Showing to friends or strangers? Relationship orientation influences the effect of social exclusion on conspicuous consumption

Previous research has shown that social exclusion can lead individuals to engage in conspicuous consumption, but these studies did not focus on the relationship between the excluder and the excluded, that is, whether they were friends or strangers. The present research aims to address this gap by taking relationship orientation as a boundary condition between social exclusion and conspicuous consumption. The results of Experiment 1 demonstrate that individuals who are communal relationship oriented (e.g., friends) will prefer conspicuous consumption more when they are socially excluded than when they are socially included. In contrast, there is no significant difference for exchange-oriented individuals (e.g., strangers). Experiment 2 further confirms the hypothesis and establishes the underlying mechanism by showing that self-esteem plays an intermediary role in the effect of social exclusion and relationship orientation on conspicuous consumption. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.