic tendencies negatively affect young people and create feelings such as greed and stinginess. Bullying is a behavior that involves physical or psychological violence resulting from the power imbalance between the victim and the bully. This behavior, which is common among young people, especially in schools, includes characteristics such as “repetition”, “intentionality” and “power imbalance”. The act of bullying can be caused by an imbalance in social status and is often associated with peer pressure. The study aimed to measure whether consumers' material values are reflected in brand bullying and the findings were examined using the structural equation method. According to the results obtained, it was seen that consumers' material values affect brand bullying. The study revealed that brand identity and loyalty have a positive effect on centrality and success values, while brand bullying has a negative effect. In addition, the study is considered important because it can provide a basis for future studies by understanding consumers' behavior in the market and expanding the information in the literature. It is also thought that the study will guide future studies by conducting it on consumers with different demographic and descriptive characteristics.