Payment and Pleasure in Shared Consumption Experiences

Despite increasing admission fees, consumers are spending more than ever on shared consumption experiences in the pursuit of happiness. However, current financial constraints mean that payment dynamics (i.e., how the fee is allocated among participating consumers) are becoming an increasing important topic for consumers to consider in these contexts with downstream consequences for their wellbeing. Three experimental studies (N = 1,515), and an archival text-analysis study of 101,988 consumer reviews, reveal that consumers derive more happiness from shared consumption experiences when they pay the full fee (the other consumer paying or splitting the fee) when with strong (weak) social ties (Study 1-3). Findings suggest that these results are due to market-pricing mode increasing happiness for weak social ties, but not strong (Study 3), and initial evidence suggests that this upholds in the field (Study 4). Results provide insights for consumers to maximise their shared consumption experiences, acknowledging the difficulty surrounding payment dynamics. Implications for theory and further research are discussed.