Exposure to Nature Reduces Desire for Money
(A2025-123966)

AUTHORS

Sunxu Xu, Renmin University of China; Ying Ding, Renmin University of China; Yimin Cheng, Monash University

ABSTRACT

Despite the ubiquity of nature in consumers’ lives and its active integration into urban planning and commercial real estate development, there has been limited research investigating the impact of exposure to nature on consumer behavior. The present research examines how and why exposure to nature influences consumers’ desire for money. Six lab and field experiments show that exposure to nature decreases consumers’ public self-consciousness, which subsequently reduces their desire for money as well as several downstream consequences, including the selling price of second-hand products, preference for money-oriented products, etc. Furthermore, the above effect is attenuated when real or imagined social presence is salient. This research bridges the environmental psychology literature on exposure to nature and the consumer literature on money, providing meaningful managerial implications for marketers to design physical and digital purchase environments.