| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立東華大學 === 企業管理學系 === 100 === Envy, an emotion generated under social comparison, may be shown to different extents in the aspects such as reputation, love, interpersonal relationship, status, and wealth. Although it usually is regarded a depressive emotional response when people compare themselves with superior others, there may be two kinds. While malicious envy causes people to try to drag the superiors down, benign envy motivates people to level the difference by moving themselves up.
This study investigates the application of envy in product sales. Two experiments were done. Experiment One asked the question if different decision agents would influence a subject’s emotion of envy and product evaluation. The result showed that a subject expressed benign envy when the subject was socially compared as inferior due to the randomness of decision agency. On the other hand, when a subject was socially compared as inferior due to self decision-making, it showed no significant difference in the subject’s emotions, but in this situation the subject might display obvious reluctance to buy a previously desirable product.
Experiment Two was to understand if different decision agents and also closeness would influence a subject’s emotion of envy and product evaluation. The result showed that between a pair of a highly close relationship, although a subject was socially compared as inferior to the other, the subject’s level of benign envy due to self decision-making would be higher than that due to the randomness of decision agency. Such assimilation effect suggests that a failure in social comparison does not necessarily lead to negative emotions. Positive emotions are still possible as long as a person has a good relationship with compared others and cares about their feelings.
These findings indicate that envy can be a double-edged sword for a company’s product sales. A company will be able to earn the envy premium for its products when envy is properly elicited in consumers. However, it is also important to beware that envious consumers may end up turning to another brand because of the sour-grapes feeling: consumers’ self-caused failure to own what others possess will produce a lower evaluation of the previously desirable products.
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