Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-28 Cooperative journals: 《心理科学进展》
Abstract： Time and money are two important resources that affect consumer decision-making differently. Based on the dual-process theory, this paper discusses the effect of time and money concepts on consumers' purchase decisions and its psychological mechanism through reviewing previous literature. Specifically, the effect of time and money would be differential in consumers’ the purchase decision process such as pre-purchase stage, purchasing stage, and post purchase stage. For pre-purchase decisions stage, the concept of time and money will affect consumers' product search and product evaluation strategy. When consumers search for products, currency of search (time or money) will moderate the effect of magnitude of search costs on people’s willingness to search. When the currency is money, lower (vs. higher) search costs will result in higher willingness to search. When the currency is time, this effect of search costs on willingness to search will be relatively weaker. As for consumer’s product evaluation, they will adopt an alternative-based evaluation strategy to evaluate product information after they are activated time concept and adopt an attribute-based evaluation strategy to evaluate product information after they are activated money concept. For purchasing decision stage, the impacts of priming time and money on product selection are different. Consumers will make different choices between virtue and vice products, hedonic and utilitarian products, experiential purchases and material purchases, and anthropomorphized products when they are activated time or money concepts. That is, if the time concept is activated, consumers tend to choose a virtue product, hedonic product, experiential purchases and prefer anthropomorphic products with no prominent functional purpose. If money is activated, consumers tend to choose vice products, utilitarian products, material purchases and prefer the anthropomorphic products with prominent functional purpose. For post-purchase decision stage, the concepts of time and money also have different effects on consumers' product attitude and the consistency of product preferences. Time priming leads to a more positive attitude toward products and a higher degree of consistency in preferences than money priming. However, for luxury goods, free goods and high materialists, money priming has a better effect than time priming. From the perspective of the dual-process theory, the psychological mechanism due to different cognitive processing modes and mindsets that are primed by time and money. Concretely, because of the value of time are more ambiguous, difficult to calculate, difficult to explain, irreplaceable and intangible than money, consumers are more dependent on the experience system to process time and product information heuristically, holistically and affectively and fall into emotional maximization mindset. Because the value of money is more specific, easy to analyze, replaceable and tangible than time, consumers are more dependent on the rational system to process money and product information analytically and fall into value maximization mindset. As a result, due to the difference of time and money concepts, different processing methods and thinking patterns further lead to consumers make different purchase decisions in three aspects: pre-purchase decision (product search and product evaluation strategy), purchasing decision (product selection) and post-purchase decision (product attitude and the consistency of product preferences). Future research should further explore the following issues: (1) Elaborating the different effects of priming time and money on purchase decisions. (2) Considering the impact from the tradeoff between time and money on purchase decisions. (3) Further exploring the different influences of priming time and money on the pre-purchase decision. (4) Exploring the neural mechanisms underlying the different effects of time and money on purchase decisions.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2023-03-27 Cooperative journals: 《心理学报》
Abstract： Inevitably, consumers will be exposed to death-related information in their daily lives. For example, they are informed about deaths and injuries caused by accidents, terrorism and disasters on social media. They may also encounter the experiences of deceased friends and relatives or the news of unfortunate strangers. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more frequently exposed to death cues. Researches have shown that consumers' decision-makings and purchasing behaviors shift when dealing with death threats. Compared to material consumption, experiential consumption delivers greater and persistent well-being and it is emerging as an extremely important consumption pattern. It is unclear, however, whether these mortality cues will exert positive or negative effects on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Based on the meaning maintenance model, 4 studies were conducted to examine how mortality salience influences consumers' preference for experiential purchases.In Study 1a and Study 1b, we experimentally manipulated mortality salience and examined its effect on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Study 1a (N = 140) was a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to different groups to imagine about incurable infectious disease or dental surgery. Participants in Study 1b (N = 252) were instructed to write about death or dental pain. Study 2 (N =219) was designed to test the mediating role of meaning in life. Participants were required to read a news report concerning traffic accident or dental surgery, and then finish the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Study 3 (N = 166) was a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) × 2 (social