Embarrassment effects on purchase intent for a product with socially shared superstitious meanings: a structured abstract

Superstitious beliefs are socially shared or idiosyncratic beliefs that actions or objects can be subjectively invoked to control luck while no such objective influence exists (Kramer & Block, 2011). Superstitious beliefs are gaining an increasing interest in the marketing literature (e.g. Kramer & Block, 2008; Kramer & Block, 2011). Extant literature has found that consumers are more likely to purchase a product with a positive superstitious association than a product with neutral superstitious associations (Block & Kramer, 2009). Literature has considered factors that influence the impact of superstitious beliefs on consumer decision making, such as decision type and time pressure (Kramer & Block, 2011), and physical cleansing (Xu, Zwick, & Schwarz, 2012). Our research extends this stream of literature by investigating how embarrassment may result when consumers purchase a product with socially shared superstitious meanings and how embarrassment, in turn influences product purchase decision.