Stitching time: vintage consumption connects the past, present, and future

We investigated a novel avenue for buffering against threats to meaning frameworks: vintage consumption. Although the appeal of vintage goods, defined as previously owned items from an earlier era, is strong and growing, this paper is among the first to examine the possible psychological ramifications of vintage consumption. Six studies found that vintage items mitigated the typical reactions to meaning threats. Four of these studies also showed that vintage consumption facilitates mental connections among the past, present, and future. As a result, people whose meaning structures had been threatened, for example, by being reminded of their own eventual death, preferred vintage products more than others who had not experienced a meaning threat, and more than similar non-vintage products. These findings suggest that meaning disruptions stimulate a desire for intertemporal connections, a desire that vintage products—as existing and continuing symbols of bygone eras—seem to satisfy

The effect of self-concept clarity on discretionary spending tendency

Discretionary spending is an important indicator of economic well-being. However, prior research is limited in empirically testing who is more likely to make discretionary purchases. To address this research gap, this article suggests that those who have less clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and temporally stable self-knowledge (i.e., those who have low self-concept clarity [SCC]) have higher discretionary spending tendencies than high-SCC individuals. The results indicate that low-SCC individuals have higher discretionary spending tendencies because they are more likely to adopt avoidant coping strategies than are high-SCC individuals. This research further tests the effectiveness of elaboration on potential outcomes in reducing the discretionary spending tendencies of individuals with high- or low-SCC and demonstrates that it is effective only for high-SCC individuals. This article concludes with a discussion of the theoretical and managerial implications of the results