support: high level vs. low level) between-subjects design. Participants were provided a news report pertaining to the global fatalities under the COVID-19 pandemic in mortality salience condition, and pertaining to global tourism during the pandemic period in the control condition. Social support was manipulated by writing in detail a difficult situation “in which your family or friends accompanied you”, or “in which you had to face all by yourself”. Additionally, we used a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) to document a robust effect across all studies. The main results of this study are as follows: (1) Exposed to mortality salience will lead to stronger preference for experiential purchases. (2) The effects seem to be driven by meaning in life, whereby exposure to mortality salience undermines consumers' meaning in life, and consumers will gravitate towards experiential consumption to enhance their impaired meaning. (3) Social support moderates the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. Only when consumers received low level of social support, will mortality salience reduce their meaning in life. (4) Social support moderates the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases. Specifically, meaning in life mediates the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases only when consumers received low social support. To enhance the overall validity, we performed a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) on the four studies. The SPM showed that consumers had greater preference of experiential purchase when exposed to mortality salience (Estimate β = 0.30, SE = 0.07, z = 4.178, p < 0.001), which strengthened the robustness of our general conclusion. This research yields practical implications by demonstrating that mortality salience exerts positive effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases, which enables us to identify the changes in consumption patterns and mindset under the pandemic, providing references for marketing and promotion strategies.
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2022-06-27
Abstract：
Inevitably, consumers will be exposed to death-related information in their daily lives. For example, they are informed about deaths and injuries caused by accidents, terrorism and disasters on social media. They may also encounter the experiences of deceased friends and relatives or the news of unfortunate strangers. Especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are more frequently exposed to death cues. Researches have shown that consumers' decision-makings and purchasing behaviors shift when dealing with death threats. Compared to material consumption, experiential consumption delivers greater and persistent well-being and it is emerging as an extremely important consumption pattern. It is unclear, however, whether these mortality cues will exert positive or negative effects on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Based on the meaning maintenance model, 4 studies were conducted to examine how mortality salience influences consumers' preference for experiential purchases.
In Study 1a and Study 1b, we experimentally manipulated mortality salience and examined its effect on consumers’ preference for experiential purchases. Study 1a (N = 140) was a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, participants were randomly assigned to different groups to imagine about death or dental surgery. Participants in Study 1b (N = 252) were instructed to write about death or dental pain. Study 2 (N =219) was designed to test the mediating role of meaning in life. Participants were required to read a news report concerning traffic accident or dental surgery, and then finish the Meaning in Life Questionnaire. Study 3 (N = 166) was a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) ×2 (social support: high level vs. low level) between-subjects design. Participants were provided a news report pertaining to the global fatalities under the COVID-19 pandemic in mortality salience condition, and pertaining to global tourism during the pandemic period in the control condition. Social support was manipulated by writing in detail a difficult situation "in which your family or friends accompanied you", or "in which you had to face all by yourself". Additionally, we used a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) to document a robust effect across all studies.
The main results of this study are as follows: (1) Exposed to mortality salience will lead to stronger preference for experiential purchases. (2) The effects seem to be driven by meaning in life, whereby exposure to mortality salience undermines consumers' meaning in life, and consumers will gravitate towards experiential consumption to enhance their impaired meaning. (3) Social support moderates the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. Only when consumers received low level of social support, will mortality salience reduce their meaning in life. (4) Social support moderates the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases. Specifically, meaning in life mediates the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases only when consumers received low social support. To enhance the overall validity, we performed a single-paper meta-analysis (SPM) on the four studies. The SPM showed that consumers had greater preference of experiential purchase when exposed to mortality salience (Estimate β = 0.30, SE = 0.07, z = 4.178, p < 0.001), which strengthened the robustness of our general conclusion.
This research yields practical implications by demonstrating that mortality salience exerts positive effect on consumers' preference for experiential purchases, which enables us to identify the changes in consumption patterns and mindset under the pandemic, providing references for marketing and promotion strategies.
