Inspired to Create: Awe Enhances Openness to Learning and the Desire for Experiential Creation MELANIE RUDD CHRISTIAN HILDEBRAND KATHLEEN D. VOHS (Forthcoming at the Journal of Marketing Research) Melanie Rudd is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston, C. T. Bauer College of Business, 334 Melcher Hall, Houston, TX 77204-6021 (email:
[email protected]; phone: 713-743-5848). Christian Hildebrand is an Associate Professor of Marketing Analytics at the Institute of Management at the University of Geneva, 40 Bd du Pont d’Arve, 1211 Genève 4, Switzerland (email:
[email protected]; phone: +41 22 379-8589). Kathleen D. Vohs is a Distinguished McKnight University Professor and the Land O’ Lakes Chair in Marketing at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, 321 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455- 9940 (email:
[email protected]; phone: 612-625-8331). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Melanie Rudd. 1 Inspired to Create: Awe Enhances Openness to Learning and the Desire for Experiential Creation Abstract 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.