关键词: 创造性活动, 恐怖娱乐消费, 自我效能, 反馈效价, 活动难度

Abstract: As the horror consumption industry expands, horror-related entertainment projects have become one of the most popular and profitable forms of entertainment. However, although horror films and horror challenge events appeal to some younger consumers, the majority of consumers show a reluctance to consume these products due to fear and dread. Therefore, from a practical standpoint, it is worth investigating which factors can increase or decrease consumers' willingness to consume horror products. However, previous research mainly focused on examining the same-domain factors that drive consumers' horror consumption preferences. Limited research studied the cross-domain factors that influence consumers' preferences for horror consumption. To address this research gap, this paper examines how consumers' horror consumption preferences are influenced by their experiences in a prior, unrelated context.
Specifically, this paper proposes that prior engagement in creative activities (versus non-creative activities) increases consumers' preference for horror consumption, and self-efficacy mediates the cross-domain effect. Furthermore, this paper proposes that the cross-domain effect will be evident when consumers receive positive feedback regarding their creative performance, and when the creative activity is lowly difficult. Conversely, the effect will disappear when consumers receive negative feedback or when the creative activity is highly difficulty.
Across seven studies, we provide converging evidence for our propositions. Specifically, we find that engaging consumers in a creative activity can increase their preference for horror consumption (Studies 1~3) due to the increases in self-efficacy (Studies 4a~4b). Furthermore, the effect of engaging in creative activities on consumers' preference for horror consumption disappears (is evident) when consumers receive negative (positive) feedback (Study 5) and when the creative activity is highly (lowly) difficult to complete (Study 6). Finally, the above results cannot be explained by alternative explanations such as mood (Study 2~3), motivation to seek new experiences (Study 4a), felt inspiration in creative activities and felt pleasure (Study 4b).
This paper makes several theoretical advances to prior research. First, it advances the literature on horror consumption by investigating the cross-domain factors that influence consumers’ preference for horror consumption. This exploration opens new avenues for studying consumers' preferences for horror products. Second, this paper contributes to past creativity research by investigating how consumers' behavior changes when they engage in a creative activity. The current research reveals a novel outcome of consumers' engagement in creative activities: an increased preference for horror consumption. Finally, this paper contributes to self-efficacy research by establishing a linkage between engaging in creative activities and self-efficacy, and a linkage between self-efficacy and horror consumption. We contribute to prior literature by proposing that engaging in creative activities can boost self-efficacy. In addition, we show that increased self-efficacy can lead consumers to engage in horror consumption.

Key words: Creative activity, horror consumption, self-efficacy, feedback valence, activity difficulty