Study On The Impact Of Power On Aesthetic Consumption Of Product:A Theory Of Locus Of Control Perspective

With the development of materials and spiritual culture in recent years,consumers pay more and more attention to the aesthetic of products while the aesthetic consumption of products has been a new consumption trend.At the same time,the aesthetic value of products also creates considerable economic value for enterprises.Therefore,aesthetic consumption of products has become an important research topic.Based on the previous research conclusions and related theories,this paper finds that power could either increase or decrease aesthetic consumption of products.On the one hand,according to Social Distance Theory,individuals with high power perceive greater social distance and then have higher unique needs,which is easy to show stronger aesthetic consumption of products.On the contrary,according to Agentic-Communal Model,consumers with high power tend to produce a more agentic orientation and pay more attention to the information of function,so they seldom show aesthetic consumption behavior of products.The current research seeks to resolve these conflicting views and examines the impact of power on consumption of aesthetic product and the moderating mechanism of the tendency of internal(vs.external)locus of control based on Locus of Control Theory.According to the above analysis,this paper took the college students and employees as the samples,empirically investigated this problem through three studies.Insides,through the results of data analysis during study 1 and study 2,this paper demonstrates that: with external locus of control,individuals with high(vs.low)power are more inclined to exert more aesthetic consumption of product;and with internal locus of control,individuals with high(vs.low)power tend to exert less aesthetic consumption of product.Moreover,the current research also supposes that these effects are driven by self expression motivation and self enhancement motivation based on Functional Theories of Attitudes.According to the data analysis of study 3,this paper finds that: with external locus of control,self expression motivation plays a mediating role in the process which power influences aesthetic consumption of products,but self enhancement motivation doesn’t play a mediating role;and with internal locus of control,self enhancement motivation mediates the influence of power on aesthetic consumption of products,but self expression motivation doesn’t play a mediating role.From the perspective of Locus of Control Theory and Functional Theories of Attitudes,we make significant theoretical contributions by clarifying the boundary condition and the moderating mechanism of the effect of power on aesthetic consumption of product,and integrating the opposing viewpoints from different literature.Meanwhile,our study can provide practical implications for the marketing publicity and advertisement designing of aesthetic consumption.