Expanding the experiential advantage model: exploring the mediating roles of a sense of meaning and moderating effects of motivational autonomy

作者：Bin Li, Sijun Wang, Li Lei, Fangjun Li · 发表于：Journal of Consumer Marketing · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1108/jcm-09-2020-4140 · 被引用次数：13 · 研究领域：Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification、Cultural Differences and Values、Customer Service Quality and Loyalty

Purpose This study aims to test the experiential advantage argument from both the hedonic and eudaimonic well-being perspectives and seeks to explore the mediating roles of a sense of meaning, as well as the moderating effects of consumers’ motivational autonomy, in a novel context – China. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 ( n = 203) used a between-subject experiment where participants role-played an imaginary purchase with experiential versus material focus; Study 2 ( n = 290) used a recall method where participants were asked to recall their past experiential purchase or material purchase that cost more than RMB500 (about US$70); Study 3 ( n = 185) used a between-subject experiment where participants were assigned to one of the four scenarios (two types of purchases (experiential vs material) × 2 levels of motivational autonomy (high vs low). Findings The authors find that the experiential advantage argument holds true for eudaimonic well-being as well as hedonic well-being in three studies with Chinese consumers. In addition, the authors find that a sense of meaning serves as an additional mediator for the experiential advantage argument. Further, the authors find that the level of motivational autonomy positively moderates the effect size of experiential advantages and the mediating roles of a sense of meaning. Research limitations/implications The authors only address the two ends of the experiential–material purchase continuum. Whether the discovered mediation roles ...