When Sharing Isn’t Caring: The Influence of Seeking the Best on Sharing Favorable Word of Mouth about Unsatisfactory Purchases

Past word of mouth (WOM) research typically finds that, if consumers share WOM with others, it tends to be consistent with actual perceptions (Berger 2014). Thus, a negative consumption experience, such as an unsatisfactory purchase, tends to elicit negative (vs. positive) WOM. In our work, we consider when the opposite may be true. Specifically, we examine the possibility that a goal of attaining the best, or maximizing, enhances consumers’ tendency to share favorable WOM about unsatisfactory purchases. Prior research demonstrates that when consumers have a goal of attaining the best, they are concerned with not only getting the best, but also being best relative to others (Weaver et al. 2015). When those seeking the best, or maximizers, make an unsatisfying purchase, it signals that they have failed to attain an objectively optimal outcome, which elicits strong negative feelings (e.g., regret; Schwartz et al. 2002). However, their objectively poor decision can still be relatively good if others make the same poor decision, which can be encouraged by speaking favorably about the bad purchase (Berger 2014). Extending this notion, we propose that maximizers (vs. non-maximizers) will be more likely to share favorable WOM about their unsatisfactory purchase, because they want others to make the same poor decision to enhance the relative standing of and subsequent feelings toward their own outcome. We further posit that maximizers will only exhibit this behavior when sharing WOM with interpersonally close (vs. distant) others, as close others are a more consequential source of comparison (Festinger 1954), making their outcomes especially important in determining the relative standing of consumers’ own choices. Finally, we consider the downstream consequences of maximizers’ conduct, proposing that when they successfully persuade others to make their same poor purchase, they will feel better about their own purchase, but will also experience heightened feelings of guilt because of their deceptive behavior (Hoffman 1982). We tested and found support for our predictions in five studies.