Feeling excluded? Join the crowd: How social exclusion affects approach behavior toward consumer-dense retail environments

Due to its essentiality to survival, humans evolved a psychological system that monitors social affiliation. When the system detects a threat, such as social exclusion, perceptions and responses are biased toward regaining affiliation. Retail environments that are crowded with other consumers, often viewed as an obstacle to consumer approach behavior, may instead be perceived positively by socially excluded consumers. Three studies test this premise and results suggest that socially excluded consumers are more likely to choose a crowded retail space, and exhibit higher intentions to browse and spend more money at a crowded retailer. Consistent with an evolutionary social cognitive account, socially excluded consumers exhibit a heightened affiliation motivation that increases crowding perceptions, in turn enhancing intentions to spend time and money. Mood and hedonic shopping orientation are ruled out as alternative explanations.