Residential College | false |
Status | 已發表Published |
More space needed: Social disconnectedness predicts the aversion to crowdedness | |
Chui, Hou Ian1; Chark, Robin1,2![]() ![]() | |
2024-09 | |
Source Publication | Journal of Consumer Behaviour
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ABS Journal Level | 2 |
ISSN | 1472-0817 |
Volume | 23Issue: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. |
DOI | 10.1002/cb.2341 |
URL | View the original |
Indexed By | SSCI |
Language | 英語English |
WOS Research Area | Business & Economics |
WOS Subject | Business |
WOS ID | WOS:001214690900001 |
Publisher | WILEY, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ |
Scopus ID | 2-s2.0-85192165644 |
Fulltext Access | |
Citation statistics | |
Document Type | Journal article |
Collection | Faculty of Business Administration INSTITUTE OF COLLABORATIVE INNOVATION DEPARTMENT OF INTEGRATED RESORT AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT |
Corresponding Author | Chark, Robin |
Affiliation | 1.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 Affilication | Faculty of Business Administration |
Corresponding Author Affilication | Faculty 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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