Effects of emotions, sex, self-control, and public self-consciousness on Black Friday misbehavior

Abstract

Addressing the growing adoption of Black Friday (BF) promotions and related BF misbehavior in the US and elsewhere, we examined the mechanism by which emotions, self-control, and public self-consciousness impact BF consumer misbehavior. We also investigated to what extent women and men differ with regard to how these variables affect misbehavior on BF. Student participants were former in-store BF shoppers (n = 411) who completed an online questionnaire. Emotions evoked via scenarios simulating realistic BF shopping situations affected the likelihood of engaging in BF misbehavior for both men and women. Both negative emotion (anger) and positive emotion (thrill) increased the likelihood of misbehaving on BF. There were sex differences in how self-control and public self-consciousness impacted BF misbehavior. For men, self-control had both a direct and moderating effect on the likelihood of BF misbehavior, but it had no impact on women. Self-control reduced men’s likelihood of misbehavior despite anger aroused on BF. For women, public self-consciousness moderated how anger affected misbehavior likelihood, but not for men. Findings offer new insights into factors fueling and inhibiting potential misbehavior on BF.