How social crowding undermines happiness from experiential purchases more than material purchases

Previous studies have predominantly demonstrated that experiential purchases (EPs) yield greater purchase-related happiness than material purchases (MPs), a phenomenon known as the “experiential advantage.†However, the understanding of how situational factors influence the “experiential advantage†remains limited. This study focuses on social crowding, a common situational factor in purchasing, and examines how it affects the happiness obtained from EPs versus MPs. Through four studies, we found that EPs result in greater purchase-related happiness than MPs in uncrowded environments. Conversely, in crowded environments, consumers obtain significantly less happiness from EPs, even less than from MPs. Mediating effects analysis revealed that closeness to the self was a crucial mediating mechanism. Additionally, this study examined the performance of this effect across different cultural value orientations through a cross-cultural comparison between China and the United States. The results indicate that this effect is stronger among consumers with an individualistic cultural orientation compared to those with a collectivistic cultural orientation. This study comprehensively considers the impact of purchase type on happiness from the perspectives of situational as well as cultural factors, contributing new findings to the research on the “experiential advantage.â€