Embarrassment in Consumer Purchase: The Roles of Social Presence and Purchase Familiarity

Two field studies investigate the importance of social presence (real and imagined) and famiiiarity whti the purchase act in producing embarrassment in the context ot an embarrassing product purchase. The results indicate tbat awareness of a social presence during purchase selection and commitment, whether real or imagined, is a motivating factor in creating embarrassmenl for the consumer. Further, our results show that the more familiar consumers are witb an embarrassing product purchase, the less embarrassed tbey are likely to feel. Famiiiarity with an embarrassing product purchase is also shown to have implications for the effect ot sociai presence. That is, familiarity with purchase acts as a moderator for the relationship of real social presence and embarrassment by reducing the influence of the social presence. In the context of an imagined social presence, purchase lamiiiarity is shown to reduce the likelihood of imagining. These findings are inlegrateci into a discussion of the theoretical implications and fbe potential avenues for future research in the area.