Résumé
This research aims at showing the moderating effect of social anxiety on the link between the degree of intimacy in a conversation with a salesperson and the intention to return to a store. Our results show that small talk and personal conversations with merchants (versus no conversation or self-service) decrease loyalty to the point of sale for socially anxious consumers. Our results extend the findings of the relationship marketing literature by showing the negative impact of verbal intimacy in commercial exchanges.