Revisiting Crowded Restaurants in the Post-Pandemic Era: Exploring the Social Drivers of Emotion and Behavioral Intentions for Sustainable Dining Culture

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic brought significant changes to dining practices. Using meal kits, restaurant meal replacements (RMRs), and contactless dining became common, accelerating the trend toward personalized and convenient meals. Nevertheless, many people continue to prefer visiting crowded restaurants, willingly accepting the inconvenience associated with crowdedness. This paradoxical phenomenon suggests deeper social and cultural motivations beyond the basic function of eating. This study explores the social and psychological attributes of perceived crowdedness in restaurants—affiliation motivation, social proof, and human ambience—and examines their effects on customers’ emotions and behavioral intentions. A quantitative survey was conducted to assess customers’ emotional and behavioral responses to crowded dining environments, and the proposed relationships were tested using structural equation modeling. The results showed that all three attributes had a positive effect on emotional responses such as pleasure and arousal. However, only pleasure significantly influenced behavioral intentions, including revisit and word-of-mouth intentions, while arousal did not. These findings suggest that emotional pleasure derived from crowded dining environments is a key factor in encouraging continued customer engagement. The study offers theoretical and practical implications for designing emotionally and socially sustainable restaurant environments in the post-pandemic era.