Inspired to Create: Awe Enhances Openness to Learning and the Desire for Experiential Creation

Automated fabrication, home services, and premade goods pervade the modern consumer landscape. Against this backdrop, this research explored how an emotion—awe—could motivate consumers to instead partake in experiential creation (i.e., activities wherein one actively produces an outcome) by enhancing their willingness to learn. Across eight experiments, experiencing awe (vs. happiness, excitement, pride, amusement, and/or neutrality) increased people’s likelihood of choosing an experiential creation gift (vs. one not involving experiential creation), willingness to pay for experiential creation products (vs. comparable ready-made products), likelihood of creating a bespoke snack (vs. taking a premade one), preference for experiential creation solutions (vs. solutions without experiential creation), likelihood of purchasing a product when it was framed as high (vs. low) in experiential creation, preference for high (vs. low) experiential creation meals, and likelihood of creating a knickknack (vs. taking a premade one). This greater desire for experiential creation was mediated by openness to learning and moderated by need for closure. These findings, relevant for firms encouraging creation-oriented products and behaviors, offer fresh insights on engaging consumers.