Looking Back: Exploring the Psychology of Queuing and the Effect of the Number of People Behind

Queues are a ubiquitous phenomenon. This research investigates consumers’ affective experiences in a queue and their decisions to leave the queue after having spent some time in it (reneging). In particular, we find in our first two studies that, as the number of people behind increases, the consumer is in a relatively more positive affective state and the likelihood of reneging is lower. While a number of explanations may account for this effect, we focus on the role of social comparisons. In particular, we expect consumers in a queue to make downward comparisons with the less fortunate others behind them. We propose that three types of factors influence the degree of social comparisons made and thus moderate the effect of the number behind: (a) queue factors that influence the ease with which social comparisons can be made, (b) individual factors that determine the personal tendency to make social comparisons, and (c) situational factors that influence the degree of social comparisons through the generation of counterfactuals. Across three studies, we find support for each moderating effect. We conclude with a discussion on theoretical implications and limitations, and we propose avenues for future research.