Research On The Effect Of Social Density On Consumers’ Uncertain Promotion Preference

With the increasing competition in the business environment,more and more companies and merchants carry out sales promotion in order to attract consumers,such as twenty percent off promotion,lottery promotion and so on.But the problem is that,compared to certainty promotion such as the twenty percent off promotion,under what conditions can uncertain promotion,such as lottery promotion,play a greater role?Social density refers to the actual number of people in a specific space.It is a very common environmental factor that affects consumer behavior and preferences.Does social density affect consumers’ uncertain promotion preference?The existing literature has explored consumers’ uncertain promotion preference from the perspectives of discount intensity,gift information disclosure degree,loneliness,etc.,but no scholars have explored whether social environment factors can effectively affect consumers’uncertain promotion preference.Based on the control compensation theory,this paper investigates the influence of social density on the consumer’s uncertain promotion preference,as well as the mechanism and boundary conditions of this effect.The results of six experiments show that consumers prefer uncertain promotion in low social density,whether it is uncertain content promotion or uncertain level promotion(Experiment la and Experiment lb);Perceived control plays a mediating role between social density and uncertain promotion preference.Compared with high social density,consumers in low social density have higher perceived control,and thus are more like uncertain promotion(Experiment 2);In the medium social density,consumers’ uncertain promotion preference is between low social density and high social density,besides,the alternative mediating effects of pleasure and arousal are excluded(Experiment 3);Shopping motivation moderates the effect of social density on consumer’s perceived control,and the effect of social density on consumer’s perceived control is greater for task-oriented shopping motivation consumers than for recreational shopping motivation consumers;the mediating effects of stress and attention overload are excluded(Experiment 4);Group identity moderates the effect of perceived control on uncertain promotion.Compared with in group,when social density is composed of out groups which group identity is low,perceived control has a greater impact on consumers’ uncertain promotion preference,the mediating effect of anxiety is not significant(Experiment 5).The conclusion of the study complements the social environmental factors that affect the effectiveness of uncertain promotion,and provides theoretical guidance and reference for businesses to effectively implement uncertain promotion.