The Dark Side of Scarcity Promotions: How Exposure to Limited-Quantity Promotions Can Induce Aggression

Kristofferson, Kirk; McFerran, Brent; Morales, Andrea C.; Dahl, Darren W.

doi:10.1093/jcr/ucw056

Cited by 84 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…First, prior work has shown that threats that activate avoidance motivation rely on emotion‐focused coping (Han, Duhachek, & Rucker, ). However, our review of the resource scarcity literature demonstrates that control‐restoration involves numerous approach‐oriented behaviors, such as approaching luxury goods (Griskevicius et al., ) and aggressive actions toward a vending machine (Kristofferson et al., ). This is further supported by evidence linking a lack of control with approach motivation (Greenaway et al., ).…”

Section: Applications Of the Self‐regulatory Model Of Resource Scarcimentioning

confidence: 99%

A Self‐Regulatory Model of Resource Scarcity

Cannon¹,

Goldsmith

Roux³

2018

J Consum Psychol

169

194

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Academics have shown a growing interest in the effects of resource scarcity—a discrepancy between one's current resource levels and a higher, more desirable reference point. However, the existing literature lacks an overarching theory to explain the breadth of findings across different types of resources. To address this, we introduce a self‐regulatory model of resource scarcity. In it, we propose that consumers respond to resource scarcity through two distinct psychological pathways: a scarcity‐reduction route aimed at reducing the discrepancy in resources and a control‐restoration route aimed at reestablishing diminished personal control by attaining security in other domains. We explain how a key determinant of which route the consumer will pursue is the perceived mutability of the resource discrepancy. We also specify moderators, based on our proposed model, to identify when each of the two routes is pursued. This model is assessed in the context of alternative theoretical perspectives, including commodity theory, life history theory, and models of compensatory behavior. Finally, we provide a research agenda for those interested in studying the psychology of resource scarcity from a self‐regulatory perspective.

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Section: Applications Of the Self‐regulatory Model Of Resource Scarcimentioning

confidence: 99%

A Self‐Regulatory Model of Resource Scarcity

Cannon¹,

Goldsmith

Roux³

2018

J Consum Psychol

169

194

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…For example, consumers experience resource scarcity by feeling more cognitively taxed (Mani et al, 2013). Consumers react to choice restriction by becoming more aroused, frustrated, and aggressive (Kristofferson, McFerran, Morales, & Dahl, 2016;Zhu & Ratner, 2015). Consumers react to social comparison by feeling inferior and lowering their self-esteem (Chaplin & John, 2007;Sharma & Alter, 2012).…”

Section: Adaptmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An Integrative Framework

Mittal²,

et al. 2018

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Financial constraints are economic limitations on behavior. Given that millions of people experience chronic or episodic financial constraints, we sought to review research that provides insight into how they affect consumer behavior. We propose an integrative framework that draws insights from multiple literatures that have examined financial constraints from different perspectives. The framework distinguishes between four perspectives, which are rooted in literatures on resource scarcity, choice restriction, social comparison, and environmental uncertainty and highlights different temporal stages of responding to financial constraints, distinguishing between reacting, coping, and adapting. Beyond the obvious negative effects of financial constraints, our framework emphasizes consumer resilience, highlighting that consumers often successfully cope with and devise adaptive strategies to deal with financial constraints. By broadening the behavioral and temporal scope of financial constraints considered within consumer psychology, this framework helps us to understand the often strong and sometimes counterintuitive effects of financial constraints on consumer behavior.

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“…The results from these studies provide relevant insights into how and why reminders of resource scarcity influence consumers' attitudes toward range marketing offers. By being the first to investigate the relationship between resource scarcity and regulatory focus, we extend the marketing literature on the motivational impact of resource constraints (e.g., Cannon, Goldsmith, and Roux 2018;Kristofferson et al 2017;Laran and Salerno 2013;Mehta and Zhu 2016;Zhu and Ratner 2015). In addition to revealing a novel marketing consequence of resource scarcity, the current research contributes to the pricing literature (Ames and Mason 2015;Cai, Bagchi, and Gauri 2016;Janiszewski and Lichtenstein 1999;Monga and Bagchi 2012) by providing insights on the sociopsychological factors shaping consumers' attitudes toward range marketing offers and the underlying mechanism.…”

mentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Previous marketing research has traditionally treated resource scarcity as a factor inherent to the volume of a product or commodity (Lynn 1991). More recently, however, consumer research has expanded the scope beyond domain-specific scarcity in order to explore the psychological and behavioral consequences of the overall perception of resource scarcity on various consumption-related behaviors, such as aggression (Kristofferson et al 2017), creativity (Mehta and Zhu 2016), food choice (Laran and Salerno 2013), product preference (Zhu and Ratner 2015), and prosocial behavior (Roux, Goldsmith, and Bonezzi 2015). Adding to this stream of research, the current work investigates a novel effect of resource scarcity, namely how the perception of resource scarcity leads to consumers' favorable attitude toward range marketing offers.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Room for Opportunity: Resource Scarcity Increases Attractiveness of Range Marketing Offers

Fan

Jiang

2018

Journal of Consumer Research

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LINYING (SOPHIE) FAN XUENI (SHIRLEY) LI YUWEI JIANG Although marketing offers with flexible price options within a range of two endpoints (i.e., range offers) have been frequently used in various contexts, such as discount ranges, flexible pricing, and deal quotations, our understanding of how consumers react to this pricing strategy is rather limited. The current research suggests that consumers' reaction to range marketing offers may depend on their general sense of scarcity. Eight studies show that reminders of resource scarcity induce a promotion orientation among consumers, which consequently increases consumers' favorability toward range marketing offers. This effect is found to strengthen when the range of the offer becomes wider, and to weaken when the range offer cannot provide a better-than-reference outcome. These findings result in novel theoretical insights about the ways consumers react to range marketing offers. From a managerial perspective, this research offers tactics that companies can use to potentially increase the acceptance and effectiveness of range marketing offers.

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The Dark Side of Scarcity Promotions: How Exposure to Limited-Quantity Promotions Can Induce Aggression

Cited by 84 publications

References 60 publications

A Self‐Regulatory Model of Resource Scarcity

A Self‐Regulatory Model of Resource Scarcity

How Financial Constraints Influence Consumer Behavior: An Integrative Framework

Room for Opportunity: Resource Scarcity Increases Attractiveness of Range Marketing Offers

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