Territoriality revisited: Other customer's perspective

In this study, we investigate the impact of other customers’ territorial behaviors on observing customers with a focus on a specific type of territorial behavior: refusing to share a table with another customer. Drawing from the other-customer-perception (OCP) framework, social projection theory and deontic justice theory, we examine how the observing customer's territorial tendency, perceived similarity to the rejected intruder and the level of crowding influence customer reactions to territorial behaviors. The results of this study suggest that these three factors jointly influence the observing customer's negative emotions. Moreover, the level of crowding and the observing customer's territorial tendency together influenced fairness perceptions. Finally, negative emotions and fairness perceptions had a significant impact on the observing customer's satisfaction. Implications for hospitality scholars and practitioners are discussed.