How does embarrassment influence our in-store buying behavior? An empirical study about the spill-over effect of the purchase of embarrassing products regarding
compensatory behavior.
By Naomi Touré
23th of June 2017
2 How does embarrassment influence our in-store
buying behavior? An empirical study about the spill- over effect of the purchase of embarrassing products
regarding compensatory behavior.
By NAOMI TOURÉ
University of Groningen
Faculty of Economics and Business
MSc Marketing Management
[Master thesis]
23th of June 2017
Supervisors: M. Keizer & J. Hoekstra
Address: Helper Kerkstraat 46, 9225 EV, Groningen Telephone number: +31-648067057
E-mail: n.s.toure@student.rug.nl Student number 3026914
3
Abstract
This study examined the spill-over effect of the purchase of embarrassing products in relation with self-esteem. In more detail, this study focused on the subsequent instore buying behavior after the purchase of an embarrassing product. This study focused on two types of compensatory behavior: the purchase of branded products, and the purchase of green products. Participants (415) were randomly assigned to four conditions of an online questionnaire. During the experiment, embarrassment and appraisal were manipulated. In order to measure self-esteem, participants completed the Rosenberg self-esteem scale. The results showed that people who experience embarrassment tend to purchase branded products. However, the results for the purchase of green products is reversed; people who do not experience embarrassment have a higher need for green products. Additionally, a moderation effect of self-appraisal was found, which indicates that people who are embarrassed as a result of their own self-appraisal have a higher need to buy branded products. However, there is no interaction effect found for the purchase of green products.
Keywords: embarrassment, appraisal, self-esteem, buying behavior, brands, green products
Research theme: Embarrassment & Consumer behavior
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Content
Introduction ... 5
Theoretical framework ... 7
Embarrassment ... 7
Self-esteem ... 8
Self-appraisal versus the appraisal of others ... 9
Spill-over effects of embarrassment in buying behavior ... 10
Branded products ... 12
Green products ... 13
The current study ... 14
Methods ... 15
Participants and design ... 15
Procedure ... 15
Independent variables ... 15
Embarrassment ... 15
Appraisal ... 16
Self-esteem ... 17
Dependent variable ... 17
Analysis plan ... 18
Results ... 20
Hypothesis ... 20
Self-esteem mediator ... 20
Embarrassment & Appraisal ... 20
Discussion & conclusion ... 23
References ... 28
Appendix ... 32
Appendix A: Pre-test survey ... 32
Appendix B: Self-esteem scale ... 33
Rosenberg self-esteem scale (English) ... 33
Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Dutch) ... 33
Appendix C: Survey for each condition ... 34
Condition 1 ... 34
Condition 2: ... 40
Condition 3 ... 47
Condition 4 ... 53
5
Introduction
One of the key drivers of human behavior is emotions. Emotions affect our decision-making processes. For marketers, it is interesting to know how various emotions guide our decisions.
In this study, the emotion embarrassment will be studied, and how it influences subsequent decision-making will be considered. Embarrassment is a complex and uniquely human emotion that plays a pervasive role in social motivation and interaction (Miller, 1996: 24). Past literature classified embarrassment as a social emotion that is experienced in the presence of others and is therefore labelled as a public emotion (Tangney, Miller, Flicker & Barlow, 1996; Van den Bos, 2006: Edelman, 1985). More recently, however, researchers have considered embarrassment as a private emotion (Krishna, Herd, Aydınoğlu 2015), which can be experienced without the presence of others. Additionally, embarrassment is characterized as a self-conscious emotion, like pride, guilt and shame. Self-conscious emotions are characterized by the cognitive ability to reflect on the self, but do not require elaborate cognitive capacities such as understanding rules and standards (Lewis, 2000: 2).
Embarrassment can lead to a loss of self-esteem, and therefore result in compensatory behavior.
Maintaining a high self-esteem is important to people (Baumeister, 2000), and when this self- esteem is threatened it will generate a certain response. Embarrassment will harm people’s self- esteem and therefore put people into an undesirable situation. As a result, people will engage in compensatory behavior to restore their self-esteem. Previous literature suggests that people make use of different strategies to improve their self-esteem.
In this study, I propose that appraisal plays an important role in the way people repair self- esteem when experiencing embarrassment. When people experience embarrassment, and are concerned about what others might think of them, this is identified as appraisal by others (Krishna, 2015). In that case, it is likely that people engage in behavior that signals something to others to restore their self-esteem. On the other hand, self-appraisal is when people are just embarrassed about themselves and do not care about the evaluation of others (Krishna, 2015).
In that situation, behavior that communicates something to others is less likely. However, people will engage in other behaviors that still boost their self-esteem. Thus, different forms of appraisal will lead to different purchasing behaviors. In particular, the appraisal of others might result in a higher need for green products, whereas self-appraisal effects the purchase of branded products more.
In this present study, I want to investigate the spill-over effects when consumers purchase embarrassing products in the presence of others. In addition, I will study whether this relation
6 between the purchase of embarrassing products and the possible spill-over effects are mediated by self-esteem. In other words, I will consider how the purchase of this type of product affects the preference for compensatory purchases (branded and green products).
This study will improve the research of embarrassment for a few reasons. First, the role of appraisal, which could play a major role in how people repair their self-esteem, is understudied.
