How And Why Popularity Of Sharing Economy Affects Consumers' Preference

Social development plays an important role in consumers' perception and decision making.For example,the emergence of search engine broadens the access to product information,the rise of online shopping offers consumers various products from all over the world,technological innovations spawn unmanned retailing,and iteration of social media makes word of mouth across time and space barriers.Therefore,it is necessary for marketers and scholars to focus on the fundamental effect of social changes on consumers psychology and behavior.The popularity of the sharing economy,as one of the changes,undoubtedly exert the similar influence.Through priming the sharing economy ideology,the research makes sharing economy ideology more accessible,and explores the influence of popularity of sharing economy on consumers' preference between material purchases and experiential purchases.Specifically,this research proposes that priming sharing economy ideology will activate the descriptive norm that others value ownership less,and then guide consumers to act in norm-consistent way,finally decreasing their preference for material purchases.5 experiments were conducted to examine the main effect and the underlying mechanism.In Experiment 1,reading business news worked as priming cue,and we found reading news on sharing economy would affect consumers' preference.Experiment 2 adopted another paradigm(viewing the brand logo)as priming cue,and we found that the observed effect was driven by decreased preference for material purchases instead of by enhanced preference for experiential purchases.Experiment 3 further evaluated different advertisements as priming cue,and examined the underlying mechanism by experimental causal-chains.Experiment 3a found that participants who evaluated Uber(vs.Taxi)ads noticed descriptive norms significantly—others value ownership less.Experiment 3b manipulated descriptive norms-the degree others value ownership,and participants' preferences made decisions in norm-consistent way.In Experiment 4,we examined the mechanism again by introducing a moderator—the need for uniqueness.Since participants with high need for uniqueness would be motivated to be differential from others,they would be unwilling to follow the descriptive norm,and finally the focal effect would turn off.Theoretical contributions are threefold.The research firstly extended the literature on sharing economy,then explored factors influencing consumers preference for material and experiential purchases,and finally brought the underlying mechanism into light,helping us understand complicated individuals' choices.Also,practical implications are discussed.The finding is beneficial for marketers to predict consumers' preference,choose cooperative partners,design products,and realize personalized recommendation.