The Impact of Religiosity on Peer Communication, the Traditional Media, and Materialism among Young Adult Consumers

The main objectives of this study are to compare the differences between the various religious groups and peer communication, the traditional media and materialism among young adult consumers in Malaysia. This paper briefly conceptualizes the role of peer communication, and the traditional media in the development of values based on existing literature. Next, a brief review of literature is made to illustrate the association between religiosity and materialism. This study takes place in Malaysia, a country in the Southeast Asia embracing a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society. Preliminary statistical procedures were employed to examine possible significant group differences in peer communication, traditional media and materialism based on various major beliefs system endorsed by Malaysians. A one-way analysis of variance was utilised to determine the significant differences in terms of religion with respect to their responses on the various measures. When there were significant differences, Post Hoc Tests (Scheffe) were used to determine the particular groups which differed significantly within a significant overall one-way analysis of variance. The implications, significance and limitations of the study are discussed as a concluding remark.