This study will give insights into how the two distinct types of appraisal result in different behaviors to improve self-esteem. Second, no empirical research has tested embarrassment in relation to subsequent preferences. Besides filling in these gaps in academic literature, this study may also prove valuable for companies. This study gives marketers insights into the purchase motives and purchase intentions of green and branded products. For companies that produce embarrassing products, it could be helpful to take this study into account when developing the customer journey. Moreover, it can be valuable for retailers in terms of developing a store plan for the strategic location of embarrassing products relative to the placement of other products within the store.
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Theoretical framework
Embarrassment
Probably we can all imagine that painful moment, that feeling of awkwardness, blushing, smiling and the feeling that we have made a complete fool of ourselves. During this moment, you experience embarrassment. Embarrassment is defined as “a self-conscious emotion, in which a person feels awkward or flustered in other people’s company or because of attention of others” (Van den Bos, 2006: 114). Embarrassment is classified as a social emotion, where one violates a social norm in the presence of others and perceives a loss of approval from others (Tangney, Miller, Flicker & Barlow, 1996: 1262). According to Edelman (1985), embarrassment is a response to threats upon one’s public identity or social image that creates a concern for how one is being appraised by others.
In past literature, there is one classical view of embarrassment as a social emotion. First, Goffman (1956) (Gross & Stone, 1964) emphasized the social sources of embarrassment. These sociologists (Gofmann, 1956; Gross & Stone, 1964) argued that embarrassment is produced because of the inability to perform a social role or show the right public image. Modigliani (1968) built on this theory of Goffman further and proposed that embarrassment is a cause of a loss of self-esteem. Modigliani suggested that the inability to perform a projected role would hurt people’s self-esteem, depending on the relevant quality of this role. So, both sociologists had the same view of embarrassment and agreed that embarrassment is a social emotion.
However, Modigliani emphasized more that embarrassment is a threat towards self-esteem.
So, until recently, embarrassment has been mainly defined as a social emotion that can only be experienced in the presence of others. But work by Krishna, Herd and Aydınoğlu (2015) questioned this social view of embarrassment and considered the emotion as private. The authors concluded that embarrassment can be experienced both in public and private setting and have the same degree of intensity. Public embarrassment is more characterized by a tendency to escape the situation (Leary & Kowalski, 1995) and elicits a more physical reaction compared to private embarrassment. The study by Krishna et al. conflicts with the classical view of embarrassment as a social emotion described earlier, So, embarrassment is not only considered as a social emotion but also a private emotion.
Another way to categorize embarrassment is as a self-conscious emotion, like shame, pride ns guilt (Lewis, 1990; Fisher & Tangey, 1995). Self-conscious emotions make people aware of themselves and trigger people to evaluate themselves. Embarrassment and shame are sometimes used interchangeably. Several studies argue that shame and embarrassment are related. For
8 example Izard (1977) argued that embarrassment is an element of shame or a shame variant (Lewis, 1971). However, past literature also sheds light on the difference between the two emotions. For instance, Ortony, Clore & Collins (1988) concluded that shame results in more moral transgressions and serious failures, whereas embarrassment follows relatively trivial social transgressions. According to Buss (1980:161), “Shame has moral implications but embarrassment does not”, implying that people feel immoral when experiencing shame and more awkward when experiencing embarrassment (Miller & Tangey, 1996). According to several theorists (Modigliani, 1968; Short, 1979; Klass, 1990) embarrassment is tied to perceived shortcomings of one’s presented self, whereas shame is more about the deficiencies of one’s core self. Moreover, shame is characterized by feelings of regret and depression, whereas embarrassment is less intense and has symptoms like blushing and smiling (Buss, 1980). Furthermore, embarrassment and shame differ in another important aspect, namely self- esteem. Shame is a more enduring loss of self-esteem, whereas embarrassment is a temporary loss of self-esteem (Miller & Flicker, 1996). Thus, embarrassment is a self-conscious emotion used interchangeable with shame. However, there is a large body of literature that proves this is wrong, because embarrassment and shame are distinct.
This study will investigate in-store decision-making and is therefore focused on a public setting.
Hence, this study will use the classical view of embarrassment and therefore shed light on the social part of embarrassment rather than the private part. The theory proposed by Modigliani, which emphasized that embarrassment leads to a loss of self-esteem, will be used as a starting point for this research, since Modigliani's theory is further developed and more detailed than Goffman's.
In conclusion, embarrassment is a self-conscious emotion distinct from shame that can be felt with the presence and without the presence of other people, which causes a temporary loss of self-esteem.
Self-esteem
When people experience feelings of embarrassment it is associated with a temporary loss of self-esteem. Self-esteem entails the individual overall positive evaluation of the self (Gecas 1982; Rosenberg 1990, 1995). Self-esteem is characterized by two distinct dimensions: the competence dimension, and the worth dimension (Gecas, 1982; Gecas & Schwalbe, 1983). The former describes how a capable and efficacious person perceives themselves. The latter involves the degree to which a person feels they are a person of value. Similarly, Brown, Dutton
& Cook (2001) argue that self-esteem consists of self-evaluation and feelings of self-worth.
9 Brown et al. do not explicitly describe a competence part within the self-esteem concept, but they do propose a self-evaluation element, which competence could be a part of.
