사회적 배제가 DIY 제품 구매의도에 미치는 영향: 정서적 치유의 매개효과

How Social Exclusion Affects DIY Product Purchase Intention: The Mediating Role of Emotional Healing

Purpose - This study examines how social exclusion influences consumers’ purchase intention for DIY versus ready-made products, focusing on the mediating role of emotional healing. It tests whether excluded consumers experience greater psychological recovery through participatory consumption (DIY) than through ready-made products, and how such recovery translates into purchase intention. Design/methodology/approach - 2 (social exclusion: exclusion vs. inclusion) × 2 (product type: DIY vs. ready-made) experiment was conducted with 215 Chinese consumers. Participants were randomly assigned to each condition, and mean differences across groups were tested using independent-samples t-tests. In addition, PROCESS Macro Model 8 was employed to analyze moderated mediation effects. Findings - Results show that social exclusion significantly increased emotional healing in the DIY condition but reduced it in the ready-made condition. Emotional healing positively predicted purchase intention, mediating the interaction effect. The moderated mediation analysis confirmed opposite indirect effects: DIY strengthened purchase intention under exclusion, while ready-made weakened it. Research implications or Originality - This study extends compensatory consumption theory by identifying emotional healing as a key mechanism and highlights DIY products as participatory consumption experiences that firms can leverage in marketing strategies for socially excluded consumers.