When the city Stalls, so does kindness: Exploring the influence of urban traffic environments on prosocial behavior

Prosocial behavior is of great significance in the field of urban marketing as the trust currency in the process of urban socialization. However, previous studies have only explored prosocial behavior in urban environments to a limited extent, with insufficient attention given to urban traffic environments where social interactions are relatively frequent. To address this gap, this study draws on the Pressure-State-Response model and social influence theory, four studies were conducted to investigate the impact of urban traffic environments on drivers’ prosocial behavior. The results demonstrated that compared to a smooth traffic environment, drivers who experienced a congested traffic environment were less willing to engage in prosocial behavior. Further mediation analysis showed that crowd pressure, time pressure and experiential avoidance played the serial mediating roles between urban traffic environments and prosocial behavior. Additionally, the study found that an orderly traffic environment could mitigate the negative effects of traffic congestion. These findings expand the theoretical boundaries within the field of city marketing and provide a theoretical basis for the development of more precise urban marketing strategies and policies to promote the well-being of residents.