Mood affects consumer inferences of marketers’ scarcity claim as a sales tactic

• Seung Yun Lee

  Konkuk University

• Sangdo Oh

  Yonsei University

• Sunho Jung

  Kyung Hee University

Participants were 130 undergraduate students at a large university, who made product evaluation ratings (i.e., attitude toward a brand) and rated their perceptions of scarcity claims as a sales tactic, after we had manipulated their mood. Results showed that when individuals were in a negative mood, their preference for mood repair led them to rely on the heuristic of scarcity = value inference to improve their mood. Therefore, scarcity had a positive effect on consumers’ product evaluation when they were in a negative mood. In contrast, when individuals were in a positive mood, they were motivated to retain their mood by avoiding negative events. Thus, consumers in a positive mood were more sensitive to the possibility of a scarcity claim being a sales tactic used by marketers to artificially increase demand. Further, their increased inference of scarcity claims being a sales tactic attenuated the positive effect of scarcity on their product evaluation.

1. Seung Yun Lee, Konkuk University
   College of Business
2. Sangdo Oh, Yonsei University
   School of Business, College of Government and Business
3. Sunho Jung, Kyung Hee University
   School of Management

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