The Interplay Effect of Embarrassment and Agentic Communal Orientation on Consumer Behavior

Embarrassment is an experience that nearly everyone is familiar with. It occurs “whenever an individual is felt or have projected incompatible definitions of himself before those present” (Goffman 1956), such as when people purchase embarrassing products or when they do not have enough money to pay at the register. Despite its prevalence, little research has been done looking at how embarrassment influences consumer behavior. Hence, this research seeks to investigate how embarrassment impacts consumers’ product selection and donation behavior. According to typical psychological models of embarrassment (e.g., Edelmann 1981; Keltner and Buswell 1997), behavior inconsistent with social rules in the presence of real or imagined others leads to arousal. The arousal gives rise to nonverbal behavior that provides information to the self and the observer to label the arousal as embarrassment. There is a need of “face-saving” after embarrassing interchange to honor, maintain, and restore the desired public identity (Goffman 1956, 1959). The need motivates people to develop strategies to alleviate distress and create a favorable impression (Brown and Garland 1971; Keltner and Buswell 1997).