The Effect of Value-Signaling Message Framing on Consumer Reactions: The Roles of Aesthetic Appeal and Status Consumption Orientation

Value signaling has emerged as a crucial mechanism in shaping consumer evaluations, with prior research highlighting how scarcity-based cues convey exclusivity and enhance perceived value. In this vein, scarcity operates not merely as a supply constraint but as a symbolic signal that shapes consumers’ perceptions of exclusivity and desirability. By reinforcing identity-relevant meanings, scarcity enhances perceived brand value and strengthens consumers’ affective and behavioral responses. This paper advances a meaning-based perspective by examining how scarcity, framed in marketing communication, influences consumers’ willingness to buy luxury products through perceived aesthetic appeal. Across two experimental studies involving fictitious luxury collectibles and fashion products (Study 1, N = 139; Study 2, N = 169), findings show that high (vs. low) scarcity message framing increases purchase intention by enhancing perceived aesthetic appeal. However, such a mechanism is not uniform across consumers: Drawing on status consumption theory, the results demonstrate that the positive effect of aesthetic appeal on willingness to buy is significantly stronger among consumers with a high (vs. lower) status consumption orientation, while scarcity cues may even dampen purchase intentions among low-status-oriented consumers.