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When feeling powerless, we crave nostalgia: The impact of powerlessness on the preference for nostalgic products

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Abstract

Powerlessness is a prevalent experience in everyday life. Although research has indicated that consumption can restore a sense of power, it remains unclear how people cope with powerlessness when regaining power is impossible. We propose that in such circumstances nostalgia consumption can act as a coping strategy, and examine if so, then how and when powerlessness increases consumer preference for nostalgic products. Across eight studies (including three supplementary studies), we found that consumers preferred nostalgic products when they felt powerless more than when they felt powerful. Uncertainty about the future acted as the underlying mechanism, one that consumers could alleviate by consuming nostalgic products. When high-status and nostalgic products were both available and regaining power was therefore possible, consumers with higher self-acceptance still preferred nostalgic products, whereas ones with lower self-acceptance preferred high-status products.

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Data Availability

The data of our paper is currently stored in a Dropbox folder under the management of the first two authors. The data is available from the corresponding author upon request.

Notes

  1. In Study 3 and all other studies presented in this article, we calculated the sample mean and standard deviation for each variable and identified responses 3 SD above or below the sample mean as outliers. In Study 3, when we used the full sample, the effect of powerlessness on the preference for the nostalgic brand was marginally significant (F(1, 239) = 3.62, p = .06).

  2. A post-test (N = 153) examined whether our manipulation of powerlessness influenced perceptions of how the boss treated the employee. After viewing the same job description used in the main experiment, participants evaluated their perceptions of the boss in two items: “How nicely/respectfully do you think the boss treats the employee?” (1 = not nicely/respectfully at all, 7 = very nicely/respectfully). The results indicated that low-power and high-power participants provided similar evaluations for nicely (Mhigh-power = 3.25, SD = 1.39, Mlow-power = 3.50, SD = 1.46; F(1, 151) = 1.21, p = .27) and respectfully (Mhigh-power = 3.19, SD = 1.50, Mlow-power = 3.57, SD = 1.67; F(1, 151) = 2.10, p = .15). Those results allowed us to rule out the employee’s treatment as an alternative explanation for the focal effect. We are grateful to an anonymous reviewer for the suggestion to examine that possibility.

  3. When using the full sample, we found a marginally significant three-way interaction (F(1, 236) = 3.35, p = .069).

  4. When using the full sample, we found a marginally significant interactive effect (t(271) = 1.84, p = .067).

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Funding

Preparation of this paper was supported by Grant # 72072179 and #7230021311 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China awarded to Jun Pang and Sheng Bi respectively.

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  1. Sheng Bi and Jun Pang contributed equally to this article and are the co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management and Economics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, China

    Sheng Bi

  2. School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Jun Pang

  3. China National Petroleum Corporation Managers Training Institute, Beijing, China

    Huan Chen

  4. Carson College of Business, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99163, USA

    Andrew Perkins

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Appendices

Appendix 1

Table 3 Results of manipulation checks for powerlessness in Studies 1–5
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Appendix 2

Table 4 Table Measurement of constructs
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Appendix 3

Table 5 Correlations in Study 3
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Bi, S., Pang, J., Chen, H. et al. When feeling powerless, we crave nostalgia: The impact of powerlessness on the preference for nostalgic products. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-023-00990-y

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