IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jconrs/v44y2018i5p1123-1140..html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Crowding on Calorie Consumption

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan J Hock
  • Rajesh Bagchi
  • Darren DahlEditor
  • Eduardo AndradeAssociate Editor

Abstract

Consumer behavior is often influenced by subtle environmental cues, such as temperature, color, lighting, scent, or sound. We explore the effects of a not-so-subtle cue—human crowding—on calorie consumption. Although crowding is an omnipresent factor, it has received little attention in the marketing literature. We present six studies showing that crowding increases calorie consumption. These effects occur because crowding increases distraction, which hampers cognitive thinking and evokes more affective processing. When consumers process information affectively, they consume more calories. We show the specific reason for the increase in calories. When given a choice between several different options, people select and eat higher-calorie items, but when presented with only one option, people eat more of the same food item. We document this process, rule out alternative explanations, and discuss theoretical and managerial implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan J Hock & Rajesh Bagchi & Darren DahlEditor & Eduardo AndradeAssociate Editor, 2018. "The Impact of Crowding on Calorie Consumption," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(5), pages 1123-1140.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:44:y:2018:i:5:p:1123-1140.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jcr/ucx088
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ariely, Dan & Levav, Jonathan, 2000. "Sequential Choice in Group Settings: Taking the Road Less Traveled and Less Enjoyed," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 27(3), pages 279-290, December.
    2. Pierre Chandon & Brian Wansink, 2007. "The Biasing Health Halos of Fast-Food Restaurant Health Claims: Lower Calorie Estimates and Higher Side-Dish Consumption Intentions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(3), pages 301-314, June.
    3. Michon, Richard & Chebat, Jean-Charles & Turley, L. W., 2005. "Mall atmospherics: the interaction effects of the mall environment on shopping behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(5), pages 576-583, May.
    4. Ratner, Rebecca K & Kahn, Barbara E, 2002. "The Impact of Private versus Public Consumption on Variety-Seeking Behavior," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 246-257, September.
    5. Rook, Dennis W, 1987. "The Buying Impulse," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 14(2), pages 189-199, September.
    6. Cawley, John & Meyerhoefer, Chad, 2012. "The medical care costs of obesity: An instrumental variables approach," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 219-230.
    7. Jennifer J. Argo & Darren W. Dahl & Rajesh V. Manchanda, 2005. "The Influence of a Mere Social Presence in a Retail Context," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 32(2), pages 207-212, September.
    8. Eroglu, Sevgin A. & Machleit, Karen & Barr, Terri Feldman, 2005. "Perceived retail crowding and shopping satisfaction: the role of shopping values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1146-1153, August.
    9. Shiv, Baba & Fedorikhin, Alexander, 1999. "Heart and Mind in Conflict: The Interplay of Affect and Cognition in Consumer Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 26(3), pages 278-292, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gong, Siyu & Suo, Danni & Peverelli, Peter, 2023. "Maintaining the order: How social crowding promotes minimalistic consumption practice," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    2. Aydinli, Aylin & Lamey, Lien & Millet, Kobe & ter Braak, Anne & Vuegen, Maya, 2021. "How Do Customers Alter Their Basket Composition When They Perceive the Retail Store to Be Crowded? An Empirical Study," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 207-216.
    3. Luqiong Tong & Jing Li, 2023. "The Influence of Social Crowding on Consumer Creativity," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(11), pages 1-26, February.
    4. Kevin Ankney, 2021. "Do Credit Constraints Explain the Energy Efficiency Gap? Evidence from the U.S. New Vehicle Market," Working Papers gueconwpa~21-21-17, Georgetown University, Department of Economics.
    5. Chen, Zihe & Zhu, Dong Hong, 2022. "Effect of dynamic promotion display on purchase intention: The moderating role of involvement," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 252-261.
    6. Qamar ABBAS & Muhammad RAMZAN & Sumbal FATIMA, 2022. "Financial development and public debt. Estimating the role of institutional quality," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(3(632), A), pages 5-26, Autumn.
