Brands and retailers as your friends: The impacts of social exclusion, crowding perception, and design density on conspicuous consumption

This study aims to investigate the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption. The research utilizes the dimensions of social exclusion to investigate their isolated impacts on conspicuous consumption. Furthermore, the study also examines the mediating effects of retail environment and packaging design on the path to conspicuous consumption. Three lab experiments among university students were conducted, followed by three replicating mall intercept experiments among shopping mall consumers, incorporating alternative measurement items, to test and confirm the hypothesized relationships. The results indicate that dominant and implicit exclusions positively impact conspicuous consumption tendencies. Moreover, crowding perception mediates the impact of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption propensity. The findings also indicated that the effect of implicit exclusion on conspicuous consumption is mediated by crowding perception. The results also showed that design density does not mediate the impact of implicit exclusion on conspicuous consumption. However, packaging design mediates the effect of dominant exclusion on conspicuous consumption. The study contributes to the literature and practice by examining the impact of social exclusion and its dimensions on conspicuous consumption. The result adds to the previous findings regarding social exclusion and the external environment’s effects on consumption patterns in socially excluded individuals.