Humans want to feel good about themselves, want to positively evaluate the self, and want to maintain a high self-worth (Heine, Lehman, Markus & Kitayama, 1999). Therefore, one of the top priorities in a person’s life is to keep high self-esteem, which provides several benefits. One of these benefits is that high self-esteem is a sign of social acceptance and to be liked by others (Baumeister, 2000). Furthermore, in accordance with the self-affirmation theory, a high self- esteem provides people with a buffer against stress and failures experienced (Steele, 1988;
Greenberg, Solomon, Pyszczynski, Rosenblatt, Burling, Lyon & Pinel, 1992). In addition, high self-esteem helps people to deal with existential threats (Greenberg et al., 1992). To summarise, self-esteem is related to self-evaluation, which includes a component of self-worth. This provides several benefits and is therefore valuable to humans. Therefore, when a person who values their self-esteem comes under pressure, it is very likely that this person will engage in behavior to save their self-esteem.
Overall, past literature describes the process of the experience of embarrassment, which results in a loss of self-esteem. This process will be tested based on the following hypotheses:
H1: Purchasing embarrassing products leads to a temporary loss of self-esteem.
Self-appraisal versus the appraisal of others
Few studies have investigated the different ways people can feel embarrassed, which can play an important role in compensatory behavior. Consider a situation when you felt embarrassed (e.g. slipped on the stairs while everybody is watching), and feel concerned about how other people will evaluate you based on this action (e.g. everybody saw me slipping, so they will think I am a stupid person). In this situation, a person is embarrassed towards other people, which is called appraisal by others (Krishna et al., 2015). In this case, this person wants to repair his/her self-esteem. Consequently, this person has a high need to communicate something to others, in order to enhance self-esteem and/or benefit other people.
Conversely, the reason why people feel embarrassed can also be caused by self-appraisal. This is when a person is not concerned about how they will be assessed by other people, but is embarrassed about themselves (Krishna et al., 2015). For example, when a person slips on the stairs and is embarrassed because of their “lack of attention” while taking the stairs, and not about the judgements of other people. Taking this into account, it is likely that this person does not have to engage in behavior (e.g. a purchase) that communicates and signals something to
10 other people. However, this person will still engage in behavior to repair self-esteem, which is more focused on self-expressive goals.
In more general terms, appraisal is an assessment of an emotional situation where a person evaluates an event, and people give a response based on this interpretation (Roseman, 2001).
This appraisal theory helps to gain more insights into people’s perception of themselves, their environment and their ability to cope with stressful situations. For this current study, “the self”
and the interaction of the self with the environment is important to consider.
The self develops through social experience and is not an individual process (Grubb &
Grathwohl, 1967). The self interacts with the environment and needs to deal with other people.
People may engage in different kind of behaviors when they are interacting with the environment. So, the way people feel embarrassed may depend on the interaction of the self and the environment. In the literature, little has been studied about the way in which consumers feel embarrassed and the effect on subsequent behaviors. However, it might be conceivable that there is a link between the way people interact with the environment and how people restore a battered self-esteem, but this has not been previously investigated. So, the interaction with the environment can be an important determinant for subsequent behavior. In other words, the way people feel embarrassed can influence their purchasing behaviors.
To conclude, the type of appraisal can affect the way in which a person restores their self- esteem. So, the way in which way a person feels embarrassed can affect the subsequent decision-making and therefore influence the behavior of a person.
Spill-over effects of embarrassment in buying behavior
So it is clear that embarrassments lead to a loss of self-esteem. Clearly, people want to maintain high self-esteem and therefore try to protect or restore their self-esteem. In addition, how people repair their self-esteem may be influenced by the way they feel embarrassed (appraisal).
Consequently, when people feel embarrassed they engage in coping responses (Verbeke &
Bagozzi, 2003). Coping responses are cognition and behaviors consisting of the personal and social resources people use to manage stressful situations and to take actions to repair the problematic aspects (Lazarus, 1966, 1980). Goffman (1955) described a coping mechanism that people used to protect and restore the desired public identity, so-called “face work”. Clearly, people engage in certain behaviors when their self-esteem is threatened.
11 Undoubtedly, in consumer behavior, people also experience embarrassment, which is a threat for the self-esteem and therefore an undesirable situation for people. Different studies have investigated embarrassment in consumer behavior, but they have mainly focused on strategies for how consumers avoid embarrassment, for instance, when consumers buy embarrassing products (e.g.. Viagra, lube condoms, adult diapers), which in turn can diminish their self- esteem. To diminish this negative feeling, consumers use different coping strategies to avoid the feeling of embarrassment (“to save face”). Bracket (2004) investigated the purchase of condoms among students, and found that they use different strategies to make the purchase less embarrassing (e.g. purchasing additional items, moving quickly, avoiding asking for help in the store, and shopping in less crowded stores). In addition, Blair & Roese (2013) found evidence for the coping strategy of additional purchases, which can indeed “save face” (Lewittes &
Simmons, 1975). According to the authors, the additional purchases need to be unrelated to the embarrassing product a consumer buys.
Thus, there is a lot known about different strategies that people use to avoid embarrassment.
However, sometimes, you cannot avoid embarrassment, which raises an interesting question:
what happens next? Less research has been done into what kind of behavior consumers engage in after they experience embarrassment, in particular behavior to improve self-esteem. The previously described process in which embarrassment leads to a loss of self-esteem— a process different for self-appraisal and appraisal by others—provides clues to answer this question.
Previous research shows that people who have low self-esteem often engage in activities to improve self-esteem. From a consumer behavior perspective, people tend to engage in symbolic consumption for self-enhancement (Grubb, 1967; Krueger, 1988).
It follows from the previous discussion that consumers may (un)consciously adjust their buying behavior when they have experienced embarrassment to restore their self-esteem. In particular, appraisal will influence how people adjust their behavior. To test this, this study will shed light on the spill-over effects of embarrassment in consumer behavior. The aim of this present study is to investigate how the purchase of embarrassing products influences the subsequent buying behavior of consumers.
