Product Scarcity by Need for Uniqueness Interaction: A Consumer Catch-22 Carousel?

According to uniqueness theory (Snyder as such, a high need for uniqueness may be related to (a) forces in a given situation that promote an extreme sense of high similarity and (b) dispositional factors that influence the high need for uniqueness across a variety of situations. Because commodities are an important source for defining one's sense of self in Western culture, it is reasoned that scarce products provide a vehicle for establishing one's specialness when the need for uniqueness is activated. In support of this contention, studies in which product scarcity (low vs. high) is crossed with need for uniqueness (low vs. high) have typically produced an interaction such that the high-need for uniqueness persons are especially attracted to scarce product s (Lynn, 1991). Factors that should further amplify this predicted interaction are explored, along with the implications of this interaction for American society, including a possible cycle in which the consumer may be caught in the continued search for new and special products. The need for uniqueness explanation for the valuation of scarce commodities is compared with other theoretical explanations.