Why Are You Bowling Alone? Perceived Choice over Social Context Impacts Happiness from Solo Experiences

Solo consumers are a growing marketplace presence, and businesses in the experiential consumption domain are adapting their offerings to reach them. Yet the marketing literature has surprisingly little to say about solo experiences and generally suggests that they are unappealing. Drawing on solitude research, however, we propose that previously reported differences in happiness between solo and social experiences are partially attributable to differences in the extent to which solitude (vs. togetherness) is self-chosen. Across four studies, we show that consumers view solitude as less of a choice than togetherness and that this perception negatively impacts happiness from experiences. Moreover, we find that when consumers view solitude as a choice, its negative effect on happiness is attenuated. This research qualifies previous work on the relationship between solo experiences and happiness and introduces a novel perspective of how social context may influence consumption.