What do we know about consumers’ ontological security in disaster scenarios?

While prior consumer studies have adopted various theoretical perspectives to explain individuals' reactions to disasters, scant attention has been paid to the role of ontological security in shaping those responses. This study attempts to fill this knowledge gap by qualitatively exploring ontological security in two contexts: man-made and natural disasters. To this end, we conducted 35 focus groups in the UK, Germany, and France to address how people reacted to terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic respectively. Through thematic analysis, three themes emerged: fear versus anxiety, oneself versus others, and materialistic versus experiential purchases. Man-made disasters appear to elicit fear, concern for self, and a preference for materialistic purchases, whereas natural disasters seem to trigger anxiety, concern for others, and a preference for experiential purchases. Both types of disasters seem to evoke a desire to escape from reality. In closing, we discuss both transitory and prolonged threats to ontological security and how they shape individuals' behaviours while restoring their security.


| INTRODUCTION
Disasters are caused by hazardous, fleeting events that disrupt routines (Baker, 2009). For the past several decades, people have been facing a myriad of man-made as well as natural disasters. Man-made disasters originate from human forces which are avoidable but can occur when precautionary or preventative measures fail (Perry, 2007).
For example, post-9/11 terrorism has taken many forms and continues to pose a significant threat to societies (Dube & Black, 2010).
In contrast, natural disasters are unavoidable, unforeseeable, or beyond human control, but corrective measures can be taken to prevent or mitigate their future occurrence (Schenker-Wicki et al., 2010).
For example, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, pandemics are classified as natural disasters (Seddighi, 2020). Currently, the world has been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and its various repercussions (hereinafter, 'the pandemic') (e.g., Kim et al., 2022;Mehrolia et al., 2021;Sheth, 2020;Yap et al., 2021). The pandemic's prolonged restrictions have threatened not only individuals' physical health but also their mental wellbeing (Kim et al., 2022).
Such disasters cause serious disruptions to individuals' everyday lives, routines, and, consequently, their established ontological security. Ontological security is 'the extent to which individuals feel that their world and role in it is secure and predictable' (Giddens, 1991, p. 92). The degree of disruption to ontological security is determined by the scope of the threat (Campbell et al., 2020). As individuals' ontological security diminishes, they may exhibit affective, cognitive, or behavioural reactions. Affectively, individuals may endure short-or long-term psychological reactions, such as fear, anxiety, stress, or anger (Carver et al., 1989). Cognitively, they might experience uncertainty (Shen et al., 2019), a loss of control (Beck et al., 2020), and an increased prevalence of death-related thoughts (Schimel et al., 2007).
Behaviourally, individuals' actions may be a manifestation of both affective and cognitive responses. For instance, some could adopt maladaptive coping behaviours such as impulsive, compulsive, or overconsumption (Ruvio et al., 2014).
Consumer studies have often addressed individuals' reactions and coping behaviours following a specific traumatic event by adopting various theoretical perspectives, such as terror management theory (e.g., Okazaki et al., 2019), fear theories (e.g., Longmire et al., 2021), and life event theory (e.g., Sneath et al., 2009). However, ontological security has rarely been addressed in our domain (Table 2), whereas it has been widely examined in international relations (e.g., Mitzen, 2006), environmental sociology (e.g., Banham, 2020), and public health (e.g., Padgett, 2007). As a unique exception, Campbell et al. (2020) recently proposed a 'conceptual tapestry' to explicate consumers' responses to external threats, thereby calling for more research and a greater understanding of how consumers vacillate between ontological security and insecurity when facing threats.
This study aims to fill this knowledge gap by exploring ontological security in two contexts: man-made and natural disasters. More specifically, we focus on individuals' affective, cognitive, and behavioural changes in response to terrorist attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic to address how these disasters disrupt individuals' ontological security. To this end, we conducted 35 focus groups in the UK, Germany, and France.
The findings of this research contribute to the literature in three ways. First, the current stream of research on disasters and consumer behaviour highlights reactions that stem from the event's impact, such as aftermath recovery, panic buying, and hoarding behaviours (e.g., Anderson et al., 2022). Nevertheless, these studies do not delve into the root causes of such responses. This study addresses this issue by exploring how consumers respond and visible nature affects consumers' responses to these disasters. Third, the current study responds to Baker's (2009) call for an alternative approach to incorporate 'the role of markets, consumption, and economic/material aspects of life' to define disasters. In this study, we envisage terrorism and the COVID-19 pandemic as the most vividly exemplified man-made and natural disasters, respectively, as they severely affected consumers' needs and wants, particularly their right to participate in a meaningful way in making consumption choices. We address these issues through the lens of ontological security.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. We first provide a brief overview of disaster-driven consumer studies. Second, we establish a theoretical background on ontological security and our research contexts. Then, we describe the methods used to conduct a series of focus groups in three countries and explain the results. Afterwards, we discuss the findings and draw their implications. In closing, we address important limitations and suggest future research directions.

