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The link between self-uncertainty and conspicuous consumption: Tolerance of uncertainty as a moderator
Open accessAbstract
This study, based on self-affirmation theory, aims to investigate the impact of self-uncertainty on individual consumption behavior. Self-uncertainty was categorized into moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty, and different types of self-uncertainty were manipulated through four experiments, including a moral dilemma, a recall paradigm, and a picture quiz task written by E-Prime software to examine the effects of different types of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption and their possible boundary conditions. Our results show that moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty contribute to a stronger tendency to engage in conspicuous consumption. Our results also suggest that tolerance of uncertainty moderates the effect of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption, meaning that subjects with a high tolerance of uncertainty are less inclined to engage in conspicuous consumption than those with a low tolerance of uncertainty, even if they have high self-uncertainty. This study may provide an explanation for conspicuous consumption behavior, further validating the theory of compensatory consumption. Additionally, the results from this study also provide a reference for understanding people’s decision-making behavior in an uncertain social context and can provide new guidance to control irrational consumption behavior.
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“SCC was negatively related to both SII and CC.”
From The Moderating Role of Self-Concept Clarity in the Relationship between Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence and Conspicuous Consumption (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2023
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“We can infer from previous studies that self-concept clarity negatively affects conspicuous consumption (Chakraborty & Chattaraman, 2025), social comparison increases the tendency of consumers with low self-concept clarity to engage in conspicuous consumption (Zheng et al., 2018), self-uncertainty increases the tendency towards conspicuous consumption (Wang et al., 2023), and individuals with low”
From The Moderating Role of Self-Concept Clarity in the Relationship between Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influence and Conspicuous Consumption (2026) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2023
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Hogg, M. A. (2007) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(06)39002-8 · Cited by 990
Carleton, R. N. (2012) · Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics · doi:10.1586/ern.12.82 · Cited by 665 · cited 2×
“Despite its negative perception, conspicuous consumption can go some way to curbing the worry and anxiety caused by self-uncertainty, helping people to tolerate the aversion caused by uncertain contexts and adapt better to this age of information explosion (Bredemeier and Berenbaum, 2008; Luhmann et al., 2011; Carleto…”
BackgroundExperimental manipulation of intolerance of uncertainty: a study of a theoretical model of worry
Ladouceur, R., Gosselin, P., & Dugas, M. J. (2000) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(99)00133-3 · Cited by 524
McEvoy, P. M., & Mahoney, A. E. J. (2012) · Behavior Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.beth.2011.02.007 · Cited by 468
Protecting the self through consumption: Status goods as affirmational commodities
Sivanathan, N., & Pettit, N. C. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.01.006 · Cited by 449
Making Sense of Life: The Existential Self Trying to Deal with Personal Uncertainty
van den Bos, K. (2009) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1080/10478400903333411 · Cited by 395
Distress Tolerance: Theory, Measurement, and Relations to Psychopathology
Zvolensky, M. J., Vujanovic, A. A., Bernstein, A., & Leyro, T. (2010) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721410388642 · Cited by 357 · cited 1×
“Tolerance of uncertainty reflects individual differences in the tendency of cognitive, emotional, or behavioral responses to contexts of uncertainty (Zvolensky et al., 2010).”
BackgroundGawronski, B., Armstrong, J., Conway, P., Friesdorf, R., & Hütter, M. (2017) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspa0000086 · Cited by 278
Butzer, B., & Kuiper, N. A. (2006) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.12.017 · Cited by 263
Mazzocco, P. J., Rucker, D. D., Galinsky, A. D., & Anderson, E. T. (2012) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2012.07.002 · Cited by 147 · cited 6×
“The increase in the propensity to conspicuous consumption suggests that subjects respond to perceived ego uncertainty by conspicuous consumption, implying that conspicuous consumption is an effective means of compensation in uncertain contexts and can help individuals cope with the effects of uncertain contexts (Mazzo…”
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(2026) · International Journal of Marketing, Communication and New Media · doi:10.54663/2182-9306.2026.v.14.n.26.204-227
Metadata
- Authors
- Wang, X., Zhu, H., Zhao, Q., Song, C., & Wang, X.
- Affiliations
- Qufu Normal University (CN)
- Anyang Preschool Education College (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Xiaoming
- Wang, Xiuxin
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2023-01-09
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- 1066938-1066938
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9869260
- OpenAlex
- W4315490591
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2
- FWCI
- 1.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Consumer Perception and Purchasing Behavior
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › General Decision Sciences › Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics
- Keywords
- self-uncertainty, conspicuous consumption, uncertainty tolerance, self-affirmation theory, compensatory consumption, irrational consumption, consumer behavior
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