The Experiential Advantage in Consumption: Evidence from Hungary

Abstract Previous research indicates that individuals derive greater happiness from spending on experiences than on material possessions. However, these studies have relied primarily on U.S. samples and research designs in which participants directly rated their happiness with recalled purchases. This study examines whether the “experiential advantage” holds in a non-U.S. context, specifically among two samples from Hungary in East-Central Europe, which differs from the U.S. in terms of socioeconomic conditions, cultural values, and consumer behavior. In addition, we examine whether reported happiness from purchases may be influenced by socially desirable responding due to negative reputations of materialistic values. Using self-administered online surveys that ensure respondent anonymity and a between-subject design in which respondents do not directly compare the happiness returns of experiential and material purchases, we find that people report greater happiness from experiential purchases than from material ones. Our results indicate a substantial happiness gap in the relative absence of social desirability bias. However, we also find that socially desirable responding can affect the size of the estimated happiness gap. Nevertheless, this moderating effect appears to be relatively modest or imprecisely estimated compared to the overall size of the happiness gap, suggesting that it is unlikely to undermine the validity of the happiness gap between experiential and material purchases.