Consumer Guilt Review: A Practical Guide for Researchers

Abstract

A systematic review of the literature of guilt in consumer behavior revealed a lack of diversity in respect of various factors that affect the elicitation of guilt-induced behavior. These factors are the cause of guilt (self, society, others/action, inaction); the form in which guilt manifests (anticipatory, reactive, existential); and moderators (culture, demographics, narratives). Implicitly, the review illustrated that researchers exhibit a tendency towards assessing reactive guilt caused by the self in individualistic cultures. Such findings cannot be generalized to encompass other forms of guilt that had alternate causes, nor be applied in collectivist cultures. Such considerations are imperative, due to guilt’s inherent complexity. Therefore, this review provides a guide for future research based on these factors, and introduces e-guilt, as sufficient evidence suggests that online settings present incomparable circumstances where one’s behavior is visible and irretrievable.