Abstract
Appearance threats, arising from gaps between one’s appearance and societal beauty standards, weaken self-control the capacity to favor long-term goals over immediate impulses. This research explores how compensatory consumption mitigates these effects, focusing on type (within-domain vs. across-domain) and timing (near-future vs. distant-future) across two studies. Rooted in symbolic self-completion and construal level theories, Study 1 examines how compensation type affects self-control under appearance threats, with rumination as a mediator. Findings show across-domain compensation sustains self-control by diverting focus from appearance concerns, unlike within-domain compensation, which heightens rumination and impairs self-regulation. Study 2 investigates how compensation timing moderates these outcomes, revealing that delayed within-domain compensation boosts self-control via psychological distance, while across-domain benefits persist regardless of timing. These insights illuminate the interplay of compensation strategies and cognition in self-regulation, offering a foundation for future research into threat contexts and interventions to enhance consumer resilience.
Recommended Citation
Jo, Yi-seo and Kim, Eunice Eun-Sil
(2026)
"Mitigating Appearance Threats: The Differential Effects of Compensatory Consumption on Self-Control,"
Asia Marketing Journal: Vol. 27
:
Iss.
4
, Article 5.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.53728/2765-6500.1667
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