Effects of Social and Temporal Distance on Consumers' Responses to Peer Recommendations

2011/05/12 by Min Zhao, Jinhong Xie · 20 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Decision Sciences · Psychology · #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Construal level theory #Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification #Consumption (sociology) #Cultural Differences and Values #Decision-Making and Behavioral Economics #Distance decay #Economics #Geography #Preference #Psychology #Social comparison theory #Social distance #Social psychology #Sociology

paper · pdf · open access · doi:10.1509/jmkr.48.3.486

published in Journal of Marketing Research 48(3), 486-496 (SAGE Publishing)

openalex publication_date 2011/05/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

This article examines the interplay of social and temporal distance on consumers' responses to others' recommendations. Drawing on research on psychological distance and the “fit” literature, the authors hypothesize that others' recommendations are more persuasive when the construal levels associated with both social distance and temporal distance are congruent. Specifically, the authors first demonstrate a time-contingent effect of recommendation: Others' recommendations lead to a greater preference shift when people make decisions for distant-future consumption than for near-future consumption (Studies 1 and 2). Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, the authors find that close others do not always have a greater impact than distant others. instead, recommendations from close others are more influential in shifting near-future preferences than those from distant others, whereas recommendations from distant others are more influential than those from close others in shifting distant-future preferences (Study 3). The authors demonstrate that others' recommendations are perceived to be more relevant as the underlying mechanism when there is a match of construal levels between the social and temporal distance. Research and managerial implications are discussed.

Citations

• Managing Consumer Uncertainty in the Adoption of New Products: Temporal Distance and Mental Simulation
• The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.

Cited by

• Integrating Community Ambivalence into Resident Sentiment Research
• Word of mouth and interpersonal communication: A review and directions for future research
• Consumer reliance on intangible versus tangible attributes in service evaluation: the role of construal level
• When do social norms strategies reduce uncertainty and anxiety? The moderating role of psychological distance in crisis communication
• Closeness or Distance? An Investigation of Employee-Organization Relationships: From a Psychological Distance Perspective. [europepmc]
• The psychological perspective on the adoption of approved genetically modified crops in the presence of acceptability constraint: the contingent role of passion. [europepmc]
• Reflecting glory or deflecting stigma? The interplay between status and social proximity in peer evaluations. [europepmc]
• Sharing on Facebook and Face-to-Face What Others Do or Approve: Word-of-Mouth Driven by Social Norms. [europepmc]
• The impact of CSR on green purchase intention: Empirical evidence from the green building Industries in Taiwan. [europepmc]
• A New Explanation for the Attitude-Behavior Inconsistency Based on the Contextualized Attitude. [europepmc]
• The role of user participation and psychological distance in consumer brand attitudes in gamified marketing. [europepmc]
• Quantity-Sourced or Quality-Sourced? The Impact of Word-of-Mouth Recommendations on China Rural Residents' Online Purchase Intention: The Chain Mediating Roles of Social Distance and Perceived Value. [europepmc]

Related

• Effects of Temporal and Social Distance on Consumer Evaluations: Table 1
• To Switch or Not To Switch: Understanding Social Influence in Recommender Systems
• Construal Levels and Psychological Distance: Effects on Representation, Prediction, Evaluation, and Behavior
• Construal-level theory of psychological distance.
• Keeping One's Distance