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. The results showed that in the control condition, the proportion of material purchases (66.2%) was significantly higher than that of experiential purchases (33.8%), while the proportion of material (50.0%) and experiential purchases (50.0%) in the mortality salience condition was equally chosen (χ²(1) = 11.31, p = 0.001; Table 1). The results of Multinomial Logistics Regression Analysis also indicate that mortality salience significantly positively affects the preference for experiential purchases (B = 0.97, SE = 0.34, Wald χ² = 8.34, p = 0.004).

And by changing the manipulation and measurement method, Study 1b (N = 252) repeated the the main effect with a single factor (mortality salience) between-subjects design, where participants were instructed to write about death or dental pain. It was found that preference for experiential product was significantly higher in the mortality salient condition (M = 6.76, SD = 3.11) than in the control condition (M = 5.83, SD = 2.49, t(250) = 3.13, p = 0.002, d = 0.33).

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. Consistent with Study 1a, the proportion of material purchases (65.8%) in control condition was significantly higher than that of experiential purchases (34.2%), while the proportion of material (54.4%) and experiential purchases (45.6%) in the mortality salience condition was not significant (χ²(1) = 8.78, p = 0.003; Table 2). We further adopted a mediating effect test after controlling for the impacts of covariates. The results showed that mortality salience significantly influenced meaning in life (β = −0.29, p < 0.001), and changes consumers’ preference for experiential purchases (β = 0.23, p = 0.006). When mortality salience and meaning in life predicted preference for experiential purchases at the same time, the effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases remains significant (β = 0.18, p = 0.031; Figure 1). With a PROCESS Model 4, with 5000 bootstrapping samples, it was found that the indirect effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases via meaning in life was significant (SE = 0.08, 95% CI = [0.162]).

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”. Consistent with our previous studies, compared to control condition (M = 3.50, SD = 0.31), the preference for experiential purchases of participants in mortality salience condition was significantly higher (M = 4.61 SD = 0.31, F(1, 156) = 6.35, p = 0.013, η² = 0.039); the indirect effect of mortality salience on preference for experiential purchases via meaning in life was also significant (SE = 0.22, 95% CI = [0.577]). We conducted a 2 (mortality salience vs. control condition) × 2 (social support: high level vs. low level) ANOVA on meaning in life. The interaction effect was significant (F(1, 158) = 4.59, p = 0.034, η² = 0.028).More specifically, we find that under the low social support condition, participants reported less meaning in life when they experienced mortality salience (F(1, 158) = 11.55, p = 0.001). However, no significant difference exists between mortality salience and control condition under high social support condition (F(1, 158) = 0.11, p > 0.05; Figure 2). The results of Process Model 7 with 5000 bootstrapping samples further reveled that social support significantly moderated the mediating effect of meaning in life between mortality salience and preference for experiential purchases (SE = −0.354, 95% CI = [−0.901, −0.002]). Under low social support condition, the mediating effect of meaning in life was significant (SE = 0.392, 95% CI = [0.879]). Under the high social support condition, the mediating effect of meaning in life was not significant (SE = 0.039, 95% CI = [−0.226, 0.369]; Figure 3).

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 (Table 3). 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.

Key words: mortality salience, experiential purchase, material purchase, meaning in life, social support