The impact of fear on the effectiveness of customer empowerment‐messages in online retailing
研究发现在线零售中，当消费者因存在性威胁（如新冠疫情、经济恐惧）而感到高度恐惧时，原本能提升13%销售额的赋能信息不再有效，因为高度恐惧下消费者不感到责任增加，也不提升购买。
Abstract We explore the effectiveness of empowerment‐messages in two contexts of fear caused by an existential threat: COVID‐19 pandemic and economic fear. We show in a field experiment that an empowerment‐message, which increased sales of an online retailer by 13% before COVID‐19 lockdowns when fear was low, does not have the same effect post‐COVID‐19 lockdowns when fear is high. Three follow‐up experiments show that when fear is low, an empowerment‐message makes individuals feel responsible and increases purchase. When fear is high, an empowerment‐message does not make individuals feel responsible and does not improve purchase. We find that personal control that is generally desired, does not resonate with individuals in the context of fear caused by an existential threat. This implies that marketers should reconsider their use of marketing efforts that empower consumers in high fear contexts.