Should it be my party? Consumer roles in joint experiences

Abstract

In this paper, we define and conceptualize two commonly assumed roles that have not yet been studied in the marketing literature—that of a host and a guest. We examine consumers’ preference for, and consequences of, assuming each role across three studies. We find that consumers generally prefer being guests (vs. hosts) due to a greater focus on the costs (vs. benefits) associated with the host role. This aversion to hosting is attenuated for extroverts and when consumers are encouraged to recouple the benefits and costs associated with hosting. Importantly, we also find that being a host involves meaningful reflective benefits, as consumers report greater retrospective enjoyment of events they hosted, compared with those they attended as guests), suggesting that consumers’ a priori preference for the less demanding guest role may be misguided.