Emotions, deliberations, and end‐of‐life products

Abstract

Death is inevitable; yet, not all consumers prepare for death by purchasing end‐of‐life (EOL) products. Using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the dual‐process model framework, this study aims to examine the role of emotions and cognitions in influencing consumers' decisions to engage in planning for death. A mixed methodology design was used. Study 1, a qualitative study, uncovered positive and negative emotions and deliberative reasoning that comprise consumers' EOL purchase decision process. Study 2, a quantitative study, confirmed that emotions and deliberations independently and jointly influenced consumers' EOL attitude and behavior and that emotions affected deliberations for both prepaid funerals and wills. Subjective norms outperformed attitude in predicting both products' purchase behavior. These finding supported the dual‐process model of behavior and the TRA in the EOL research context and contributed to the EOL literature by investigating the effects of emotions and deliberations concurrently; thus validating the important role of emotions in influencing EOL planning and purchase. In light of our findings, marketers could, after due cognizance of the morbidity and sensitivity of the topic, develop actionable promotional and segmentation strategies for EOL products and other emotion‐laden, unsought products and service.

A bibliometric retrospection of marketing from the lens of psychology: Insights from Psychology & Marketing

“…All of these articles constitute the most influential P&M articles, as indicated in Table 7. Notably, the theories discussed in articles constituting this cluster include goal‐driven behavior theory (Zhang et al, 2018), theory of planned behavior (Guiot et al, 2019), and theory of reasonedaction (Sheng et al, 2019), among others.…”

Death imagery in antipoaching advertising

“…This study has several implications. First, the findings contribute to the literature on effects of death-related media content (Das et al, 2014;Sheng et al, 2019;Venmahavong et al, 2019), which has indicated that death imagery in news stories or movies carries over to evaluations of subsequent advertising (Liu & Smeesters, 2010;Rangan et al, 2015;Venmahavong et al, 2019). However, researchers have not directly tested the effects of death images shown in advertising, but the current findings fill that gap and provide straightforward implications for marketing managers.…”

What we do know and don’t know about marketing communications on mature consumers

“…With chronological age as a starting point, mature consumers can be segmented and used as such for marketing purposes. Barnhart and Peñaloza (2013) and Huff and Cotte (2016), for example, both note a distinct change in consumer behaviour in the over 80s, whereby relatives and carers may be involved in the consumer decision-making process, especially in bigger consumer purchases such as care services (Sheng et al , 2019). While the academic literature acknowledges the limitations of relying solely on simple demographic variables such as chronological age (Guido et al , 2014; Johnson and Cobb-Walgren, 1994; Stephens, 1991), these variables can provide rich insights in combination with other variables.…”