创造性活动参与是否促进了恐怖娱乐消费?来自二手数据和实验的证据

Does engaging in creative activities increase consumers’preference for horror entertainment consumption?Evidence from secondary data study and experiments

恐怖娱乐消费是指对唤起恐惧和害怕情绪的体验或产品的消费(如,观看恐怖电影)。以往研究表明,消费者会出于不同的动机和原因消费恐怖体验及产品。由于消费者过去的经历会对其后续消费偏好产生重要影响,因此,本文基于跨情境视角探究了影响消费者恐怖娱乐消费偏好的前因。通过一项二手数据研究和6项实验研究,本文发现先前参与创造性活动(vs.非创造性活动)会促进消费者随后对恐怖娱乐消费的偏好与选择,自我效能的提升是中介机制。此外,本文还表明,创造性活动参与对消费者的恐怖娱乐消费偏好的影响受到反馈效价以及活动难度的调节。本文对已有的消费者创造力研究和恐怖娱乐消费研究做出了推进,对恐怖娱乐产业提供了实践启示。

As the horror consumption industry expands,horror-related entertainment projects have become one of the most popular and profitable forms of entertainment.However,although horror films and horror challenge events appeal to some younger consumers,the majority of consumers show a reluctance to consume these products due to fear and dread.Therefore,from a practical standpoint,it is worth investigating which factors can increase or decrease consumers'willingness to consume horror products.However,previous research mainly focused on examining the same-domain factors that drive consumers'horror consumption preferences.Limited research studied the cross-domain factors that influence consumers'preferences for horror consumption.To address this research gap,this paper examines how consumers'horror consumption preferences are influenced by their experiences in a prior,unrelated context.Specifically,this paper proposes that prior engagement in creative activities(versus non-creative activities)increases consumers'preference for horror consumption,and self-efficacy mediates the cross-domain effect.Furthermore,this paper proposes that the cross-domain effect will be evident when consumers receive positive feedback regarding their creative performance,and when the creative activity is lowly difficult.Conversely,the effect will disappear when consumers receive negative feedback or when the creative activity is highly difficulty.Across seven studies,we provide converging evidence for our propositions.Specifically,we find that engaging consumers in a creative activity can increase their preference for horror consumption(Studies 1~3)due to the increases in self-efficacy(Studies 4a~4b).Furthermore,the effect of engaging in creative activities on consumers'preference for horror consumption disappears(is evident)when consumers receive negative(positive)feedback(Study 5)and when the creative activity is highly(lowly)difficult to complete(Study 6).Finally,the above results cannot be explained by alternative explanations such as mood(Study 2~3),motivation to seek new experiences(Study 4a),felt inspiration in creative activities and felt pleasure(Study 4b).This paper makes several theoretical advances to prior research.First,it advances the literature on horror consumption by investigating the cross-domain factors that influence consumers’preference for horror consumption.This exploration opens new avenues for studying consumers'preferences for horror products.Second,this paper contributes to past creativity research by investigating how consumers'behavior changes when they engage in a creative activity.The current research reveals a novel outcome of consumers'engagement in creative activities:an increased preference for horror consumption.Finally,this paper contributes to self-efficacy research by establishing a linkage between engaging in creative activities and self-efficacy,and a linkage between self-efficacy and horror consumption.We contribute to prior literature by proposing that engaging in creative activities can boost self-efficacy.In addition,we show that increased self-efficacy can lead consumers to engage in horror consumption.