Abstract: In the era of burgeoning online knowledge monetization and fierce industry competition, a plethora of knowledge-paying platforms have implemented captivating ‘class anxiety’ marketing approaches to drive product sales. Through these innovative propaganda methods, they ignite consumers’ thirst for superior knowledge and foster the inclination to invest in knowledge acquisition by evoking varied perceptions of social mobility. The existing body of research on social mobility in the realm of social psychology has reached a high level of maturity, revealing that variances in perceived social mobility can result in divergent individual behaviors. In the field of marketing, while an increasing number of scholars have explored social mobility as an independent variable, few have specifically examined the integration of perceived social mobility with a specific marketing approach. Consequently, building upon the current landscape of knowledge-paying platforms in marketing, this study sheds light on the influence of perceived social mobility on consumers’ willingness to pay for knowledge which was examined by the methods of second-hand data analysis and behavioral experiments. Study 1 delves into the relationship between variations in consumers’ perceived social mobility and their WTP (willingness to pay) for knowledge through the analysis of secondary data, meanwhile Study 2 replicates and demonstrates the causal effect of perceived social mobility on consumers’ WTP for knowledge. To further unpack the psychological mechanism, Study 3 tests the prediction concerning the mediating role of long-term goal commitment manipulating consumers’ perceived social mobility. Additionally, Study 4 employs another manipulative approach to investigate whether self-esteem functions as a boundary condition for the impact of perceived social mobility on consumers’ willingness to pay for knowledge. The results show that perceived social mobility can improve consumers’ commitment to long-term goals, thus having a significant positive impact on their willingness to pay for knowledge. Furthermore, in comparison to consumers with lower self-esteem, perceived social mobility exerts a more pronounced influence on the willingness to pay for knowledge among consumers who possess a heightened perception of their self-esteem. This research not only offers a valuable reference for knowledge-paying platforms in devising marketing strategies and targeting their markets, but also integrates sociological concepts with marketing, thereby providing a wider theoretical foundation for future research.

Key words: paying for knowledge, perceived social mobility, social stratification, long-term goal commitment, self-esteem