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A product’s connection to self-threat domain determines self-control impairment consequences of within-domain compensatory consumption

Nimish Rustagi (Press Information Bureau, Government of India, New Delhi, India)
L.J. Shrum (Department of Marketing, HEC Paris, Jouy-en-Josas, France)

Journal of Consumer Marketing

ISSN: 0736-3761

Article publication date: 30 April 2024

Issue publication date: 10 June 2024

187

Abstract

Purpose

Studies have shown that within-domain compensatory consumption can successfully repair the damaged self, but other research indicates that it can undermine self-control because such consumption causes self-threat rumination that impairs self-regulatory resources. This paper aims to identify a boundary condition that reconciles and explains these contradictory findings.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted three experiments to show that within-domain compensatory consumption undermines self-control, but only in some situations. They test a boundary condition (i.e. type of connections between within-domain products and self-threat domain) for the effects of such consumption on self-threat rumination and self-control.

Findings

This paper demonstrates that within-domain (but not across-domain) compensatory consumption induces rumination and reduces subsequent self-control, but only when the product’s connection to the self-threat domain is made explicit through brand names or slogans. When the connection is merely implicit, rumination and self-control deficits are not observed.

Practical implications

Consumers may seek certain products to bolster threatened aspects of their self-concept. Marketing tactics that explicitly highlight connections to such self-aspects can lower a consumer’s self-control resulting in stronger purchase intent, while at the same time hindering the possibility of self-concept repair. Managers need to be wary of ethical concerns.

Originality/value

This research qualifies the existing findings by presenting “type of product connection” as a key determinant of within-domain compensatory consumption’s impact on self-control. Researchers need to be conscious of the type of products (explicitly vs implicitly connected to the self-threat domain) they use in compensatory consumption studies, because this may influence their findings.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The second author acknowledges support from the HEC Foundation of HEC Paris and Investissements d’Avenir (ANR-11-IDEX-0003/Labex Ecodec/ANR-11-LABX-0047). The authors thank Tina Lowrey for her helpful comments on this research.

Citation

Rustagi, N. and Shrum, L.J. (2024), "A product’s connection to self-threat domain determines self-control impairment consequences of within-domain compensatory consumption", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 369-377. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCM-02-2022-5187

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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