H2: A temporary loss of self-esteem motivates consumers to engage in compensatory purchasing behavior.
12 Specifically, I will study two types of purchases consumer may make to enhance their self- esteem: branded products and green products. Both of these types of products have a symbolic function that might help consumers to overcome feelings of embarrassment by repairing their self-esteem (Levy, 1959).
Branded products
In general, branded products have a symbolic function (Levy, 1959; Park, Jaworksi &
MacInnis, 1986), which is related to symbolic consumption, defined as the tendency of consumers to rely and focus on meanings attached to goods, beyond their physical properties (Szmigin & Piacentini, 2015: 247). People make use of the meaning and the value of a brand in a way to express the self-concept (James & Bettman, 2005; Aaken, 1999), and to build and create self-identities (McCracken, 1989). Hence, self-expression is an important determinant for consumer preferences and choice (Belk 1988; Richins, 1994). The self-concept is characterized by two forms: the ideal self and the actual self (Belch & Landon, 1977; Dolozier
& Tillman, 1972). The actual self is shaped by who and what a person thinks he/she is, thus the perception of oneself (Malär, Krohmer, Hoyer & Nyffenegge, 2011), while the ideal self is more based on goals and imagination of ideals that a person aspires to be (Lazzari, Fioravanti, and Gough 1978; Wylie 1979). Congruence between the brand image and self-image is important for consumers (Keller, 2013). Self-congruency can be achieved by purchasing brands that fit the ideal self. The brand image attached to a product provides ways for consumers to express the self-identity they want to obtain. People use brands as a tool to become the person they strive to be, the ideal self. Therefore, brands reduce the gap between the ideal self and the actual self-image. Thus, consuming brands that are congruent with the ideal self enhances our self-esteem (Betmann et al., 2005; Sigry, 1982). To conclude, the purchase of brands boosts consumer’s self-esteem because it is a way to bring people closer to their ideal self.
After the experience of embarrassment, consumers engage in behavior to reduce this feeling and to restore self-esteem. In the event of self-appraisal, people strive to obtain a positive evaluation of the self, but do not have the need to communicate something to others. For that reason, when people are embarrassed as a result of self-appraisal, they might choose to repair self-esteem by buying branded products. Bearden & Etzel (1982) argued that the frequently used and well-known brands communicate less specific associations about a person compared to more luxury brands. Hence, this study will be conducted with fast-moving consumer goods.
13 Therefore, this study aims to investigate if people that want to restore their self-esteem as a cause of self-appraisal have a higher need for branded products.
H3: A temporary loss of self-esteem caused by self-appraisal motivates consumers to purchase branded products
Green products
Another way to enhance self-esteem is to purchase green products (Bettman, 2005). Green consumption has grown rapidly in recent years. Today, eco-friendly products are widely available to consumers. This growth depends on the consumer's willingness to engage in greener consumption behaviors (Peattie, 2010). Like branded products, green products have a symbolic function. Research suggests that various values and beliefs can influence the behavior toward green consumption, for example environmental attitudes (Laroche, Bergon & Barbaro- Forleo, 2001; Diamantopoulos, Schlegelmilch, Sinkovics & Bohlen, 2003; Hobson, 2003).
Additionally, status motives play a role in the choice of green products (Griskevicius, Tybur &
Bergh, 2010). Hartman (2012) argues that green products are associated with pro-social behavior and pro-environmental attitudes. Pro-social behaviors are voluntary actions intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals (Eisenberg & Mussen, 1989: 3).
Pro-social behavior provide a positive reputation, increases social status within a society (Flynn
& Reagans, 2006; Grant & Gino, 2010), and is a way to gain social acceptance (Learly, 2009;
Learly & Baumeister, 2000). Therefore, people are more willing to purchase products that benefit society for a premium price. In other words, people want to signal to others that they are willing to incur costs that benefit society (Griskevicius et al., 2010; Grolleau, Banez, Mzoughi, 2009 Sexton, 2014).
In the event of appraisal by others, it is important for people that they can communicate something to others. So, it is very likely when people are embarrassed and are concerned about the evaluations of others they might choose to restore self-esteem by means of green products, as such products have a high degree of signalling good behavior to other people. Thus, consumers use green products to obtain status and to create a pro-environmental reputation. In short, it is likely that when a person as a consequence of embarrassment wants to enhance their self-esteem, he/she will purchase green products to accomplish this goal. The hypothesis that will be tested is as follows:
14 H4: A temporary loss of self-esteem caused by the appraisal of others motivates consumers to purchase green products
The current study
This study will investigate the in-store purchasing behavior in a public environment. The hypotheses are tested by means of experiment in a public setting, with the presence of other people. An imaginary store will be used for this experiment, and in this store other customers are also shopping. This study will measure the effect of the purchase of an embarrassing product and subsequent feelings and decision-making. Since this behavior is measured in a public environment, it might be viewed by others as compensatory purchase behavior.
Figure 1: Conceptual framework
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Methods
Participants and design
Within two weeks, four hundred and fifteen Dutch participants (17% men, 83% female, 28%
students, Mage 39, SDage 15.906) participated in this experiment. All the participants were randomly assigned to four different conditions: 1) no embarrassing products, appraisal by others; 2) no embarrassing products, self-appraisal; 3) embarrassing products, appraisal by others; and 4) embarrassing products, self-appraisal. This research model employed a 2 (embarrassing products: yes vs. no) x 2 (evaluation: self vs others) subject design.
