Social presence and service satisfaction: The moderating role of cultural value‐orientation

Two studies examine the role of the cultural value orientation, self‐construal, as a moderator of the relationship between social presence and service satisfaction. Cross‐cultural data are collected in China and the USA to maximize variation on self‐construal. Results suggest that social presence effects vary depending on the consumer's independent self‐construal. Regardless of whether the service encounter is positive or negative, social presence increases the strength of satisfaction or dissatisfaction for low independents but not for high independents.