RESEARCH_FILE
Rik Pieters
Tilburg University
Known for:Goal-setting model of compulsive buying — longitudinal research showing that chronic loneliness drives materialistic striving and compulsive buying as a failed proxy for social connection
Key findings
- 2013
Pieters' longitudinal study found that chronic loneliness predicted increased materialism, which in turn predicted compulsive buying — but compulsive buying failed to alleviate the loneliness that triggered it, sustaining the cycle. The study reframed compulsive buying as primarily driven by social deficit, not greed. Bidirectional Dynamics of Materialism and Loneliness: Not Just a Vicious Cycle ↗