Procedure
The data was collected using a Dutch questionnaire, which consist of several tasks (reading task, scale, decision-making task). Potential participants were emailed or requested face-to-face to participate to this experiment. Next, people who agreed to participate were informed about which task they were expected to complete. Through a link to the online questionnaire, participants could complete the questionnaire. First, the participants provided general information (gender, age). Second, participants were provided a short story which described a situation in which they needed to buy a product. Depending on the condition, participants were instructed to buy a non-embarrassing product (sun cream) or an embarrassing product (haemorrhoid cream). In combination with the instruction to buy a product, participants were provided with clues that described, depending on the assigned condition, a situation of self- appraisal or appraisal by others. After participants read the story, the self-esteem of the participants was measured based on a 10-item scale of multiple-choice questions. Finally, they performed a decision-making task with the dependent variable (10 items). For each item, fifteen products were displayed on the screen, and the participants needed to choose five products.
Independent variables
The independent variables used in this study are embarrassment and appraisal. Both variables were triggered in the short story the participants were instructed to read at the beginning of the questionnaire.
Embarrassment
First, embarrassment was manipulated by means of an instruction to enter a store to buy haemorrhoid cream or sun cream. The products used for this manipulation are based on a small pre-test (appendix A), the results of which are displayed in table 1. The results of this test show (on a scale of 1 to 10), that people do not experience the purchase of sun cream as embarrassing
16 but find the purchase of haemorrhoid cream very embarrassing. Therefore, in the embarrassing conditions haemorrhoid cream is used for the manipulation and sun cream for the non- embarrassing.
Table 1: Pre-test descriptive statistics
In order to check if the manipulation was successfully, participants needed to indicate to what degree they felt embarrassed during the experiment. In order to test if this manipulation was successful, the one-way ANOVA test was used. In this test, the mean (embarrassment degree) of two groups were compared: the non-embarrassment conditions (conditions 1 & 2), and the embarrassment conditions (conditions 3 & 4). The results show that this manipulation was successful. The participants in the embarrassing conditions experienced a significantly higher degree of embarrassment (F(3,411)=163,96), (P=.00) during the experiment than the non- embarrassing conditions (table 2).
Appraisal
Second, appraisal was manipulated by means of a few clues that point out if the person was focused on other people’s opinion or did not care. For the manipulation of appraisal by others, it was necessary to become clear that the person is aware of other people in the store and really cares about the opinion of those people. Therefore, the story participants needed to read contained sentences such as: "You get the feeling that the people in the store are watching you and you are very concerned what these people might think of you”. In contrast, for the self- appraisal condition participants needed to be aware of other people in the store, but must not care about the opinion of those people. Therefore, the story participants needed to read was different and contained sentences like: “You are totally not concerned about what the other people in the store might think of you, because you are mostly focused on yourself”.
To be able to test if this manipulation was successful, participants needed to indicate if the person in the store (the participant) was concerned about the evaluations of other people in the store. In order to analyse if this manipulation was well performed, a one-way ANOVA test was used. In this test two groups were compared: appraisal by others' group (conditions 1 & 3) and the self-appraisal group (conditions 2 & 4). The results indicate that the manipulation was
Product Mean SD
Condoms 3 1.60
Haemorrhoid cream 8.40 2.04 Wart removal cream 4.48 1.20
Sun cream 1.05 1.02
Toothpaste 2.56 0.51
17 successful. Participants in the appraisal by others' condition concluded that the person in the store is significantly (F93,411)=174,73), P=.00) more focused on the evaluations of other people within the store compared to the self-appraisal conditions (table 2).
Condition N Embarrassment
mean
Embarrassment SD
Appraisal mean
Appraisal SD No embarrassment,
appraisal by others
119 2.53 2.18 4.21 1.11
No embarrassment, self-appraisal
115 2.41 2.19 1.57 1.07
Embarrassment, appraisal by other
89 7.56 2.20 4.37 1.03
Embarrassment, self-appraisal
92 7.14 2.35 2.01 1.31
Total 415 4.60 3.29 3.02 1.70
Table 2: Manipulation checks descriptive statistics
Self-esteem
The self-esteem of the participants was measured after the exposure to both manipulations (after the reading task). In order to measure self-esteem, the self-esteem scale developed by the sociologist Rosenberg (1965) was used. This self-esteem scale is widely used in social research and consists of 10 items that measure positive and negative feelings of the self. For example: I feel that I have a number of good qualities and I wish I could have more respect for myself. The scale is based on a 4-point Likert scale and is written in English. Since, this survey was written in Dutch, the Dutch translation of the Rosenberg scale was used. This Dutch version was proved to be valid and have a high reliability; the results of the scale are displayed in table 3. In appendix B, the self-esteem scale is provided in both languages.
Mean Minimum Maximum SD Cronbach alpha
Self-esteem 23.51 10 48 6.406 0.98
Table 3: Rosenberg self-esteem scale descriptive statistics
Dependent variable
Each participant was exposed to both levels of the dependent variable. The preference for branded and green products was measured with the same decision-making task. This decision- making task consisted of five product categories: soft drinks, cleaning products, cosmetic products, snacks and coffee/tea. For each product category, participants were instructed to choose five products out of fifteen products. The number of branded products, private labels and green products were equally distributed and displayed in mixed order. For each product type (e.g. toilet paper) the participants could choose a brand (Page), private label (Jumbo) or an
18 eco-friendly variant (Bio Memo). Each time a participant chose one of the three product types, this was added up, resulting in a score. After the survey, each participant had three scores:
branded product score, private label score and the green product score. Each total score contains the number of chosen products of that product type during the experiment.
