The contribution of self‐disclosure to promotional response: Examining the roles of deservingness and social class

Abstract

Facing the fact of declining sales of firms, promotions serve as an important tool to facilitate short-term sales. Yet, marketers still face the question of promotion effectiveness based on consumer self-disclosure behavior. In this paper, we examine the effects of self-relevant information disclosure on promotional response as well as the mechanism and boundary conditions associated with this effect. Four studies using both real and fictitious brands across a variety of contexts were conducted to test the hypotheses and show that self-disclosure contributes to promotional response because of the enhanced feeling of deservingness. Moreover, this research also demonstrates that self-disclosed consumers from a lower social class are more likely to respond to promotions.Taken together, these insights contribute to the research on promotions and self-disclosure and can be helpful to marketers by suggesting some guidelines for developing cost-effective promotion strategies, for example, identifying the target consumer segments for promotions.

How do username and avatar affect people's engagement with native advertising on social media: From the self‐disclosure perspective

“…Furthermore, researchers have extensively investigated the effect of self‐disclosure in various contexts (Huang, 2016; Lei et al, 2023; Liu & Brown, 2014; Wang et al, 2023). Wang et al (2023) found that self‐disclosure boosts promotional responses by creating a sense of deservingness in the retailing context.…”

“…Furthermore, researchers have extensively investigated the effect of self‐disclosure in various contexts (Huang, 2016; Lei et al, 2023; Liu & Brown, 2014; Wang et al, 2023). Wang et al (2023) found that self‐disclosure boosts promotional responses by creating a sense of deservingness in the retailing context. Postpartum moms’ superficial and personal level disclosures on social media have a favorable effect on the online social support they receive, which reduces depressive mood (Lei et al, 2023).…”

“…Users tend to share more personal information with human-servant and robot-mentor IAs than with human-mentor and robot-servant IAs (Zhang & Patrick Rau, 2023). Furthermore, researchers have extensively investigated the effect of self-disclosure in various contexts (Huang, 2016;Lei et al, 2023;Liu & Brown, 2014;Wang et al, 2023). Wang et al (2023) found that self-disclosure boosts promotional responses by creating a sense of deservingness in the retailing context.…”

“…In other words, people disclose personal information (e.g., usernames and avatars), and as a return, social media platforms provide free information services, and deliver relevant advertising messages that may meet their information needs. As evidenced by empirical research (Chu, 2011;Im et al, 2008;Wang et al, 2023), selfdisclosure contributes to promotional responses, and leads to positive attitudes toward social media advertising and subsequent related behaviors.…”

The influence of frontline employee self‐disclosure about products in a retail store on customer trust in the retailer in the context of service encounters

“…Relatedly, Söderlund (2020) also explored the outcomes of encouraging customers to reveal personal information in the context of movie recommendation services and demonstrated that asking customers to share personal information has a positive (negative) effect on customer satisfaction when customers perceive the increased customization (privacy concerns) of the service. More recently, Wang et al (2022) showed that customers' self‐disclosure increases their promotional response because customers perceive that they deserve more special treatment.…”