Effects of art consumption on consumer well‐being

• Published date: 01 June 2022
• Author: Donghwy An,Bo‐ram Jeong,Nara Youn
• Date: 01 June 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12429

SPECIAL ISSUE

Effects of art consumption on consumer

well-being

Donghwy An

1

| Bo-ram Jeong

2

| Nara Youn

3

1

College of Fine Arts, Art Management

Program, Seoul National University,

Seoul, South Korea

2

Cultural Policy Research Division, Korea

Culture & Tourism Institute, Seoul,

South Korea

3

Department of Marketing, Hongik

University, Seoul, South Korea

Correspondence

Nara Youn, Department of Marketing,

Hongik University, 94 Wausan-ro, Mapo-

gu, Seoul, 04066, South Korea.

Email: nara@hongik.ac.kr

Abstract

This research shows that consumers' experience of art,

including artistic commercial products, enhances con-

sumers' well-being by inducing a sense of inspiration.

Prior research in neuroscience and psychology has

documented that participating in art and culture pro-

grams enhances individuals' well-being, but there is a

shortage of empirical evidence documenting the effect

of consumers' art appreciation as products and services

on well-being or the cognitive mechanism underlying

that effect. Our five studies, based on an administrative

dataset (Study 1) and laboratory experiments (Studies

2a–2d), show that consumers' experience of art in daily

life increases consumers' well-being. Furthermore, con-

sumers' experience of art induces inspiration, which in

turn enhances subjective well-being (Studies 2b and

2c), and consumer well-being (Study 2d). Critically,

that effect remained significant across various forms of

art, including paintings, song lyrics, and sculpture, and

extended to commercial products such as computer

screen saver and handbags depicting artistic images.

KEYWORDS

aesthetic consumption, arts, inspiration, well-being

Received: 31 October 2019 Revised: 22 September 2021 Accepted: 8 November 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12429

© 2021 American Council on Consumer Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2022;56:685–702. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 685

1|INTRODUCTION

Well-being has become a trend for consumers (Sweet, 2019) and a strategy and responsibility

for companies (Reilly, 2018). Consumers seek to be well, and successful companies recognize

that consumers do not make choices passively but actively seek happiness through their con-

sumption (Gilovich et al., 2015). Consumers have become more aware of the way they consume

products and strive to achieve well-being by consuming those products in meaningful ways.

Then, how can the consumption of products and services enhance well-being? Well-being is

referred to as a state of pleasure in the hedonic point of view. Previous research in neuroscience

and psychology has claimed that participating in culture- and art-related activities fosters feel-

ings of pleasure, which in turn lead to feelings of well-being (Baklien, 2000; Bygren et al., 1996;

Guetzkow, 2002; Tinio & Gartus, 2018). For example, visitors at art exhibitions experienced pos-

itive emotions such as involvement, interest, wonder, and amusement in response to their expo-

sure to artwork (Tinio & Gartus, 2018). Regardless of genre of the art, aesthetic experience was

pleasurable and activated viewers' reward system in neuroimaging studies (Blood et al., 1999;

Blood & Zatorre, 2001; Christensen & Gomila, 2018; Dutton, 2009; Lacey et al., 2011; Nadal

et al., 2008; Salimpoor et al., 2009; Skov, 2010; Vartanian, 2009). Despite growing interest in

that area, an empirical understanding of how aesthetic consumption—that is, the consumption

of artwork or art-infused products (e.g., products benefitted by a spillover effect of the presence

of art on them because of the specific content of the artwork or the artwork being perceived as

art; Hagtvedt & Patrick, 2008a,2008b)—induces consumers' well-being is still limited. Thus, in

this research, we sought to empirically document the effect of art experience, including the con-

sumption of art-infused products, on consumers well-being and to unveil the cognitive mecha-

nism underlying that effect. We posit that art consumption such as appreciating works of art in

a gallery or performance in a theater enhances consumers' well-being by imbuing them with a

sense of inspiration. In the field of consumer behavior, experiencing works of art was showed

to trigger inspiration in product design, brand naming, and the creation of solutions (An &

Youn, 2018), and psychology literature has showed that inspiration promotes well-being

(Thrash, 2007; Thrash & Elliot, 2003; Thrash & Elliot, 2004; Thrash, Elliot, et al., 2010; Thrash,

Maruskin, et al., 2010).

The contribution of our research to the current knowledge in the area of consumers' well-

being is threefold. First, this is the first attempt to empirically document that consumers' experi-

ence of art increases consumer well-being because art triggers inspiration. We took an experi-

mental approach to theoretically test the mediating role of inspiration for the effect of art on

consumer well-being. Second, we explored how the effect of experiencing art on well-being may

extend to the context of consumption of art-infused commercial products. By testing whether

inspiration and well-being induced through the consumption of art can transfer to business-

related contexts, this research can shed additional light on theoretical implications for the art

infusion literature (e.g., Hagtvedt & Patrick, 2008a,2008b; Naletelich & Paswan, 2018) and

practical implications for brand managers demonstrating how firms can utilize art collaboration

to boost consumer well-being. Third, we utilized a mixed methodology—both an experimental

approach controlling for the confounding effects of other environmental factors and an analysis

of an administrative dataset collected through a nationwide governmental survey to enhance

external validity—to test the robustness of the effect of art consumption on consumer well-

being. In the next section, we review literature establishing the relationship between art con-

sumption and consumer well-being. Next, we introduce the concept of inspiration to explain

686 AN ET AL.