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Mortality salience effects and status consumption-A reasoned action approach
Jolien Arendsen1, Guido M van Koningsbruggen1, Marieke L Fransen2
1Department of Communication Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Plos One
|May 28, 2026
Summary
Mortality salience (MS) may weakly influence beliefs about status consumption but does not significantly alter consumers' intentions to buy status products. The impact of MS on consumer behavior appears limited.
Area of Science:
- Consumer Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Mortality salience (MS) is theorized to influence consumer behavior, particularly status consumption.
- The psychological mechanisms linking MS to status consumption remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically investigate how mortality salience influences intentions for status consumption using the Reasoned Action Approach.
- To identify specific beliefs affected by mortality salience in the context of status consumption.
Main Methods:
- A belief elicitation study (Study 1) identified salient beliefs related to status consumption.
- A subsequent study (Study 2) examined the effects of mortality salience on these beliefs and behavioral intentions.
Main Results:
- Mortality salience influenced a small subset of beliefs (2 out of 29) underlying status consumption.
- Experiential attitude's predictive power for status consumption intention decreased under mortality salience.
- No significant effects of mortality salience were found on the intention to purchase status products or its direct determinants.
Conclusions:
- While mortality salience can subtly affect underlying beliefs about status consumption, these changes are insufficient to impact behavioral intentions.
- The Reasoned Action Approach provides a framework to understand the limited influence of mortality salience on consumer intentions for status goods.
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