Funeral rituals perform important social functions for families and communities, but little is known about the motives of people planning funerals. Using mixed methods, we examine funeral planning as end-of-life relational spending. We identify how relational motives drive and manifest in funeral planning, even when the primary recipient of goods and services is dead. Qualitative interviews with consumers who had planned pre-COVID funerals (N = 15) reveal a caring orientation drives funeral decision-making for loved ones and for self-planned funerals. Caring practices manifest in three forms: (a) balancing preferences between the planner, deceased, and surviving family; (b) making personal sacrifices; and (c) spending amount (Study 1). Archival funeral contract data (N = 385) reveal supporting quantitative evidence of caring-driven funeral spending. Planners spend more on funerals for others and underspend on their own funerals (Study 2). Preregistered experiments (N = 1,906) addressing selection bias replicate these results and find generalization across different funding sources (planner-funded, other-funded, and insurance; Studies 3A–3C). The findings elucidate a ubiquitous, emotional, and financially consequential decision process at the end of life.

中文翻译：

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葬礼中的关系性支出：关爱他人所爱和失去的人

葬礼对家庭和社区具有重要的社会功能，但人们对计划葬礼的动机知之甚少。使用混合方法，我们将葬礼计划视为临终关系支出。我们确定了关系动机如何在葬礼计划中驱动和体现，即使商品和服务的主要接受者已经死亡。对计划过 COVID 前葬礼的消费者（N  = 15）进行的定性访谈显示，关怀导向推动了亲人的葬礼决策和自行计划的葬礼。关怀实践表现为三种形式： (a) 平衡计划者、死者和幸存家庭之间的偏好；(b) 作出个人牺牲；(c) 支出金额（研究 1）。丧葬合同档案资料（N = 385）揭示了关爱驱动的葬礼支出的支持定量证据。计划者在为他人的葬礼上花费更多，而在自己的葬礼上花费较少（研究 2）。解决选择偏差的预注册实验 ( N  = 1,906) 复制了这些结果，并发现了跨不同资金来源（计划者资助、其他资助和保险；研究 3A-3C）的概括。研究结果阐明了一个普遍存在的、情绪化的和在生命末期产生财务后果的决策过程。