Introducing the Green Materialist – A cluster analysis of North American and Swiss consumer populations

Materialistic and green values have frequently been studied in regard to sustainable behavior. While materialistic values seem to motivate unsustainable behaviors, green values seem to be related to pro-environmental behavior. Given the importance of both values for sustainable behavior, it is surprising that they have been studied only in isolation from each other. It is therefore not clear whether some consumers might hold both value orientations simultaneously and whether and how these values interact in shaping (un)sustainable behavior. Utilizing a North American and a European sample, we show that there is indeed a consumer cluster that holds both value orientations simultaneously (i.e., Green Materialists). In addition, we explore differences between Green Materialists and consumers who are either green or materialistic. In particular, our data indicates that Green Materialists are consumers who face tradeoffs in their attempt to satisfy materialistic and green strivings