Analysis plan
To analyse if embarrassment leads to a loss of self-esteem, an ANOVA test will be performed.
Embarrassment (yes/no) will be used as independent variable, and the self-esteem score of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale will be used as a dependent variable. In this test, the mean (self- esteem score) of two groups (1: embarrassment, 2: no embarrassment) will be compared. If the test is significant, this means that there is a statistically significant difference between the self- esteem of people in the embarrassment and non-embarrassment conditions. Furthermore, to test if the self-esteem is a predictor of compensatory behavior a regression analysis will be performed. First, a linear regression model will be used to test if self-esteem can predict the purchase for branded products (IV: self-esteem score, DV: branded products score). Next, the same test will be used to test if self-esteem is a predictor for consumption of green products (IV: self-esteem score, DV: green products score). Thereafter, the mediation-moderation analysis of Hayes will be used to test the mediation and moderation effects of self-esteem and appraisal. If the ANOVA test and regression analysis are not significant, self-esteem is not a mediator and it will not be necessary to do the Hayes analysis. Instead, I will use the data to find the possible main effects and interaction effects of embarrassment, appraisal and compensatory behavior.
Significantly, the data for the green product score is not normally distributed. Since the data is not normally distributed, it is possible to do a non-parametric test: a Mann-Whitney U-test. On the other hand, the histogram (figure 2) shows that people either choose green products or don’t.
Since few people choose green products, it is more interesting to see if people buy green products, rather than how many green products they buy. Thus it will be more valuable to use the Chi-square test, so the data needs to be transformed into nominal data. In contrast, the data for branded products is normally distributed (figure 3). In order to find possible main or interaction effects for the branded products, I will perform a 2x2 ANOVA test for the branded product with embarrassment (yes/no) & appraisal (self/others) as independent variable and branded product score as dependent variable.
19 Figure 2: Histogram of green products Figure 3: Histogram of branded products
20
Results
Hypothesis
Self-esteem mediator
In this study it is proposed that self-esteem has a mediated effect. In order to test this, it is first checked if embarrassment leads to a loss of self-esteem. In order to analyse this a one-way ANOVA test is performed. The self-esteem mean of two groups will be compared, with embarrassment (yes/no) as independent variable and self-esteem score as dependent variable.
The ANOVA test is not statistically significant (Membarrassment: 23.56, Mnon-embarrassment: 23.44 (F=3,411=1,267), p=0.285), so there is no support for hypothesis 1. Embarrassment does not lead to a loss of self-esteem. The next step is to test if self-esteem can predict compensatory behavior. In order to analyse whether or not self-esteem influences the tendency to purchase branded products and green products, I performed a regression analysis. The regression analysis for branded product scores was not significant (R2=0,00, F(1,413)=.06, p=.805). Self-esteem does not influence the purchase behavior with regard to branded products (B=0,012, t=11,049, p= 0,805). Furthermore, self-esteem does not influence the purchase behavior with regard to green products (B=0,041, t=2,824, p= 0,408). Thus, self-esteem is not able to predict compensatory behavior, and so self-esteem is not a mediator in this model. So, there is no support for hypotheses 2, 3 and 4. Besides self-esteem, the other variables in the model can be used for further data analysis.
Embarrassment & Appraisal
As concluded above, there is no evidence that self-esteem is a mediator or a predictor in this conceptual model. Yet despite the lack of significant result for the variable self-esteem, the data for the variables of embarrassment and appraisal can still be useful. The data can be used to find the possible main effects of embarrassment and the need for branded products and green products. Moreover, I can test for interaction effects of embarrassment and appraisal on compensatory behavior. First, I will discuss the results for the branded products, followed by the main/interaction effects of the purchase of green products.
In order to analyse the influence of embarrassment and appraisal on branded products, a 2 (embarrassment: yes vs. no) x 2 (appraisal: by others vs. self) ANOVA will be used. The main effect of embarrassment proved to be significant: when people are embarrassed (conditions 3
& 4) they have a higher brand score than people who are not embarrassed (conditions 1 & 2) (table 4). However, there is no statistically significant difference in mean between appraisal by others and self-appraisal. The interaction effect appeared significant: participants in condition 4 (embarrassment and self-appraisal) have the highest brand scores (figure 4). To conclude,
21 appraisal is a moderator in this model, which is in line with the expectations based on the literature.
Condition Mean SD F P-
value Interaction effect
Embarrassment*appraisal F(1,408)=5,798 0.016
Main effect
Embarrassment: C1:9,07
C2:8,39 C3:10,48 C4: 11, 35
C1:4,143 C2:3,855 C3:5,016 C4: 5,359
F(1,408)=16,948 0.00
Appraisal C1:2,99
C2:0,95 C3:2,02 C4: 2,19
C1:4,212 C2:1,113 C3:2,671 C4: 2,816
F(1,408)=0,241 0.624
*C=condition
Table 4: 2x2 ANOVA for branded product scores
Figure 4: Interaction effect embarrassment & appraisal for branded products
22 Furthermore, the data of the green products is recoded into nominal data. I performed a cross table with Chi-square with embarrassment and the green product score. The Chi-square test is significant (Chi-square (1) = 1,171, =0.007). People who are not embarrassed more often choose green products (65%) than people who experience embarrassment (51%). The Chi- square test is statistically significant (Chi-square (1)=3,760 p=.053). Participants in the self- appraisal condition more often choose green products (64%) than people in the appraisal by others' condition (56%). Thus, if people are not embarrassed they tend to have a stronger preference for green products. This is the opposite result than expected and not in line with previous literature. In order to analyse the interaction effect of embarrassment and appraisal a Chi-square test is performed with embarrassment and appraisal. However, there is no interaction effect since there is no statistically significant result for self-appraisal (table 5).
