How do possessiveness, nongenerosity and envy in young female consumers convert into shopping addiction?

Abstract The present age is witnessing a rise in materialism and its sub‐traits such as possessiveness, nongenerosity and envy. Combined with a marked increase in habitual shopping, this trend has resulted in some degree of shopping addiction. There are scant studies on contribution of materialistic tendencies of consumers towards shopping addiction; therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of the sub‐traits of materialism (possessiveness, nongenerosity and envy) on shopping addiction. The role of hedonic shopping motives and self‐efficacy as mediators was also investigated. Data for the study were derived by administering a structured questionnaire to 423 young female consumers from the northwest region of India. The structural equation modelling technique was used to empirically evaluate the proposed model. The results confirmed that the personality traits pertaining to materialism have a significant impact on hedonic shopping motives and self‐efficacy, potentially triggering shopping addiction in young female consumers. The findings offer fresh insights for academicians, researchers and market practitioners into the impact of the materialistic attitudes of young female consumers on their buying habits. This study is unique as it provides an unprecedented holistic view of factors predicting the materialistic behaviour of young female consumers in fast‐growing, emerging markets and its impact on their consumption behaviour.