| Disasters and consumer studies
Natural disasters and violent events have been regular occurrences in the lives of people all over the world. These catastrophic events jeopardize individuals' well-being and cause significant emotional distress (Sneath et al., 2009), thus hindering their ability to function normally (Fung & Carstensen, 2006). Even though the term 'disaster' often refers to the occurrence of severe random acts or force majeure (Cardona, 2004), it should, in practice, be defined as a 'social phenomenon' whose source 'is rooted in the social structure or social system' (Quarantelli, 2005, p. 339). In this light, the uncontrollable and unexpected nature of disasters often instigates feelings of anger, fear, and anxiety among citizens who experience a catastrophe in a given society (Kemp et al., 2014). Disasters also have a collective impact on societies in that they inflict damage on established social systems and shared values, thereby generating significant negative emotions (Cardona, 2004;Neal, 1998).

| Natural disasters
A natural disaster's aftermath often yields negative and, at times, positive outcomes. In the USA, for example, people tend to prioritize personal relationships and exhibit more resilient behaviours in the face of natural disasters (Norris et al., 2008). However, not all individuals experience such positive reactions. The victims of Hurricane Katrina resorted to undesirable consumption behaviours to cope with the stress and repercussions of the storm. To mitigate their feelings associated with losing control and material possessions, they exhibited impulsive or compulsive behaviours and increasingly made hedonic purchases (Sneath et al., 2009). Kennett-Hensel et al. (2012) identified a similar pattern of increased impulsive consumption among individuals who anticipate an impending disaster but have not yet experienced it (Kemp et al., 2014). Thus, it is often the case that consumers are likely to spend more during natural disasters to indulge in luxury brands. Consumers in such situations may engage in emotion regulation consumption because of the limited control and amplified anxiety they may experience (Kemp et al., 2014).
Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted consumers' emotional states by triggering their feelings of loss of control and thus eliciting their coping strategies (Rogers & Cosgrove, 2020). These changes manifested in their shopping channel preferences (Mehrolia et al., 2021), consumption of unhealthy foods (Gordon-Wilson, 2022), panic buying (Prentice et al., 2022), hoarding behaviours , and impulsive buying (Redine et al., 2023). An increasing number of consumers have become supportive of local businesses and more inclined towards conscious shopping (Kim et al., 2022).
Others substituted products and brands they traditionally purchased as product availability became more important than brand loyalty during the pandemic (Tam, 2020). Consumers also adopted specific lifestyle changes (e.g., DIY) and, in turn, sought more lifestyle-supporting products (Das et al., 2022). These consumption changes seemed to help ease their anxiety (Mittal, 2023).

