The Effect of Social Influence on Consumer Regret

Abstract

This study examines how social influence affects consumer regret. As prior research suggests that uniformity leads to less regret, this study proposes that consumer regret is based on decision justifiability rather than uniformity. In other words, people conforming without a justifiable basis will still experience regret despite of uniformity. Furthermore, as prior research argues that the goal of regret minimization is sacrificed for the sake of information gathering and the goal of self-presentation, this paper proposes that regret minimization is not necessarily sacrificed and may play an important role in consumers’ purchasing decisions in a social context. Overall, this study proposes that when consumers conform due to informational influence, the regret level will be low even if the outcome is negative. The moderating effect of product type (search product and experiential product) is also proposed: individuals purchasing search product will perceive lower regret if they conform to informational influence while individuals purchasing experiential products will perceive lower regret if they conform to normative influence.