Envy in Consumption. The Influence of Envy on Consumers’ Buying Behavior for Branded Products

Master's Thesis , 2014 , 41 Pages , Grade: 1,3

Business economics - Offline Marketing and Online Marketing

The present study analyzes envy and its effects on individuals’ willingness to pay.

On the basis of previous research in the field of envy, an experiment with 80 subjects was designed in order to find out more about malicious envy in relation with branded products. By eliciting malicious envy through a pitch-and-toss game with an unfair outcome, a better-off and a worse-off participant could be determined.

During the experiment, malicious envy was supposed to influence individuals’ willingness-topay
for a bar of chocolate. After collecting the willingnesses-to-pay, the results of an experimental group and a control group were compared.

The findings show that malicious envy effectively influences the subjects’ willingness-to-pay for the branded product as well as for the no-name product in a negative way, whereas the general perception of the chocolate is positive.

Table of Contents

List of Tables

1 Literature Review and Envy Theory

2 Envy and the Power of Brands

3 Relevance

4 Experiment and Method

5 Hypotheses

6 Results and Discussion

7 Limitations

8 Conclusion

9 Annex

References

• College: Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris School of Economics)
• Course: Consumer Psychology
• Grade: 1,3
• Author: Regina Schneider (Author)
• Publication Year: 2014
• Pages: 41
• Catalog Number: V446377
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668865587
• ISBN (Book): 9783668865594
• Language: English
• Tags: Konsum, Neid, Konsumentenpsychologie, Wirtschaftspsychologie, Kognitionspsychologie, kognitive Psychologie