| Man-made disasters
Terrorist attacks in recent years have also shaped individuals' consumption decisions. As these traumas significantly challenge individuals' beliefs about themselves and the world, changes to their consumption behaviours seem inevitable. Behavioural shifts are driven by the risks associated with the worldviews that imbue individuals' lives with security, invulnerability, and meaning (Updegraff et al., 2008). In the aftermath of attacks, people may seek different ways to reestablish a sense of normalcy and thus experience a range of (mal)adaptive coping responses.
For example, to cope with the 9/11 attacks, US consumers came to lean on their traditional social beliefs (Norris et al., 2008), personal growth (Bonanno, 2004), and ingroup relationships (Fung & Carstensen, 2006) while becoming more ethnocentric and product quality oriented. Indeed, empirical evidence shows that after the 9/11 attacks, US consumers started to exhibit a stronger preference towards national products in patriotic ads over their foreign counterparts because they considered the former as having better quality (Dube & Black, 2010). Similarly, other studies show that terrorism increases compulsive consumption and online shopping (Herzenstein et al., 2015;Ruvio et al., 2014) while incentivizing safer leisure choices because people become 'more cautious and therefore more inclined to opt for alternative consumption choices but not to cancel their plans' (Baumert et al., 2020, p. 362). Such consumption behaviours may be motivated by individuals' implicit or explicit needs for security.
Below we present a summary of selected studies we reviewed on natural and man-made disasters (Table 1).

| Ontological security
The basic tenet of ontological security is that people maintain particular routines and patterns to imbue their lives with order and meaning, avoid overwhelming anxieties (Dupuis & Thorns, 1998), maintain safety and trust in the world, and buffer against existential stress.
According to Giddens (1991), these routines and patterns also enhance individuals' psychological well-being and protect them from potential external threats and uncertainties, thereby contributing to persistent feelings of being ontologically secure. That is, ontological security is maintained when people realize that their social and material environments are dependable. Humans' confidence in their continued existence and self-identity further augments this sense of security (Dupuis & Thorns, 1998). Feeling ontologically secure is not confined to security of survival, but also extends to security of being (Mitzen, 2006). When either type of security is threatened, ontological insecurity emerges (Giddens, 1991).
Ontological insecurity does not stem from the absence of security, but rather from its diminishment (Banham, 2020). Thus, ontological security is not a dichotomous concept; instead, people move along a continuum between security and insecurity (Banham, 2020;Bondi, 2014). Ontological security is made up of three forms of consciousness-discursive, practical, and unconscious (see Figure 1)-that alleviate feelings of ontological insecurity. In fact, 'it is during times of ontological insecurity that the distinction between practical and discursive consciousness is more apparent, and states of security become more available for scrutiny' (Phipps & Ozanne, 2017, p. 362).
Each of these three forms of consciousness differs from the other in terms of the role they play. Giddens (1979) argued that discursive consciousness is the first layer of a more complex system. At a deeper level lies practical consciousness, and, at the deepest level, unconsciousness.
Discursive consciousness refers to individuals' ability to verbally explain their actions in a well-thought-out and rational manner. Practical consciousness is tacit knowledge that individuals possess and apply situationally but are unable to articulate orally (Giddens, 1979). People can obtain this knowledge from life experiences, and it allows them to guide their behaviour (Phipps & Ozanne, 2017). Beneath the first two levels of discursive and practical consciousness lies existential security in the unconscious, which is 'separated from the previous two with a bar of repression' (Ejdus, 2018, p. 887). Such existential security can be triggered by hazards, disasters, and catastrophes.