Condition Embarrassment Non embarrassment p-value
Self-appraisal 65% 63% 0.795
Appraisal by others 38% 67% 0.00
Table 5: percentage of purchase green products & interaction effect
23
Discussion & conclusion
The main goal of this paper was to investigate the behavior of people when experiencing embarrassment. Past literature describes a certain process when people experience embarrassment. The literature proposes that self-esteem plays an important role in this process.
Embarrassment leads to a temporary loss of self-esteem (Modigliani, 1968; Miller & Flicker, 1996). In order to maintain high self-esteem, people tend to repair the self-esteem. As a result, people engage in compensatory behavior to reduce the damage caused by embarrassment.
Compensatory behavior can be expressed through the purchase of products with symbolic meaning. This study shed light on the purchase of branded products and green products. The second goal of this research was to investigate if appraisal also plays a role in the previous described process. The way in which people are appraised—self-appraisal or appraisal by others—might affect the type of purchase. Whereas self-appraisal may lead to a stronger preference for branded products, appraisal by others might lead to a stronger preference for green products.
First, the results of this study find no support for the mediator of self-esteem in this conceptual model. According to the results, embarrassment does not lead to a temporary loss of self- esteem. This finding is contrary to previous literature that stated that embarrassment does lead to a loss of self-esteem. In the literature, embarrassment is associated with a threat towards one’s public identity (Edelman, 1985). Unfortunately, the results of this study are not in line with this earlier research. There can be several possible causes for this. First, despite the good reliability and validity of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the scale has been questioned based on its unidimensional nature (Shevlin, Bunting & Lewis, 1995). Research found that positively and negatively phrased items can lead to method effects regarding the different wording of the questions (Horan, DiStefano & Motl, 2003; Tomas & Oliver, 1999). Second, it could be more suitable to measure the self-esteem twice: before and after the manipulation of embarrassment.
This method would make it possible to look for a difference between the self-esteem before and after the exposure to embarrassment of each participant. However, it would be hard to find significant difference between the two measurements if the measures take place in a survey. It might be preferable to measure self-esteem twice with a large enough time delay (e.g. one week, several days). A last possibility could be that despite a large body of literature, embarrassment does not lead to a loss of self-esteem.
Second, this study found strong evidence that when people are embarrassed they engage in compensatory behavior. In more detail, when people experience embarrassment they have a
24 higher need for branded products. This finding is in line with past literature, which explains that people use brands to shift towards the ideal self. Embarrassment brings people to an uncomfortable and awkward state, which is not a preferable situation. People want to overcome this feeling by purchasing a branded product. Branded products are characterized by a symbolic function (Levy, 1959). People value the meaning attached to a product and are able to express the ideal self. So, this “meaning” of a product becomes valuable to people when they experience embarrassment.
Third, the most interesting finding of this research is the interaction between embarrassment and appraisal on compensatory behavior. This finding is line with previous literature: people who experience embarrassment as a result of self-appraisal have a higher need for branded products. Self-appraisal is characterized by self-evaluation and not focused on social evaluations. In contrast to appraisal by others, people do not care about other opinions and judgments. When people are embarrassed in this sense it is not necessary for them to engage in behavior that signals something to others. However, it is necessary for people who experience embarrassment to engage in behavior to become the ideal self. It is clear from this study that when people experience embarrassment they engage in a certain type of purchasing behavior.
Thus, something is triggered by the experience of embarrassment, which causes this need for branded products. This means that there is another possible factor that is important to consider which causes this need, instead of self-esteem. However, as mentioned earlier, it might be possible that self-esteem is in fact this factor, since the measurement of self-esteem in this study could be improved upon.
Fourth, now I have discussed the most important findings regarding branded products, I will move on to the second type of compensatory behavior, green products. When consumers do not experience embarrassment they tend to have a higher need for green products compared to people who experience embarrassment. This finding is not in line with previous literature and is the opposite of the expectations. A possible reason for these odd findings could be that most people are not interested in buying green products, even after the manipulation. In addition it might be possible that the products used in this experiment do not have sufficient signal value.
So, people can still engage in the purchase of green products after the experience of embarrassment. However, these products need to contain a higher degree of signalling something to others. Furthermore, when people are in a self-appraisal state, they have a higher need for green products compared to the appraisal by others' state. Thus, when people are only focused on how they evaluate the self they tend to engage in the purchase of eco-friendly
25 products. This finding is partly in line with the literature since green products have a symbolic function. People tend to consume products with symbolic meaning for self-enhancement (Grubb, 1967; Krueger, 1988). However, the expectation was that people who are embarrassed through self-appraisal have a higher need for branded products instead of green products. In the event of embarrassment through self-appraisal there is no need to engage in behavior that signals something to other people. It might be possible that green products have two functions:
a signalling function, and a function to express the self which in turn can shift a person more to the ideal self, for example to be a person who cares about the environment and wants to live a healthy lifestyle.