    7. Young, Jeffrey S., 2021. "Measuring palatability as a linear combination of nutrient levels in food items," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Uhrich, Sebastian, 2011. "Explaining non-linear customer density effects on shoppers’ emotions and behavioral intentions in a retail context: The mediating role of perceived control," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 18(5), pages 405-413.
    2. Lee, Julie Anne & Kacen, Jacqueline J., 2008. "Cultural influences on consumer satisfaction with impulse and planned purchase decisions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 265-272, March.
    3. Sharma, Piyush & Sivakumaran, Bharadhwaj & Marshall, Roger, 2010. "Impulse buying and variety seeking: A trait-correlates perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 276-283, March.
    4. Sheng-Hsiung Chang, 2015. "The Influence of Green Viral Communications on Green Purchase Intentions: The Mediating Role of Consumers’ Susceptibility to Interpersonal Influences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Shukla, Paurav, 2011. "Impact of interpersonal influences, brand origin and brand image on luxury purchase intentions: Measuring interfunctional interactions and a cross-national comparison," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 242-252, April.
    6. Allais, Olivier & Etilé, Fabrice & Lecocq, Sébastien, 2015. "Mandatory labels, taxes and market forces: An empirical evaluation of fat policies," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 27-44.
    7. Wu, Pei-Hsun & Kao, Danny Tengti, 2011. "Goal orientation and variety seeking behavior: The role of decision task," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 65-72, February.
    8. Ximena Garcia-Rada & Lalin Anik & Dan Ariely, 2019. "Consuming together (versus separately) makes the heart grow fonder," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 27-43, March.
    9. Massara, Francesco & Liu, Sandra S. & Melara, Robert D., 2010. "Adapting to a retail environment: Modeling consumer-environment interactions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(7), pages 673-681, July.
    10. Wei, Wei & Kim, Gaeul & Miao, Li & Behnke, Carl & Almanza, Barbara, 2018. "Consumer inferences of corporate social responsibility (CSR) claims on packaged foods," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 186-201.
    11. Pescher, Christian & Spann, Martin, 2014. "Relevance of actors in bridging positions for product-related information diffusion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1630-1637.
    12. Dewitte, Siegfried, 2013. "From willpower breakdown to the breakdown of the willpower model – The symmetry of self-control and impulsive behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 16-25.
    13. Bublitz, Melissa G. & Peracchio, Laura A., 2015. "Applying industry practices to promote healthy foods: An exploration of positive marketing outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2484-2493.
    14. Rob Kim Marjerison & Jiamin Hu & Hantao Wang, 2022. "The Effect of Time-Limited Promotion on E-Consumers’ Public Self-Consciousness and Purchase Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-23, December.
    15. Ali Besharat & Gia Nardini & Rhiannon MacDonnell Mesler, 2024. "Bringing Ethical Consumption to the Forefront in Emerging Markets: The Role of Product Categorization," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 191(4), pages 777-792, May.
    16. Ellison, Brenna & Lusk, Jayson L., 2013. "“I’ll Have What He’s Having”: Group Ordering Behavior in Food Choice Decisions," 2013 Annual Meeting, August 4-6, 2013, Washington, D.C. 150266, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    17. Supriya M. Kalla & A.P. Arora, 2011. "Impulse Buying," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 12(1), pages 145-157, February.
    18. Lee, Myounggu & Cho, Jihoon & Kim, Youngju & Kim, Hye-Jin, 2023. "Impact of movie-watching on cross-selling revenue in shopping malls: Implications for post-pandemic recovery," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    19. Eldad Yechiam & Meir Druyan & Eyal Ert, 2008. "Observing others' behavior and risk taking in decisions from experience," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 3(7), pages 493-500, October.
    20. Tran, Trang P. & Guzmán, Francisco & Paswan, Audhesh K. & Blankson, Charles, 2020. "National versus private brand: A regulatory focus perspective," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:44:y:2018:i:5:p:1123-1140.. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://academic.oup.com/jcr .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.