| Ontological security and disasters
Scholars have applied ontological security to natural disasters by examining how individuals' established security is either shaken, Third and deepest level, concerns about existential security, and is separated from the first two levels by a bar of repression.
F I G U R E 1 Constituents of ontological security. Source: Own elaboration based on Giddens (1979Giddens ( , 1991. Similarly, Phipps and Ozanne (2017) investigated how the 12-year drought, which disrupted countless routines, forced Australian households to realign their practices to overcome insecurities. The studied households attempted to do so by adopting one of five primary ontological states.
Each of these states-which range from embedded security, embedded insecurity, discursive insecurity, and acclimated security to new embedded security-varies in its extremity. Embedded security, on one end, is a set of established routines-a baseline-that allows households to maintain and perform their daily practices with ease. On the other end, new embedded security reflects some of the households' ability to restore new, stable, and fully anchored routines after adjusting to their new reality (Phipps & Ozanne, 2017). Campbell et al. (2020) proposed a conceptual framework for understanding consumers' and markets' responses to threats, particularly as it relates to the pandemic. Their framework suggests that the extent of a threat, whether actual or potential, disrupts individuals' certainties and routines and urges both people and markets to adopt 'adaptive responses to get along in altered and uncertain circumstances' (Campbell et al., 2020, p. 315). We mainly focus on consumer responses. It is crucial that we first understand consumers' reactions following a loss of security.
At present, people are not experiencing isolated threats, but instead, a combination of them. Once we establish knowledge on how the loss of ontological security shapes individuals' responses, we can then address market responses in a later analysis (Table 2).

| METHOD
Given our scant knowledge about ontological security in the existing consumer studies, we adopted an exploratory approach to qualitatively examine how man-made and natural disasters affect individuals' ontological security in terms of their everyday lives. We conducted focus groups across two periods: before and during the COVID-19 outbreak. We chose the UK, France, and Germany because they have experienced a similar level of terrorist attacks while being severely impacted by the pandemic (Table 3).

| Data collection and participants
We sought individuals from diverse demographic backgrounds, particularly in terms of age and gender, to elicit varying points of view (Appendix S1). We recruited participants via our social networks, personal connections, university posters, and online advertisements. Each T A B L E 2 Prior marketing research on ontological security.  .
All discussants were informed of the topic and gave their consent to have the discussions recorded. Most group sessions lasted between 75 and 100 minutes, after which we thoroughly transcribed each. In France and Germany, each session was conducted and transcribed in the local language and then later translated into English.

| Analytical approach
Following seminal studies with interpretive qualitative explorations (e.g., Koen et al., 2018;Li et al., 2018;Mayr, 2021), we adopted an interpretative phenomenological approach to obtain a deeper understanding of how our discussants were interpreting their experiences within the contexts and phenomena in question. The goal of the interpretative phenomenological approach is to obtain a first-person description of specific experiences by asking descriptive, open-ended questions concerning the topic (Thompson et al., 1989, p. 138 We scrutinized the transcripts by building, confirming, and refining patterns or themes from the data corpus (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
In so doing, we incorporated an iterative process of grounded theory to benefit from the structured nature of its analysis Rayburn et al., 2022).

| FINDINGS
Three important themes emerged from our analysis of the transcripts.
Depending on the type of disaster, our discussants experienced distinct emotional responses (e.g., fear or anxiety), tried to address concerns over their impact on themselves or others, and adjusted their consumption behaviours by seeking materialistic or experiential purchases.

| Fear versus anxiety
One of the first questions addressed in the focus groups was how discussants perceived, felt about, and reacted to the news. Whether natural or man-made, disasters disrupt ontological security, which provokes a series of emotional responses (Banham, 2020). Among focus group members, the COVID-19 pandemic seemingly triggered more persistent anxiety over time than terrorist attacks, which appeared to elicit only occasional fear due to their sporadic occurrence. Terrorism evokes inescapable fear of physical harm, given that it involves 'the use of violence in order to attain political goals' (Romanov et al., 2012, p. 183 While fear and anxiety are 'strongly aversive, and uncomfortable affect states that individuals tend to seek to avoid or resolve' (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020, p. 244), they are dissimilar. Fear is directed at a particular external threat that stimulates a fight to reduce uncertainty or regain control (Atalay et al., 2022;Rumelili, 2020). In contrast, anxiety can emerge before fear independently of any actual threatening object (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020). Thus, while fear can be challenged and reduced by removing a known source given its tangibility and visibility, anxiety can be amplified by such attempts as individuals cannot pinpoint the source of the feelings they are experiencing.

