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More space needed: Social disconnectedness predicts the aversion to crowdedness
Chui, Hou Ian1; Chark, Robin1,2
2024-09
Source PublicationJournal of Consumer Behaviour
ABS Journal Level2
ISSN1472-0817
Volume23Issue:5Pages:2352-2366
Abstract

Feelings of belongingness threat are common nowadays. The lack of social support received from friends and family leads to social disconnection. Our objective is to investigate the effect of unmet need to belong on preference for crowdedness. Expecting the prospects to interact and reconnect with others, socially disconnected consumers may be more receptive to crowdedness. By contrast, social disconnection may sensitize consumers to potential social threat and thus drive them away from the crowds. To find out how socially disconnected consumers react to crowdedness, three quasi-experiments with more than 1500 participants (Mage = 35.9, 64% female) from an online panel were conducted. Our findings support the latter hypothesis. We manipulate the crowdedness of the service setting, while the natural variation of social disconnectedness was captured by measuring participants' unmet need to belong. Socially disconnected consumers are averse to social crowding (Studies 1 and 2). Specifically, regression analyses reveal that crowdedness has a negative impact on attitude and word-of-mouth recommendation. Importantly, the effect of crowdedness is found exaggerated by unmet need to belong. Disconnected consumers avoid social crowding since they may consider getting too close an invasion of personal space. The findings on preference for space are extended to time in Study 3. In particular, busyness interacts with unmet need to belong such that disconnected consumers avoid busy schedules in package tours. Findings from the three studies together suggest a general preference for more psychological space when need to belong is not met.

DOI10.1002/cb.2341
URLView the original
Indexed BySSCI
Language英語English
WOS Research AreaBusiness & Economics
WOS SubjectBusiness
WOS IDWOS:001214690900001
PublisherWILEY, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ
Scopus ID2-s2.0-85192165644
Fulltext Access
Citation statistics
Document TypeJournal article
CollectionFaculty of Business Administration
INSTITUTE OF COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION
DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATED RESORT AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT
Corresponding AuthorChark, Robin
Affiliation1.Faculty of Business Administration, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, SAR, Macao
2.Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, SAR, Macao
First Author AffilicationFaculty of Business Administration
Corresponding Author AffilicationFaculty of Business Administration;  University of Macau
Recommended Citation
GB/T 7714
Chui, Hou Ian,Chark, Robin. More space needed: Social disconnectedness predicts the aversion to crowdedness[J]. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2024, 23(5), 2352-2366.
APA Chui, Hou Ian., & Chark, Robin (2024). More space needed: Social disconnectedness predicts the aversion to crowdedness. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 23(5), 2352-2366.
MLA Chui, Hou Ian,et al."More space needed: Social disconnectedness predicts the aversion to crowdedness".Journal of Consumer Behaviour 23.5(2024):2352-2366.
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