The effect of mortality salience on consumers' preference for experiential purchases and its mechanism

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. © Science Press.