| Oneself versus others
The two types of disasters appear to evoke contradictory feelings of concern. In the aftermath of terrorist attacks, discussants were more concerned about their own safety and security. Some felt threatened, whether directly or indirectly. Despite their sporadic occurrence, terrorist attacks are often personally disturbing and frightening (Huddy et al., 2002) and can thus become more readily available in individuals' memory, which leads to their overestimating personal risk (Johnson & Tversky, 1983 In France, some discussants voiced similar thoughts. While concern for self was not prominent, they expressed concern for others, particularly the elderly. One French business owner indicates that: A comparable thematic pattern emerged from UK discussants.
While exhibiting a somewhat collective effort to diminish one's own risk in the face of the pandemic, they simultaneously emphasize the risk posed to specific groups. As a recruitment manager explains: I was concerned about the people around me, not myself. Ontological security emphasizes individuals' trust in the notion of continuity (Giddens, 1991), which takes various forms, including relationships with key figures in their lives. Actual or potential threats to these relationships shake this founded sense of security and trust. As individuals' worldviews are interdependent with those in their surroundings, ontological security relies not only on one's safety but also that of others (Banham, 2020;Bondi, 2014). Subsequently, others' well-being is increasingly important in individuals' quest to restore their ontological security (Dépelteau, 2018).

| Materialistic versus experiential purchases
A contrasting picture emerged as discussants reflected on how their behaviours changed while coping with the two threats. Some engaged in materialistic purchases, whereas others pursued experiential purchases.
Discussants' shock at the terrorist attacks arose from their belief that such incidents typically happen in countries characterized by conflict or war zones but not in those in which they live. The ensuing distress motivated them to seek solace in various ways. Some indicated they consciously sought materialistic possessions in the aftermath of these attacks. Prior research suggests that materialistic purchases serve as a coping mechanism for dealing with life's adversities (Belk, 1985) and attenuate fears of death (Maheswaran & Agrawal, 2004). Per terror management theory, such tangible, materialistic possessions are considered a source of surety against 'mortality salience'-an unconscious reminder of one's death (Arndt et al., 2004;Rindfleisch et al., 2009 While some discussants appeared to focus on more materialistic or tangible things after the terrorist attacks, others reported contrasting behaviours vis-à-vis the pandemic. The coronavirus disease is psychologically threatening and anxiety-arousing Pyszczynski et al., 2021), which shapes individuals' defensive behaviours (Reiss et al., 2020). In this sense, the pandemic activated individuals' ontological insecurity-it inflicted daily 'disruption, where people lost their stabilizing anchor, their ability to sustain a linear narrative through which they can answer questions about doing, acting, and being' (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020, p. 246). In this regard, Areni (2019) points out that '[m] ore generally, ontological security can be established and maintained via the long-term relationships that the self has with others' (p. 87). Conversely, a lack of perceived social connectedness may trigger feelings of insecurity (Ambrey et al., 2018), and 'the absence of communal bonds aggravates anxiety because it renders it impossible for individuals to share experiences' (Rumelili, 2020, p. 264). Several discussants indicated a preference for pursuing emotionally enriching experiences or wanting to create priceless memories with close relations to tame their anxiety.
