In a social context where busyness has been re-endowed with symbolic status meaning, consumers’ perceived busyness may reshape their self-positioning and, in turn, influence status-related consumption. Drawing on self-consistency theory, this study uses two scenario-based experiments to examine the effect of perceived busyness on status consumption tendency, as well as its underlying psychological mechanism and boundary condition. The results show that perceived busyness increases individuals’ tendency toward status consumption, with psychological entitlement serving as a mediator. Furthermore, this mediating mechanism is moderated by public self-consciousness: compared with individuals low in public self-consciousness, those high in public self-consciousness are more likely to choose consumption options with symbolic status meaning after perceived busyness heightens psychological entitlement. This study provides a more parsimonious and testable theoretical framework for research on perceived busyness and status consumption, and offers practical implications for communication strategies for status products and for guiding consumers toward more rational consumption.

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