Believing in Karma: The Effect of Mortality Salience on Excessive Consumption

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Siyun Chen¹  Haiying Wei¹  Lu Meng²  Yaxuan Ran³ 

[1] School of Management, Jinan University;School of Business, Renmin University of China;School of Business Administration, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law

关键词: belief in karma;    mortality salience;    terror management;    temporal perspective;    excessive consumption;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01519

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

This research proposes that mortality salience leads individuals to engage in differentiation of excessive consumption based on their appraisal of the karmic system. Study 1 demonstrated that mortality salience interacts with belief in karma to jointly determine excessive consumption, such that consumers faced with mortality salience tend to increase overconsumption likelihood when they have a weak (vs. strong) belief in karma. Study 2 revealed the underlying mechanism – temporal perspective – that drives our main effect. Replicating the findings of the two previous studies, study 3 further delineated benefit appeal as a theoretically derived boundary condition for the proposed interaction effect on excessiveness. Theoretical and, practical implications, as well as avenues for future research are discussed.

【 授权许可】

CC BY