If socially shared with others, experiential consumption enhances one's feelings of belongingness and relatedness (Carter & Gilovich, 2012). When individuals' anxiety about their security is salient, they tend to reprioritize the things in their lives. This reprioritization may cause a shift from self-centred, egotistical, and materialistic behaviours to more other-centred and altruistic ones (Jonas et al., 2002). Additionally, these individuals may experience renewed interest in intrinsically meaningful pursuits instead of materialistic ones (Cozzolino et al., 2009). During the pandemic, some discussants realized the importance of social relations. Others indicated the value of sharing experiences with their surroundings, which they interpreted as being of critical importance during such times. A German attorney recalls that: Since the lockdown was imposed, and even after it was Echoing such preferences, some discussants, in the face of the pandemic, emphasized the importance of experiencing things with loved ones, feeling there are valuable moments still to be had. It took them some time to come to this realization, however: their embedded security was disrupted, and they were faced with sudden changes that ignited feelings of insecurity. Seeking these comforting interactions helped to establish a newfound sense of normality in their lives, thus facilitating their ability to achieve acclimated security while reflecting on new practices and, subsequently, their transition into a newly embedded security (Phipps & Ozanne, 2017). As a British operations officer explains: For me, visiting family and friends' houses and being able to do that without any restrictions suddenly felt valuable.
Taking the kids to playdates and being more involved with their lives, meeting with family and friends for that pizza, or going to the cinema for that movie, all of that felt very fresh, and that somehow, we are regaining our normality.
I am even excited about planning a summer holiday abroad with extended family members. (Male,47) Despite feeling anxiety at the pandemic's outset, discussants seemed to value the opportunity to reorganize their priorities. Realizing that they wanted to spend meaningful time with loved ones, some opted to capitalize on this desire by developing new routines and embracing the chance to share quality moments within the newly established normal. A French senior executive elaborates upon his experience as follows: Before the pandemic, my wife, two children, and I were never home at the same time. We were busy with our lives and work. But when the first lockdown was imposed, my kids had home learning and my wife and I had to work at home. How could we endure the entire day all together? It took my wife and me a bit of time to realize that this may be a once in a lifetime chance to spend such uninterrupted time with our kids. We cook, eat together, make breakfast together, and even wash the dishes together. We are now embracing every little moment with them and realize how precious these moments are.
During salient disasters, individuals may be more willing to choose experiences over materialistic possessions. Over time, these experiences shape and strengthen individuals' identities and become part of their sense of self, thus enriching their lives and providing longerlasting satisfaction (Carter & Gilovich, 2012;Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Meaningful social relationships also contribute significantly to human happiness (Diener & Seligman, 2002). The shared nature of experiences (Gilovich et al., 2015) motivates individuals to discuss and relive them with others happily. Doing so enhances positive social interactions, critical for individuals' psychological health and well-being (Van Boven et al., 2010). Paradoxically, materialism is associated with having negative consequences on individuals' psychological well-being and relations with others (Belk, 1985). People who report having materialistic values tend to report lower levels of psychological well-being and increased feelings of social anxiety, depressive symptoms, and diminished meaning in life (Kashdan & Breen, 2007). Overall, humans are the sum of their experiences, which are considered a vital and central component of individuals' selves (Carter & Gilovich, 2012). Table 4 provides a summary of our findings. 5 | DISCUSSION

