Scarcity and Power in Sensory Marketing: The Counterintuitive Impact of Resource Constraints on Shape Preferences

ABSTRACT This study investigates how consumers′ power states influence visual shape preferences, and how scarcity reverses these effects. It challenges prevailing knowledge in sensory marketing. Across four online experiments with over 885 U.S. and U.K. participants, we demonstrate that low‐power consumers prefer circular shapes, which convey warmth and safety, while high‐power consumers tend to choose angular shapes that signal competence and control. Study 1 confirms baseline differences in shape preference across power levels. Study 2 demonstrates that perceived safety and risk mediate the relationship between power and shape preference supporting Risk Perception Theory and the Agentic–Communal Model. Under scarcity, Study 3 reveals a reversal, with low‐power consumers shifting toward angular shapes to prioritize efficiency. Study 4 shows that time pressure strengthens this shift, reflecting urgency‐driven, goal‐directed behavior consistent with Construal Level Theory. These results connect power psychology, risk perception and construal‐level theory providing novel insights for branding, product design, and scarcity‐based marketing strategies. Marketers should align product esthetics with consumers′ power states and situational constraints to enhance persuasion, especially during urgency‐based promotions or resource‐limited contexts.