Premium
Purchasing luck: The impact of scarcity cues on superstitious behavior
Author(s) -
Wang Lili,
Su Xiao,
You Yanfen
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.1886
Subject(s) - scarcity , resource scarcity , luck , purchasing , resource (disambiguation) , economics , empirical research , business , marketing , microeconomics , natural resource economics , philosophy , theology , computer network , epistemology , computer science
Resource scarcity is prevalent in consumers' everyday lives. In contrast to the prior research suggesting that resource scarcity rationalizes consumers' decision‐making, this research examines when and why resource scarcity enhances consumers' superstitiousness, as represented by their preferences for lucky products. Six studies demonstrate that resource scarcity arouses consumers' desire for control, which, in turn, drives consumers to pursue lucky products. The paper concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and empirical implications of the results.