The mechanism of the influence of festive thematic atmosphere in commercial spaces on consumers’ brand loyalty intentions and consumer behavior

Festive thematic atmosphere is increasingly used to shape consumer responses in commercial spaces, yet its dimensions and underlying mechanisms remain insufficiently understood. Drawing on the stimulus-organism-response framework, this study examined eight first-order festive atmosphere constructs using on-site survey data from 465 urban Chinese consumers in three commercial settings in the Yangtze River Delta during the commercialized Christmas season. Structural equation modeling (SEM) tested the hypothesized relationships, bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples assessed mediation, and artificial neural networks (ANNs) provided a complementary evaluation of nonlinear prediction and predictor importance. SEM supported 20 of 24 hypotheses, while H1, H2, H11, and H15 were not statistically significant. Installation aesthetic value had the strongest effect on emotional arousal (β = 0.319), whereas thematic services had the strongest effect on brand attitude (β = 0.277). Emotional arousal and brand attitude were positively associated with self-reported consumption responses and significantly mediated selected atmospheric effects. Ten-fold ANN cross-validation yielded mean RMSE values of 0.265–0.370; festive music relevance and thematic services were the most important predictors of emotional arousal and brand attitude, respectively. Within commercialized Christmas settings among urban Chinese consumers, the findings extend SOR theory and provide context-specific guidance for festive commercial-space design and marketing.