The research focuses on relationships between conspicuous consumption and materialism. Contrary to previous studies, here conspicuous consumption is seen as an individual trait rather than as an attitude. The purpose of the research was twofold: to establish to what extent are a) success, centrality, happiness, and b) the importance and the attainment of wealth, popularity and image responsible for conspicuous consumption. Two studies were conducted. Materialism was measured using the MVS (Richins, 2004) in study 1 (N = 80), and the Aspiration Index (Kasser & Ryan, 1996) in study 2 (N = 169). In both studies, the measure of the propensity to conspicuous consumption was the same: The Conspicuous Consumption Orientation Scale (CCO) (Chaudhuri, Mazumdar, & Ghoshal, 2011). The obtained data demonstrated that the propensity to conspicuous consumption was significantly related to only two dimensions of materialism – success and centrality. Furthermore, the results showed that while the importance of financial success and popularity enhanced the propensity to conspicuous consumption, attainment of financial and popularity aspirations had no impact on the propensity to conspicuous consumption. In turn, image (both its importance and its attainment) was a significant positive predictor of the propensity to conspicuous consumption. The research findings suggest that the crucial materialistic drivers of the propensity to conspicuous consumption are: the belief that success is closely connected with ownership; the conviction that owning and acquiring are the primary life goals; and the need to have a socially admired image.

At the national symposium on the reform of state-owned enterprises, General Secretary Xi Jinping gave important instructions that state-owned enterprises are important forces in strengthening the country’s overall strength and safeguarding the common interests of the people. Therefore, the country must make state-owned enterprises „stronger, better, and bigger”. Huge objections arose in the academic field. This article thoroughly analyzes China’s state-owned economy from the perspective of Marx’s historical materialism, national productivity, and social development, and clarifies the historical status and role of China’s state-owned economy. At the same time, this article comprehensively analyzes the economic significance of making state-owned enterprises „stronger, better, and bigger” from the perspective of total factor productivity, and proposes that since the state-owned economy is backed up by the state, investing in technology research and development has its advantages. However, because the state-owned economy is biased toward administrative instructions, it often lacks efficiency, so if the state-owned economy wants to become „stronger, better, and bigger”, it must undergo reforms in terms of management efficiency.