| Theoretical implications
While avoiding oversimplification, our findings seem to suggest that man-made disasters-that is, terrorist attacks-trigger fear, thus making individuals more concerned about their existential security. To alleviate such feelings, they appear to engage in materialistic purchases of, for example, luxury goods. This seems consistent with prior research on terrorism, including that of the 9/11 attacks (Arndt et al., 2004). Materialistic purchases may make individuals feel more in control against the background of a sense of insecurity. Furthermore, according to terror management theory, materialistic purchases may stem from consumers' desire to alleviate their fear of death by boosting their self-esteem, which is a protective function against existential insecurity (Arndt et al., 2004). In contrast, natural disasters (i.e., COVID-19) appear to elicit feelings of anxiety, which prompt individuals to become visibly concerned for the safety of others instead of themselves. In coping with this anxiety, experiences and shared moments with loved ones became progressively more important as people seek to create memories and forge deeper interpersonal connections. Consequently, a feeling of potentially losing those connections leads to unbearable insecurity (Hawkins & Maurer, 2011).
Longing for close human relationships may be a way to navigate this insecurity. These contradictory responses may explain our discussants' conscious or unconscious attempts to restore their sense of psychological safety, continuity, and, ultimately, ontological security (Giddens, 1991).
Next, a unique temporal nature also distinguishes these two types of disasters. Acts of terrorism pose a transitory threat, whereas pandemics present a prolonged threat. This distinction may explain the scope of disruption to our discussants' ontological security and their opposing reactions. The transient nature of terrorist attacks appears to set off psychological responses akin to an unconscious fear of death (Greenberg et al., 1992). In carrying out attacks, terrorists deliberately aim to inflict harm on members of an out-group and achieve specific objectives (LaFree, 2010). Despite their brevity, these violent attacks make people feel more vulnerable (Dube & Black, 2010) and thus ontologically insecure (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020). Insecurity stems from realizing that the 'future will be unlike the past in ways one can hardly conceive of, much less control…making managing existential anxiety at the heart of ontological security-seeking' (Kinnvall & Mitzen, 2020, p. 245).
To ward off this anxiety, people seek security in established routines and practices or, alternatively, in the products they purchase (Phipps & Ozanne, 2017). Specifically, materialistic purchases buffer against anxiety, bolster self-esteem, and confer a desired social status (Greenberg et al., 1992). Worldly-minded individuals believe that wealth acquisition plays a critical role in their lives by establishing and maintaining their self-esteem (Hunt et al., 1990). Expensive materialistic possessions are considered a source of surety during challenging For me, visiting family and friends' houses and being able to do that without any restrictions suddenly felt valuable. Taking the kids to playdates and being more involved with their lives, meeting with family and friends for that pizza, or going to the cinema for that movie, all of that felt very fresh, and that somehow, we are regaining our normality. I am even excited about planning a summer holiday abroad with extended family members. (Male,47) times (Rindfleisch et al., 2009). The role such products play may explain our discussants' purchasing inclinations after brief encounters with terrorist attacks. In contrast, the perpetual threat of the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped individuals' reactions differently. Initially, due to the novelty of the virus, uncertainty around its spread amplified feelings of ambiguity (Martin et al., 2020). The coronavirus outbreak ravaged one country after another. This global health crisis disrupted founded routines, thus posing a challenge to established identities and leading to experiential purchases. However, this finding seems inconsistent with a recent study (Moldes et al., 2022) and requires further investigation.
In facing the COVID-19 pandemic, people tended to prioritize emotionally meaningful experiences and focus on socially close partners (Fung & Carstensen, 2006). Some discussants mentioned worrying for their parents, grandparents, children, or significant others while simultaneously underestimating their own risk. People associate their identities with being part of various and distinct social ingroups (Tajfel, 2010). Individuals assume various roles within their social and professional lives. These roles contribute to the feeling that one's world is secure and predictable and thus maintain individuals' selfidentity (Dupuis & Thorns, 1998), the preservation is crucial to sus- • Are there any perceptual or behavioural differences in consumers with prolonged exposure to disasters, as opposed to transitory ones?
• Would consumers' escapist behaviour lead to better wellbeing?
Consumers' individual and collective identity under crises Self-identity theory, human relationships, in-group vs. out-group • How different would consumers' ontological security be when they are exposed to disasters individually or collectively?
• What are the theoretical relationships between ontological security and culture (e.g., collectivism/individualism)?
Material possession and experiential value Existential insecurity (terror management theory), materialism, possession, self-esteem, experiential value • How would mortality salience driven by disaster affect experiential purchase?
• How would consumers' consumption behaviour change after society establishes a 'new normal'? seeking experiences, which contribute to a person's identity, help create a richer life, and provide individuals with longer-lasting satisfaction than materialistic possessions (Carter & Gilovich, 2012;Van Boven & Gilovich, 2003). Sharing experiences with others also aids in building and enhancing a sense of relatedness (Gilovich et al., 2015), which helps people maintain their ontological security.
Finally, further analysis of the discussants' consumption choiceseither materialistic purchases or experiential purchases-indicates that they may be driven by an unconscious, unspoken motive: escapism. Cova et al. (2018) suggested two forms of escaping: from something and into something. People may choose to 'escape from' social settings and structures when their primary motive is to get away. Contrarily, they 'escape into' something when they intend to immerse themselves in an alternative experiential context (Holmqvist et al., 2020). At times, escaping into something, or distancing themselves from reality, can be a way to alleviate feelings of and cope with distress (Gordon-Wilson, 2022).
Such moments of escape may offer liberation from obstacles and the opportunity to achieve self-actualization (von Wallpach et al., 2020) while disconnecting from the reality of daily uncertainties. They may thus be a tool for regaining ontological security (see Figure 2).

