Events

Professor L. J. Shrum
Professor of Marketing
HEC Paris

ABSTRACT

Chronic loneliness is a serious social problem that appears to be on the rise, and more so after the global COVID-19 pandemic. Some firms have introduced consumer services to foster social connections, particularly ones that promote interpersonal touch. Such strategies are presumably based on the intuitive notion that consumers may be attracted to services that provide interpersonal touch because human touch has been shown to have therapeutic benefits. Based on predictions derived from the evolutionary theory of loneliness, across six studies (N = 4200+), we show that the opposite is true. Chronic loneliness is negatively correlated with comfort with interpersonal touch, which in turn translates into reduced rather than increased usage and preference for interpersonal touch-related services and service encounters. These effects are mediated by the negative effect of chronic loneliness on interpersonal trust and attenuated when interpersonal trust is boosted. These findings suggest that marketers may want to reconsider their assumptions that lonely consumers will be attracted to services that promote interpersonal touch as a means of social connection, unless interpersonal trust can be clearly established.