More Experience, Less Loneliness? Exploring the Effect of Experiential Purchases on the Alleviation of Loneliness

Abstract

Over the past few decades, researchers have explored the effects of experiential purchases and material purchases on happiness and provided a range of evidence that consumers yield greater happiness from experiential purchases compared with material purchases. However, limited research is known about the relationship between these two types of purchases within the broader context of negative emotion. Specifically, the current research focuses on the effect of experiential purchases on loneliness alleviation to replenish this research stream. Three experiments were conducted to explore the effect of experiential purchases (vs. material purchases) on alleviating loneliness. The results showed that experiential purchases have a stronger effect on loneliness alleviation than material purchases, which is mediated by relationship enhancement. In addition, purchases of social nature moderate the effect of experiential purchases on loneliness. Social experiential purchases lead to a higher degree of relief of loneliness. On the contrary, for the solitary experiential purchases, the effect of experiential purchases on loneliness is less tight. The current research supplements the research on negative emotions of experiential purchases and expands the research area of experiential purchases, which also provides new insights into coping strategies of loneliness.

Consumer loneliness: A systematic review and research agenda

“…Research on CL has a relatively short history (Kim et al, 2005;Hu and Jasper, 2006;Arpin et al, 2015). The literature has examined the influences of loneliness in consumption contexts, such as the type of purchase (Pagan, 2020;Yang et al, 2021), consumption behavior (Yang, 2016), social experience and interaction (Kim et al, 2005;Her and Seo, 2018). Previous studies have also explored the role of loneliness in consumer experiences (Loh et al, 2021), attitudes (Yii et al, 2020), affects (Chen et al, 2021), preferences (Reid and Reid, 2007), and behaviors (Arpin et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2020).…”

“…The prevalence of CL has been accelerated by the development of information technologies and digitalized social networks (Yang et al, 2021). For example, Instagram broadcasting behaviors increase users' loneliness (Yang, 2016).…”

“…Thus, service establishments offer an ideal outlet for social activities and participation, thereby alleviating consumers' perceived isolation and loneliness. Moreover, relative to material purchases, experiential purchases exert a greater impact on CL alleviation (Yang et al, 2021). For example, shopping malls have been identified as an important "third place" for lonely consumers to alleviate loneliness (Kim et al, 2005).…”

“…More attempts should be made to examine demographic effects and provide a clear profile of lonely consumers (Loh et al, 2021). Moreover, additional consumer traits should be integrated to explore the antecedents of CL (Yang et al, 2021). Consumer predispositions such as self-efficacy, innovativeness, empathy, and ethical identity should be examined as precedents of CL (Heinrich and Gullone, 2006;Mandel et al, 2017).…”

“…Future research should consider CL as a multifaceted concept and investigate the effects of the type of loneliness on the service experience and prospective consumption. In addition, lonely consumers have a greater preference for services or products characterized by social attributes (Yang et al, 2021). However, not all social experiences are equally effective in reducing loneliness (Lykes and Kemmelmeier, 2013).…”