DO YOU REALLY DESERVE THAT?! THE ANTECEDENTS AND CONSEQUENCES OF CONSUMER ENVY
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/ijbsr.v12i04.1432Keywords:
consumer envy, self-brand connection, social comparison theory, malicious envy, benign envy, deservingness, resentfulnessAbstract
Envy is a universal emotion. This research investigated the impact that status hierarchies within brand communities have on the occurrence of Envy. Across two experiments, I examined the antecedents and consequences of Malicious and Benign Envy as well as their effect on members of brand communities. Specific attention was paid to Self-Brand Connection (SBC) and Deservingness. Findings from Experiment 1 showed that Deservingness affects feelings of both Malicious and Benign Envy. Results indicated that participants showed Benign Envy to-ward a higher status target who is deemed worthy of good fortune. However, if the higher status member of the brand community is deemed unworthy of the good fortune, participants experi-enced Malicious Envy toward that person. In Experiment 2, Deservingness and SBC were ma-nipulated to investigate their effects on the emotional presence of Malicious and Benign Envy. For Malicious Envy, the impact of the source of the material item was greater for High SBC than for Low SBC Participants. Practical implications and future directions are discussed.
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