Resource Scarcity Increases the Value of Pride

Resource scarcity can weaken our sense of control and be unpleasant and aversive. Yet no research to date has investigated how consumers regulate affect arising from resource scarcity. We examine this issue. Three studies show that affect regulation arising from scarcity leads consumers to value pride. Pride occurs from an achievement and conveys a sense of personal agency to be able to create positive outcomes; hence, it is uniquely suited to regulate resource scarcity by restoring control. Together, our findings demonstrate that affect regulation in response to resource scarcity is not driven by purely hedonic motives but, rather, is guided by instrumental motives where consumers value emotion that provides important epistemic benefits to the self. Our research resides at the intersection of resource scarcity and affect regulation, and by showing how consumers regulate resource scarcity, we connect these two research streams in a manner that has not been done previously.