Consumer Guilt, Online Resale, and Purchase Intention

Abstract

Consumer guilt is a critical factor affecting consumers’ purchasing decisions. What if marketers could find ways to reduce that sense of guilt and make consumers more willing to spend their money? This research investigated the potential role of online auctions in this issue. Specifically, we studied the relationship between online resale awareness, consumer guilt, and purchase intention toward a desired product. A between-subject design experiment was conducted online to examine the hypotheses under different situations. The results indicate that consumer guilt over a pending purchase could be moderated by the buyer’s awareness to resell the item and its potential resale price. When the resale price is higher than consumers’ expectations, they have a higher intention to purchase than those without resale awareness. However, when the resale price cannot meet expectations, they may generate strong feelings of guilt, which leads to a lower purchase intention than those without resale awareness.