Diverging effect of mortality salience on risk taking: the moderating role of time horizon

Abundant literature has examined how mortality salience influences risk-taking behavior. However, these researches have placed relatively little emphasis on the boundary conditions under which mortality salience may increase or decrease risk taking. This research examines the proposition that mortality salience may increase or decrease risk taking, depending on consumers' perception of time horizon. We conduct two online experiments (N = 470) with between-subjects design. The results show that when the time is perceived as limited, mortality salience weakens sensation seeking, which in turn decreases people's risk taking. In contrast, when the time is perceived as expansive, mortality salience enhances sensation seeking, which in turn increases people's risk taking. Our findings shed light on how and when mortality salience can influence risk taking, and also provide practical implications for marketers and policy-makers on the consumption settings related to risk decisions.
Author(s): Haowen Xiao [sup.1] , Hanlin Liu [sup.1] , Jiayi Guo [sup.1] , Yanxu Chen [sup.1] , Huilin Liu [sup.1] , Zhengrong Wang [sup.2] , Ziqi Shang [sup.1] Author Affiliations: [...]