Social Comparison Theory and Deception in the Interpersonal Exchange of Consumption Information

Date
2006
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Abstract
Four experiments demonstrate that self-threatening social comparison information motivates consumers to lie. Factors related to self-threat, including relevance of the social comparison target (i.e., the importance of the comparison person), comparison discrepancy (i.e., the magnitude of the performance difference), comparison direction (i.e., whether one performs better or worse), nature of the information (i.e., whether the comparison is social or objective), and perceived attainability (i.e., the possibility of achieving the compared performance), influenced consumers' willingness to engage in deception. Results extend social comparison theory by demonstrating that comparisons that threaten public and private selves have implications for lying behaviors.
Description
Article deposited according to publisher policy posted on SHERPA/ROMEO, 01/21/2011.
Keywords
CONSUMER behavior, CONSUMERS
Citation
Argo, Jennifer J., Katherine White, and Darren W. Dahl (2006), “Social Comparison Theory and Deception in the Interpersonal Exchange of Consumption Information,” Journal of Consumer Research, 33 (1), 99-108.