| Managerial implications
Practitioners in the hospitality and tourism sectors may benefit from our findings. When consumers are facing man-made or natural disasters, they can craft their messages and offerings such that they focus on the emotional appeal of 'family time' and 'precious memories with loved ones.' Similarly, luxury brand managers may select particular incidents or dates for product launches, thereby appealing to individuals who prefer materialistic purchases. They may also capitalize on individuals' concern for themselves by foregrounding self-assuring messages about acquiring their products.
Policymakers may need to focus on the notion of concern for others. Public well-being campaigns and messages can address the importance of coming together, sharing concerns, and reaching out to others when feeling overwhelmed. Likewise, local police may engage with those who express concern for themselves and want to feel physically secure and safe against violence. Regardless of the type of disaster, understanding how individuals' mental health has been impacted will allow for a more focused effort to raise awareness around this issue.

| CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND FUTURE RESEARCH SUGGESTIONS
By defining disasters as social phenomena (Quarantelli, 2005), our study is one of the first to shed light on the time-dependent nature of reactions to ontological insecurity. Individuals react differently depending on whether their exposure to a threat is momentary or prolonged. Moreover, our research indicates that individuals exhibit an unwavering desire for routine, even though this may not always be true. Occasionally, individuals need to escape their daily life routines through 'little moments of luxury' (Holmqvist et al., 2020). This seems contradictory to their ontological security, but they do so because they want to augment their established identity further and ease their feelings of insecurity.
To make our findings more objective, we should recognize two important limitations. First, the number of focus groups was limited.
Additional insights might have emerged from talking to a broader pool of people, particularly during the pandemic. Second, we did not consider any cultural perspectives while interpreting the data collected from the focus groups; doing so could have provided additional avenues for understanding the responses.
Besides overcoming these limitations, future research should further explore our findings through an experimental setting. For example, our explanation of materialistic purchases from the terror management theory perspective may also have a competing hypothesis. Prior research has found that mortality salience drives people into prosocial behaviour because 'acts involving kindness and generosity towards others also should affirm individuals' faith in their cultural worldview and selfesteem' (Jonas et al., 2002, p. 1). Thus, the same theoretical explanation could be applied to experiential consumption. Two competing hypotheses can be examined experimentally. Furthermore, Lykins et al. (2007) suggested that prolonged exposure to reminders of death generally makes individuals more intrinsically oriented than momentary reminders.
Our findings echo a similar notion. Thus, empirically testing for these (seemingly) contradictory propositions is necessary to understand how, when, and why these differences occur. Next, the concept of escapism should be further explored. Our findings suggest that there appear to be two sides to concepts traditionally associated with negative behaviours.
However, escapism may have a more positive and functional role in individuals' lives, thus offering deeper insights into their underlying motives, especially as they attempt to restore ontological security in a world characterized by daily struggle. Future research should therefore probe the various routes of escapism consumers pursue. Lastly, based on our findings, we propose relevant concepts, theories, and key research questions to be further explored in the future (Table 5).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank the Editor-in-Chief, Dr Justin Paul, the Associate Editor, Dr Carmen Valor, and three anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful readings of the manuscript and guidance throughout the review process. The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Yoshida Hideo Memorial Foundation for the data collection and from King's Business School for the preparation of the manuscript.
This article is part of the first author's doctoral dissertation, supervised by the last author at King's Business School.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
Research data are not shared.