A desire to create shared memories increases consumers' willingness to sacrifice experience quality for togetherness

Abstract

This work examines the trade-offs that consumers in relationships make between the overall quality of an activity (i.e., experience quality) and the ability to share the activity in physical proximity to a relationship partner (i.e., togetherness). A pilot study and five experiments demonstrate that consumers value togetherness (vs. experience quality) relatively more when they share the experience with a close (vs. distant) relationship partner. Importantly, this work documents a novel mechanism underlying the value that consumers place on togetherness: a desire to create shared memories. Supportive of this mechanism, the extent to which consumers value togetherness (vs. experience quality) is increased when outcomes for the self and the partner are asymmetrical (vs. symmetrical) if choosing to be apart and is reduced when the experience is framed as utilitarian (vs. hedonic) and when consumers are reminded that they can create shared memories even when apart. Taken together, this work extends previous research on shared consumption by documenting a desire to create shared memories as a novel driver of consumer decision-making in the context of close relationships.