Influence of materialism on students fund spending in a rural-based university in Limpopo, South Africa

Abstract

Most university students show an appetite to spend much of their money on expensive gadgets, trendy clothes, cellphones, rented cars, video games, and alcohol and drugs. Despite getting money from parents, NSFAS, bursaries, and study loans, most of the students hardly used their money for educational purposes such as buying books and other necessary study materials. Given this situation, this study explored the influence of materialism on student’s fund spending at a rural-based university in Limpopo, South Africa. A qualitative approach was used to explore the influence of materialism on students’ fund spending. The study adopted an exploratory research design to expose the causes and effects of materialism. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select a sample of male and female students from the first to the fourth-year level of study at the University of Venda. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were used to gather in-depth information on students' fund spending. Thematic analysis method was adopted in the study to identify patterns of materialism and consumption that provided answers to the research questions being addressed. Ethical considerations were ensured in the study to make sure that participants were not harmed.