The territory effect: How awe reduces territoriality and enhances sharing intention

A sharing economy promotes the optimal allocation of various resources, and is especially stimulating for social resources that positively impact social development. Therefore, how to enhance consumers’ sharing intention has become a major issue. Research tends to focus on what motivates sharing intention from the perspective of consumers as service recipients. In recent years, research has begun to consider the context in which consumers play the role of service provider. However, most of these studies are conducted from the perspective of cognition rather than emotion. Diverging from past findings, we examine the effect of awe on sharing intention and discuss the mediating effect of territoriality and the moderating effects of perceived similarity and regulatory focus. Five experiments show that consumers are more likely to share resources when experiencing awe than any other emotion because awe reduces their tendency toward territoriality. We also find that this effect is reinforced in the context of high (vs. low) perceived similarity among consumers and for promotion-focused (vs. prevention-focused) consumers.