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Linking Temporal Landmarks to Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Roles of Self-Transcendence and Self-Enhancement

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Abstract

Voluntary simplicity (VS) refers to a minimalistic lifestyle of conscious, ecological, and ethical consumption, which is conducive to individual, societal, and environmental well-being. For policymakers and business managers, a key to leveraging this consumer shift is to promote persuasive appeals effectively. This research theorizes that the two forms of VS appeals are systematically associated with distinct temporal landmarks. In particular, we demonstrate that consumers are more likely to engage in biospheric voluntary simplicity (BVS) when priming a temporal landmark as the start of a time period. In contrast, consumers are more likely to participate in egoistic voluntary simplicity (EVS) when priming a temporal landmark as the end of a time period. Notably, the matching effects are driven by distinct mechanisms, such that the effect of a match between a start temporal landmark and BVS appeals is driven by self-transcendence, whereas the effect of a match between an end temporal landmark and EVS appeals is motivated by self-enhancement. Beyond their substantive theoretical significance, our findings provide marketing campaigns with tools to enact strategies that support voluntary simplicity.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (72302103), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2023M731310), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (23JNQN48).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Advertising, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

    Siyun Chen

  2. Management School, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China

    Haiying Wei

  3. Research Institute on Brand Innovation and Development of Guangzhou, Guangzhou, China

    Haiying Wei

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  1. Siyun Chen
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  2. Haiying Wei
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Appendices

Appendix

Appendix A

See Figs. 3 and 4.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Materials of the BVS appeal used in Study 2

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Fig. 4
figure 4

Materials of the EVS appeal used in Study 2

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Appendix B

See Figs. 5 and 6.

Fig. 5
figure 5

Materials of the start temporal landmark used in Study 2

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Fig. 6
figure 6

Materials of the end temporal landmark used in Study 2

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Chen, S., Wei, H. Linking Temporal Landmarks to Voluntary Simplicity: The Mediating Roles of Self-Transcendence and Self-Enhancement. J Bus Ethics 188, 693–708 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-023-05504-y

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