The Influence Of Social Crowding On Consumers' Intertemporal Choice

Due to the dense population brought about by urbanization,more consumer decisions in modern society are completed in a crowded environment.Social crowding is the result of the interaction of spatial,social and personal factors.As a complex external environmental factor,social crowding can have a negative or positive impact on consumer behavior On the other hand,many consumer decision-making issues have an intertemporal dimension,and current decisions will affect long-term outcomes.Although intertemporal choices have been widely explored,there is no direct focus on the impact of social crowding on consumers' intertemporal choice behavior.Based on the predecessors'theory,this paper creatively studies the influence of social crowding on the intertemporal choice behavior of consumption and its influencing mechanism,and puts forward the theoretical hypothesis and tests it through three experiments.First,the paper proves that social crowding has an impact on consumers' intertemporal choice behavior.In a crowded environment,consumers are more inclined to choose the SS(smaller-sooner)option.Secondly,It proves that anxiety plays a mediating role,social crowding will cause anxiety,leading consumers to choose SS option;Finally,it proves the adjustment effect of self-other decision-making differences,under the crowded conditions,making decisions for others weakens the main effect,fewer consumers choose SS options.Through theoretical summaries and experimental tests,this study expands the research on social crowding in the decision-making field and enriches the influencing factors of intertemporal choice behavior.At the same time,this paper verifies the mediating role of anxiety and the adjustment effect of self-other decision-making differences,which increases the expandability of this study.In real life,a crowded consumer environment is not uncommon.At the same time,many consumer decisions are made for others,such as buying gifts,so this study has strong practical significance.For marketers,this article provides insights into how to guide consumption by changing product choices in crowded environments.For consumers,this article is useful for them to understand the changes in individual consumption behavior and help consumers make better choices.