Yamaguchi, M.（山口真奈）, Masuchi, A.（増地あゆみ）, Nakanishi, D.（中西大輔）, Suga, S. （菅さやか）, Konishi, K.（小西直喜）, Yu, Y-Y., & Ohtsubo, Y.（大坪庸介） Experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing social relationships. The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice. doi: 10.1080/17439760.2015.1117128
Recent research on consumption and subjective well-being has revealed that experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing the purchasers’ social relationships. This study (N = 1523) explored whether undergraduate students’ consumption behaviors during summer break would be associated with their post-break happiness, and whether the consumption–happiness relationship would be mediated by a positive influence on their social relationships. The results showed that both experiential purchases and prosocial spending during summer break were associated with greater post-break happiness, but only when these purchases had a positive influence on the purchasers’ social relationships. These effects remained significant after controlling for respondents’ personality traits, financial standing, and sex. Moreover, both experiential purchases and prosocial spending were more likely to have a positive influence on social relationships than luxury purchases. These results are congruent with the recent exposition that experiential purchases and prosocial spending promote happiness by enhancing the purchasers’ social relationships.