Events

Professor Tanya Chartrand
Roy J. Bostock Marketing Professor
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
The Fuqua School of Business
Duke University

ABSTRACT

We propose that theories of ideological beliefs can provide insight into how consumers respond to scarcity; namely, through other-oriented processes that are less explored in the scarcity literature. We predict that consumers who reject (vs. endorse) social hierarchy will take smaller (larger) quantities of scarce goods due to their higher (lower) empathic concern for other shoppers. Support is found using actual and hypothetical choices/behavior, and across numerous contexts and scarce goods. Theory-relevant boundary conditions are also identified: those who reject hierarchy respond with less empathic concern and are more willing to take scarce goods when (1) the product satisfies less (vs. more) important needs (e.g., indulgences vs. necessities), (2) others’ consumption goals are less important than one’s own, and when (3) buying larger quantities only benefits others. By bridging two burgeoning areas of research, the results shed light on behaviors and contexts that are rarely explored in the scarcity literature and demonstrate the relevance of other-oriented processes in understanding consumer responses to product scarcity.