To conclude, the expected process of embarrassment and self-esteem, with moderation of appraisal, was not found. However, I found an interesting compensation effect after the experience of embarrassment, which can be valuable for literature and practice.
This paper is a contribution to research and marketing for several reasons. First, this study provides better knowledge of embarrassment that can be applied to compensatory behavior. In addition, prior literature only focused on strategies to mask the feeling of embarrassment. In contrast, this study focused on how embarrassment can influence subsequent decision-making.
Additionally, this research questioned the notion that embarrassment leads to a temporary loss of self-esteem. This study brings up interesting questions about embarrassment and possible mediators and moderators for engagement in compensatory behavior. Moreover, this study shed light on two distinct types of appraisal and their influence on buying decisions, which have not been tested before. Therefore, this study will improve the literature of appraisal, which is understudied.
Furthermore, this study can be valuable for the marketing field. Marketers have more insights in the purchase motives of consumers with regard to branded products and green products. In particular, the role of appraisal in combination with embarrassment in the online and offline environment is interesting to consider. For example, when consumers shop online without the presence of other people, it is likely that there is more self-appraisal. This means they have a higher need for branded products and companies can use this in their online marketing strategy.
For instance, companies could advertise on websites that sell embarrassing products (e.g.
banners). Since consumers have a stronger preference for branded products after the experience of embarrassment, it is likely that online shoppers will click on the banner. This can increase click-through rates to a company’s website and might lead to more sales. In addition, marketers of embarrassing products can also take into account this study for the development of the
26 customer journey. The motives of the purchase of green products and branded products gives more insights into how consumers will behave, which affects the customer journey. Finally, this study is useful for retailers with reference to the location of embarrassing products and branded products within the store. For example, when a customer buys an embarrassing product it is effective to also place branded products in the area, as this can increase sales.
The findings of this study must be viewed in light of its (methodological) limitations. First, the sample used was a relative homogeneous group, as the sample mostly consisted of Dutch females. This means that the results are less generalizable for dissimilar groups and therefore most probably relevant for Dutch females. So, the behavior of men or people from other cultures could be distinct from the experience of embarrassment by Dutch females. Second, this empirical study is primarily of an exploratory nature; the study measured behavioural intentions and does not measure actual purchases intentions. Though, the survey gathered behavioural intentions, which have a stronger relationship with behavior and attitudes (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Subsequent studies could further develop this current study and verify findings in a broader context. For example, future studies could do a field experiment in a store to observe actual purchase behavior of consumers when purchasing embarrassing products. Furthermore, this study is focused and therefore limited to the offline environment. It would be interesting if the same results hold for the online environment.
Finally, in this study, no mediation of self-esteem is found, which is not in line with past research. As mentioned earlier, one of the possible causes might be the method of measuring self-esteem in this study. Future research could try a different way of measuring self-esteem (e.g. before and after measurements). If future research indeed shows that self-esteem is not a mediator this could be an interesting issue. Several researchers argue that people aim to maintain self-esteem and have a positive evaluation of the self (Baumeister, 2000; Gecas, 1982;
Rosenberg, 1990), and therefore people engage in behavior to enhance self-esteem. Hence, if self-esteem is not affected by embarrassment and is not influencing subsequent decision- making, what else is driving people's behavior? Other constructs need to be further investigated in order to find a possible new mediator, such as the degree of self-confidence or self-image.
Future research is necessary to obtain more insights and confirm the findings about the role of appraisal. Besides, future research could consider how other variables like social support (e.g.
shopping with a friend) can moderate the relation between embarrassment and purchasing behavior.
27 There is a large body of literature about how emotions influence people's behavior, and in particular how emotions guide our decision-making system. Embarrassment is a self-conscious emotion that can be experienced in two different ways: self-appraisal and the appraisal of others. Each way can influence subsequent decision-making. This current study shed light on one way, namely self-appraisal. It showed that when people experience embarrassment in a way that is not related to the evaluations of other people, they are motivated to buy products that will shorten the distance between the real self and the ideal self. People strive to become the ideal self and branded products serve as a tool to achieve this. In conclusion, when people experience embarrassment and are self-appraised they are reminded of the importance of the ideal self and are triggered to buy branded products. Therefore, it can be concluded that the self-conscious emotion of embarrassment influences people’s in-store purchase behavior.
28
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32
Appendix
Appendix A: Pre-test survey
Indicate to what extend the following products are embarrassing to buy in a store:
1. Condoms
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
2. Hemorrhoid crème
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
3. Wart removal
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
33 Appendix B: Self-esteem scale
Rosenberg self-esteem scale (English)
1 On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.
2 At times, I think I am no good at all.
3 I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
4 I am able to do things as well as most other people 5 I feel I do not have much to be proud of.
6 I certainly feel useless at times
7 I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on an equal plane with others
8 I wish I could have more respect for myself 9 All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure 10 I take a positive attitude towards myself
Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Dutch)
1 Over het algemeen ben ik blij met mezelf 2 Soms denk ik dat ik nergens goed voor ben
3 Ik vind dat ik een aantal geode eigenschappen bezit 4 Ik ben in staat dingen net zo goed te doen als anderen 5 Ik heb het gevoel dat ik niet veel heb om trots op te zijn 6 Ik voel me soms nutteloos
7 Ik vind mezelf waardevol, op zijn minst gelijkwaardig aan anderen
8 Ik zou meer respect voor mezelf willen hebben 9 Over het algemeen heb ik de neiging mij een
mislukkeling te voelen
10 Ik he been positieve houding over mezelf
