Desire for Abundance

What it measures

A five-item scale measuring the intensity of a consumer's momentary desire to possess and own many things. Items capture immediate material wanting across hedonic, motivational, and comparative dimensions — the wish to have a lot, the belief that having more would increase happiness, and a preference for abundance over scarcity at the current moment. Designed as a manipulation check for resource scarcity-induced desire, the scale is anchored in the present moment ('at this moment') and is sensitive to experimentally induced states of material wanting.

Representative items

• At this moment, I desire to have a lot of things.
• At this moment, having a lot of things would make me happy.
• At this moment, I would prefer having a lot, compared to having little.

Citation

Park, Hanyong, Ashok K. Lalwani, and David H. Silvera (2020). The impact of resource scarcity on price-quality judgments. Journal of Consumer Research, 46(6), 1110–1124.