Research on Cultural Consumption from the Perspective of Mental Accounting

Behavioral economics emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Compared to traditional economics, its theory is based on bounded rationality and combines with disciplines like psychology to address the limitations of traditional economic theory, providing more convincing explanations for market phenomena. Behavioral economics covers a wide range of topics, and this paper focuses on the perspective of mental accounting to study cultural consumption. Cultural consumption is the endogenous driving force for the development of the cultural industry. The psychological factors behind cultural consumption are key to influencing consumption decisions. Adopting the mental accounting theory from behavioral economics, residents' cultural consumption mental account consist of three main categories: economic capital account, cultural capital account, and social capital account, as well as six sub-accounts: transaction cost account, sunk cost account, leisure and entertainment account, aesthetic value account, social interaction account, and identity differentiation account. These accounts can effectively explain the influence mechanism between utility changes and cultural consumption behavior decisions. Based on the connotation and mechanism of the cultural consumption mental account theory, formulating various bundled sales strategies, reducing the sunk costs of cultural consumption, and promoting the high-quality development of the cultural industry are important paths to expand residents' cultural consumption. By integrating insights from behavioral economics, this approach can provide more effective solutions to boost cultural consumption and drive the sustainable development of the cultural industry.