The Effect of the Sense of Feeling Old on Experiential Creation Consumption Among Young People

The sense of initial aging that means the sense of feeling old among the young is ubiquitous nowadays. This research examines the effect of this sense on willingness to engage in experiential creation consumption. Across five preregistered studies, we find that the sense of initial aging increases the willingness of experiential creation consumption (Study 1). This effect is driven by openness to learning (Studies 2 and 3). Moreover, this driver only occurs when consumers insist on a high correlation between self-esteem and remaining young (Study 4) or perceive high employment pressure (Study 5). These results contribute to theories of cognitive age and compensatory consumption and shed light on implications for marketers