More or less? The effects of financial constraints on variety-seeking behavior
Journal of Contemporary Marketing Science
ISSN: 2516-7480
Article publication date: 8 September 2020
Issue publication date: 21 September 2020
Abstract
Purpose
In daily life, consumers usually experience economic limitations on their consumption, which in turn results in experiencing financial constraints. The purpose of this article is to examine how feeling financially constrained influences variety seeking in consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted three experiments to test the proposed hypotheses by applying multiple methods of manipulation of financial constraints and different measures of variety seeking.
Findings
The authors found that feeling financially constrained increases consumers’ insecurity, which in turn decreases their variety-seeking behavior. Additionally, the authors noted that individuals’ positive illusion could moderate the aforementioned effect. The negative effect of financial constraints on variety seeking only existed among consumers with a low positive illusion.
Practical implications
The findings in this article could help marketers attain a better understanding of consumers’ choices under financial constraints and could help retailers optimize their product lines and distribution.
Originality/value
This research marks the first attempt to examine the relationship between financial constraint and variety seeking. The findings make for a valuable addition to both the financial constraint and variety-seeking literature reviews. The research study also extends the literature on how insecurity and positive illusion influence individuals’ decisions in the consumption context.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
“This article was previously published in Mandarin as [樊亚凤& 蒋晶 (2017). 财务约束感对消费者多样化寻求行为的影响及心理机制, 营销科学学报, 13 (2), 56-69]. This translation appears here with the permission of the Chinese Marketing Association of Universities.”
The research study was funded by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2019M650752) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Projects (no. 71972114).
Citation
Fan, Y., Jiang, J. and Hu, Z. (2020), "More or less? The effects of financial constraints on variety-seeking behavior", Journal of Contemporary Marketing Science, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCMARS-01-2020-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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