社会拥挤对消费者边界偏好的影响

Influence of Social Crowding on the Consumers′ Preference for Boundaries

边界作为环境中秩序和结构的象征及重要表现之一,在营销领域无处不在,如广告和标识的边框设计、明确的产品包装、产品的有序排列等。目前关于消费者是否、为何以及何时产生边界偏好的研究还不充分,社会拥挤作为一种社会常态或营销环境能否影响人们对边界的偏好还不得而知。基于保护动机理论,从环境、动机和行为策略相融合的视角,构建社会拥挤对消费者边界偏好影响的研究模型。运用线上问卷调查、线下实验室实验和真实环境相结合的研究方法,利用7个实验招募的1050名参与者进行研究,检验社会拥挤如何影响消费者对边界的偏好。所有实验均采用组间实验设计,运用Spss软件进行方差分析、bootstrap中介效应检验和Johnson-Neyman调节效应检验,以验证所有假设。研究1和研究2的结果表明,与不拥挤相比,社会拥挤能够显著提高消费者对有形边界和无形边界的选择,自我保护动机在这一效应中起中介作用。研究3的结果表明,并不是所有的拥挤环境都让人产生不安全感,当人群由熟悉的人组成时,消费者不太可能产生自我保护的动机,从而降低了对边界的偏好。研究4的结果表明,结构需求对不同拥挤程度有调节作用,当消费者的结构需求处于某一范围时,其对边界的偏好不再受拥挤程度的影响。在理论上,系统地检验社会拥挤是否、为何以及何时影响消费者的边界偏好,并对丰富社会拥挤的结果研究、拓展边界偏好的前置影响因素以及深化保护动机理论进行理论推进和创新。在实践上,研究结果为企业根据拥挤环境推出创意广告、设计品牌和产品包装、优化产品陈列方式、合理设置营销环境等提供有益借鉴。

As a symbol of order and structure in the environment,boundaries are ubiquitous in the marketing field,such as the border design of advertisements and logos,defined packaging,and orderly arrangement of products.However,there are still insufficient researches on whether,why and when consumers develop boundary preference.Whether social crowding as a social norm or as a marketing environment influences people′s preference for boundaries remains to be unknown.Based on protection motivation theory,we established the research model of the effect of social crowding on boundary preference from a holistic perspective of environment,motivation and behavioral strategies.Using the method that combines online questionnaire survey,controlled laboratory experiment and real environment together,we conducted an empirical study was conducted with 1050 participants recruited from 7 experiments to verify how social crowding affects consumers′preference for boundaries.The study conducted scenario simulation experiments which between-group design,and used ANOVA,bootstrap mediator analysis and Johnson-Neyman technique in Spss to test hypotheses.In study 1 and study 2,we found that compared with non-crowding,social crowding significantly improved consumers′preference for tangible boundaries and intangible boundaries,and self-protection motivation mediated this effect.Furthermore,in study 3,the results showed that not all crowded environments made individuals feel insecure.When the crowd was made up of familiar people,the crowded environment was less threatening to the individual,so the individual was less likely to generate the motivation of self-protection,thus reducing the preference for boundaries.In addition,in study 4,personal need for structure had a moderating effect on different levels of crowding.When need for structure was within a certain range,their preference for boundaries was no longer affected by crowding levels.In theory,these results systematically test whether,why and when social crowding affects people′s boundary preference for the first time,and theoretical promotion and innovation are carried out to enrich the research on the outcomes of social crowding,to expand the antecedents of boundary preference and to deepen the theory of protection motivation.In practice,the findings of this study can also provide useful reference for enterprises to launch creative advertisements,design brand and product packaging,optimize product display mode,and reasonably set up marketing environment given the context of crowded environment.