How Tragedy Affects Consumer Choice: The Effects of Tragedy on Meaningful Consumption

Abstract

This thesis attempted to explore the changes in people's consumption behavior when exposed to traumatic, tragic events. The results indicate that when people experience tragic in-group events directly, meaningful consumption increases more than when there are no tragic events. However, when people are exposed to tragic out-group events indirectly, meaningful consumption was not affected as compared with an absence of tragic events. Moreover, when people are exposed to an in-group tragedy, hedonic consumption decreases more than when the tragic event does not occur, whereas when people are exposed to an out-group tragedy, there was no significant difference in hedonic consumption as compared with the case without tragedy. The mediation analysis confirmed that this phenomenon was caused by life reflection. Additionally, when an out-group tragedy occurs, meaningful consumption increases more than the control condition only when the human factor was included in the tragedy. However, in the case of in-group tragedy, the availability of information related to the victims did not affect meaningful consumption intentions. Finally, by collecting the actual Korean music chart dates (Melon Sound chart) and analyzing the weekly music charts before and after the Sewol ferry disaster of 2014, it was confirmed that the top 10 songs after the tragic event showed slower beats per minute and more profound meaning than before the tragic event.