The interplay between social crowding and power on solo diners’ attitudes toward menus with popularity and scarcity cues

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effect of social crowding and solo consumers’ sense of power on attitudes toward the restaurant menu with popularity and scarcity cues. Design/methodology/approach In total, 181 US consumers were recruited. Using a quasi-experimental design, social crowding and promotional cues on a restaurant menu were manipulated and solo consumers’ sense of power was measured. Findings Low-power individuals exhibited more favorable attitudes toward the menu with a popularity cue at a crowded restaurant. High-power individuals’ attitudes toward the menu were equally favorable across the two promotional cues and crowding levels. Practical implications Restaurant managers might want to leverage popularity cues on the menu during peak hours to appeal to solo diners. After diners indicate their dining type (alone vs with others) in kiosks and tablets, restaurants can tailor promotional cues accordingly. Restaurants can also embed more popularity cues in dinner (vs lunch) menus because dinner is more hedonic and social in nature. Originality/value This study contributes to the crowding literature by examining promotional cues on the menu and sense of power as moderators of consumer responses to crowding. This study further adds to the solo consumption literature by extending the notion of power and social crowding to ethnic dining contexts.

The moderating role of mobile promotion during current and subsequent purchasing occasions: the case of restaurant delivery services

“…Promotion studies have highlighted the moderating role of promotion levels when investigating promotional effects (Grewal et al, 1996;Hardesty and Bearden, 2003;Hwang et al, 2020), whereas research regarding promotion-level temporal dynamics has yet to capture enhanced perceptions of value. In particular, consumer perceptions of value can be used to better understand the potential effectiveness of promotions when firms receive positive or negative performance evaluations after offering promotions to consumers (Honea and Dahl, 2005).…”

Hunger for Home Delivery: Cross-Sectional Analysis of the Nutritional Quality of Complete Menus on an Online Food Delivery Platform in Australia

“…Such strategies are akin to the positioning of food items on supermarket shelves at eye-level and at check-out counters [ 22 ]. The position of an item within a physical menu and the use of popularity cues such as “Most Popular” have also been reported to sway consumer choice [ 23 , 24 ]. Popularity cues serve as an indicator of product demand and/or interest by other consumers [ 24 ].…”

“…The position of an item within a physical menu and the use of popularity cues such as “Most Popular” have also been reported to sway consumer choice [ 23 , 24 ]. Popularity cues serve as an indicator of product demand and/or interest by other consumers [ 24 ].…”

The Relationship between Crowding and Perceived Health Risk in the COVID-19 Era

“…the crowding literature (Erouglu & Machleit, 1990;Her & Seo, 2018;Hwang, et al 2020;Jang et al 2015;Machleit et al, 2000;Noone, & Mattila, 2009;Stokols, 1972), together with the research on the perception of risk within the hospitality and tourism literature (Ahola et al, 2014;Baker & Stockton, 2013;Henthorne et al, 2013;Le & Arcodia 2018;Liu et al, 2016;Liu-Lastres & Schroeder, 2019), and the psychology studies, which provide comprehensive evidence that a pathogen threat shapes people behaviour (Wang & Ackerman, 2019). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to study a direct relationship between the perceived crowding and the perceived health perception during the COVID-19 era.…”