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Scarcity, sex, and spending: Recession cues increase women's desire for men owning luxury products and men's desire to buy them

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  • Bradshaw, Hannah K.
  • Rodeheffer, Christopher D.
  • Hill, Sarah E.

Abstract

Guided by insights from evolutionary models of women's mate preferences, we hypothesized resource scarcity cues will increase women's desire for men owning luxury products and men's desire to purchase them. We tested this hypothesis across three studies, using recession (versus control) cues to manipulate resource scarcity. The first study revealed that, after being primed with recession (versus control) cues, women (but not men) rated opposite-sex targets owning luxury brands as more attractive. The second study found recession cues increase men's, but not women's, desire for luxury, compared to budget, brand products. Finally, the third study demonstrated desire for luxury products under conditions of resource scarcity is driven by men highly motivated to attract short-term, sexual relationships. By showing how recessions influence women's mating psychology and men's consumer preferences, the current research provides a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between resource availability, mating psychology, and the consumption of luxury brands.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradshaw, Hannah K. & Rodeheffer, Christopher D. & Hill, Sarah E., 2020. "Scarcity, sex, and spending: Recession cues increase women's desire for men owning luxury products and men's desire to buy them," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 561-568.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:120:y:2020:i:c:p:561-568
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2019.07.021
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    References listed on IDEAS

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