Research On The Mechanism Of Consumer's Utilitarian And Hedonic Product Preference Under The Impact Of Social Exclusion

Social exclusion is a common social phenomenon that individuals are excluded,rejected or isolated by other people or their groups in the society,and their own belonging feels threatened.Social exclusion may occur in all aspects of social life,such as being ignored by classmates or colleagues at parties or office conversations,the rupture of friendship with good friends,or receiving a rejection letter when applying for a job in the company.In the field of consumer behavior,there are different forms of social exclusion.For example,when a consumer submits a credit card application to a bank,it may be rejected.Consumers may also be rejected when they submit membership applications to a club.When consumers want to get the help of shop assistants,they may also be ignored by shop assistants.It can be seen that social exclusion is a very common and inevitable phenomenon in individual daily life.Studying its impact on individual psychology and consumption behavior is not only beneficial for consumers to better understand their own consumption behavior,but also beneficial for marketing personnel to make corresponding marketing strategies and policies on the basis of fully grasping and understanding consumer needs.In view of the importance of this phenomenon,a large number of studies in social psychology and consumer psychology have examined the psychological consequences of social exclusion.Although the existing research on consumer behavior under the influence of social exclusion has carried out a more in-depth discussion,this paper thinks that there are some deficiencies in the existing research from the types of social exclusion,the internal influence mechanism of social exclusion on related consumer behavior and the choice of final consumer products.In order to make up for the lack of existing research,this paper systematically combs the relevant literature of social exclusion,psychological distance,coping strategies,utilitarian and hedonic products,and combined with the hot issues in consumer behavior and marketing in recent years,puts forward the research question of this paper: how does the interaction of social exclusion and psychological distance affect consumers' preference for utilitarian and hedonic products.Supported by the theory of consumer coping strategy model,this paper constructs a theoretical model of ?social exclusion---coping strategy---consumer product choice preference?,and puts forward the corresponding research hypotheses.Specifically,this study will study the formation mechanism of consumers' preference for utilitarian and hedonic products when they are affected by social exclusion under three different conditions of temporal distance,spatial distance and social distance.Then,nine experiments were designed to test these hypotheses.In Study 1,three sub experiments were conducted to test hypothesis 1 and hypothesis 2,that is,the interaction between social exclusion and temporal distance has an impact on consumers' product choice preference.Consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for utilitarian products if they perceive social exclusion at a short time,while consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for hedonic products if they perceive social exclusion at a long time.The first study further examined the mediating role of consumer problem-solving tendency and consumer emotion regulation tendency in this process.In the second study,three sub experiments were conducted to test hypothesis 3 and Hypothesis 4,that is,the interaction of social exclusion and spatial distance on consumers' product choice preference.Consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for utilitarian products if they perceive that the spatial distance of social exclusion is close,while consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for hedonic products if they perceive that the spatial distance of social exclusion is far.The second study further examined the mediating role of consumer problem-solving tendency and consumer emotion regulation tendency in this process.The main purpose of study 3is to test hypothesis 5 and hypothesis 6,that is,the interaction between social exclusion and social distance has an impact on consumers' product choice preference.Consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for utilitarian products if they perceive the social distance of social exclusion is closer,while consumers who suffer from social exclusion may have a higher preference for hedonic products if they perceive the social distance of social exclusion is farther.The third study further examined the mediating role of consumer problem-solving tendency and consumer emotion regulation tendency in this process.To sum up,the conclusions of this paper can be summarized in the following five aspects: first,consumers who suffer from social exclusion(compared with socially included consumers)are more likely to have higher consumption preference for utilitarian products if they perceive social exclusion within a short temporal distance.If they perceive social exclusion at a long temporal distance,consumers are more likely to have a higher consumption preference for hedonic products.Secondly,consumers who suffer from social exclusion(compared with socially included consumers)are more likely to have higher consumption preference for utilitarian products if they perceive that the spatial distance of social exclusion is closer.If they perceive that the space of social exclusion is far away,consumers are more likely to have a higher consumption preference for hedonic products.Thirdly,consumers who suffer from social exclusion(compared with socially included consumers)are more likely to have higher consumption preference for utilitarian products if they perceive that the social distance of social exclusion is closer.If they perceive that the social distance of social exclusion is far,consumers are more likely to have a higher consumption preference for hedonic products.Fourth,consumer problem-solving tendency plays a mediating role in the formation of social exclusion and close psychological distance(including temporal distance,spatial distance and social distance)to utilitarian product preference.Fifthly,consumers' emotion regulation tendency plays a mediating role in the formation of hedonic product preference by social exclusion and long psychological distance(including temporal distance,spatial distance and social distance).