When Thoughts of 'Having Less' Promote the Desire to Become One's Best: Reminders of Resource Scarcity Increase the Desire for Self-Improvement

Abstract

Consumers often encounter reminders of resource scarcity; however, to date, relatively little is known about how such reminders affect the weight that consumers’ place on different product benefits when they make tradeoffs between outcomes. In this article, we test the prediction that reminders of resources scarcity will increase the desire for self-improvement, and provide evidence that this shift in the desire for self-improvement has consequences for consumer behavior. In particular, we observe that reminders of resource scarcity increase consumers’ interest in and willingness to pay for products that are associated with self-improvement related benefits. Thus our results demonstrate that resource scarcity can have positive implications for the improvement of individual consumer welfare through the activation of self-improvement motives. In addition, we offer a novel perspective on the conditions under which considerations of “having less” may alternately increase versus decrease consumer spending.