Peer Review Status:
Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Applied Psychology submitted time 2021-09-26
Abstract： Consumers will inevitably receive some information about death in their daily life. For example, they see news reports on social media about traffic accidents, air crashes, terrorist attacks, wars, major disasters (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc.), and sudden death, which contain death information. Another example is knowing or experiencing the unfortunate news that friends, relatives and strangers passed away due to disease or accident in their lives. This is especially true in the context of the current COVID-19 epidemic, where the number of COVID-19 deaths continues to rise globally and consumers are exposed to the threat of death, either passively or actively. According to previous studies, under the influence of death threat information, consumers may have stronger desire to consume and make consumption in response to death threat. So, when consumers think about the possibility of death or are exposed to mortality salience, will they be more willing to engage in experiential consumption or material consumption? Do mortality salience have an impact on consumers' preference for experiential products? What are the mechanisms and boundary conditions? In experiment 1, participants were asked two classic death questions to conduct death reminders, and then the effect of mortality salience on the number of experiential products consumers chose was tested. In experiment 2, the effect of mortality salience on consumers' preference for experiential product selection was repeatedly verified by reading traffic accident news reports. The mediating role of meaning in life between mortality salience and consumers' choice preference of experiential products was explored. Experiment 3 was based on the background of the current COVID-19 epidemic, and mortality salience was activated by asking the subjects to read reports about COVID-19 deaths. Moreover, the boundary conditions of the effect of mortality salience on consumers' choice preference of experiential purchases were further explored from the intervention level by manipulating the level of social support in experiment 3. The main results of the study are as follows: (1) Mortality salience will improve consumers' preference of experiential purchase and increase the number of experiential products to choose. (2) Meaning in life played a mediating role in the relationship between mortality salience and the preference of experiential purchase. (3) Social support moderated the effect of mortality salience on meaning in life. When social support was low, mortality salience was negatively correlated with meaning in life. When social support was high, there was no significant correlation between mortality salience and meaning in life. (4) Social support moderated the mediating effect of meaning in life on mortality salience and consumer preference of experiential purchase . When social support was low, the mediating effect was established. When social support was high, the mediating effect did not hold. The findings suggest that death mortality salience is an antecedent variable that influencing consumers' direct choice between experiential and material consumption, enriching and expanding relevant research in the field of consumer preferences, while providing reference implications for maintaining individual physical and mental health and restoring socioeconomic development in the post-epidemic period.
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology Subjects: Psychology >> Management Psychology submitted time 2021-09-26
Abstract： Time and money are two important resources which could affect consumer decision-making differently. When consumers making purchase decisions, they are ususally influenced by the information of time or money which implied in the merchant’s slogan and the shopping environment. And these affect would be differential in consumers’ purchase decision process such as pre-purchase stage, purchasing stage, and post purchase stage. From the perspective of dual-process theory, the psychological mechanism may be due to different cognitive processing mindsets that primed by time and money. Future research should further explore the following issues: (1) Elaborating the different effects of priming time and money on purchase decisions. (2) Considering the impact from the trade-off between time and money on purchase decisions. (3) Further exploring the different influences of priming time and money on the pre-purchase decision. (4) Exploring the neural mechanisms underlying the different effects of time and money on purchase decisions. "
Peer Review Status:Awaiting Review
Subjects: Psychology >> Social Psychology submitted time 2021-02-04
Abstract： Prosocial spending refers to spending money on others in the form of gifts or charitable donations. Prosocial spending not only benefits the recipient but also exerts a positive effect on the giver’s subjective well-being. This effect depends on the type of recipient (individual vs. organization or society at large), and the universality and the persistence of the effect have been extensively investigated. Both internal and external factors have been shown to contribute to the boundary conditions facilitating the effect. Several theories, such as self-determination theory, social norm theory, evolution theory and social exchange theory, could be used to elucidate the mechanism underlying the effect of prosocial spending on subjective well-being. Future studies should focus on examining the boundary conditions of the effect, exploring the long-term positive effects of prosocial spending, and improving the ecological validity of research on prosocial spending.
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