The purpose of this research is to examine the role of worry versus sadness in influencing young consumers’ purchase decisions and to clarify the differences across the worry–consumption versus the sadness–consumption relationships.
Three studies were conducted. Study 1 was a 3 (emotion: worry vs sadness vs neutral) × 2 (brand perceptions: conflicting vs consistent) between-subject design. Study 2 was a 3 (emotion: sadness vs worry vs neutral) × 2 (product type: social status associated vs hedonic) mixed design. Study 3 was a questionnaire survey.
The results demonstrate that worry induces young consumers’ identification with peers, and is more related to youth’s purchase intention for social status associated products rather than hedonic products. Sadness induces young consumers to follow their own perceptions, and is more associated with purchase intention for hedonic rather than social status-associated products. The drivers of purchase behavior for expensive products also differ: worried young consumers’ purchase intention is driven by perceptions of social status value associated with these products, whereas sad consumers’ purchase intention is driven by perceptions of hedonic value.
This research has significant implications for marketing practitioners on strategic marketing and communication to young consumers. It also provides important suggestions to young consumers on how to effectively regulate negative emotions via socially accepted behavior (i.e. purchases).
This research contributes to the extant literature on emotion’s impact on consumer behavior by elaborating carryover effects of emotion varying in the overlooked personal- and social-focus dimension. It also extends the literature on peer influence among young consumers.
