Embarrassment has been defined as a social emotion that occurs due to the violation of a social norm in public, which is appraised by others (what we call " public embarrassment "). We propose that embarrassment can also be felt when one violates a social norm in private, or when one appraises oneself and violates one's self-concept (" private embarrassment "). We develop a typology of embarrassment with two underlying dimensions – social context (transgression in-public or in-private) and mechanism (appraisal by others or by the self). Of the four resulting categories, one fits with the dominant " social " view of embarrassment, whereas the other three have aspects of privacy. We generate triggers for public and private embarrassment and demonstrate their similarities in study 1. Study 2 (buying an incontinence drug) and study 3 (buying Viagra for impotence versus pleasure) replicate these similarities, and also exhibit differences in the experience of public and private embarrassment through accompanying physiological reactions, action tendencies, and behavioral consequences. Our aim is to expand the scope of embarrassment research to include private contexts and self-appraisal.

We suggest that a consideration of consumer self-evaluations is fundamental to understanding the conditions under which it is more advantageous to present person or product pictures in print advertisements. We build on the basic human motives of self-enhancement and self-verification to propose that the specific self-esteem level of consumers, in the domain relevant for the category, differentially affects their responses to picture type. Specifically, for consumers with low (high) domain-specific self-esteem, depicting a product (person) in the advertisement enhances attitudes toward the advertisement more than depicting a person (product). In two studies, we demonstrate the proposed matching relationships using two different domains of consumer self-evaluation: appearance self-esteem and academic self-esteem. We also show that increased and more fluent generation of self-related mental imagery drives the observed improvement in attitudes toward the advertisement. Our findings suggest direct implications for advertising design.

Vanity sizing, the practice of clothing manufacturers, whereby smaller size labels are used on clothes than what the clothes actually are, has become very common. Apparently, it helps sell clothes—women prefer small size clothing labels to large ones. We propose and demonstrate that smaller size labels evoke more positive self-related mental imagery. Thus, consumers imagine themselves more positively (thinner) with a vanity sized size-6 pant versus a size-8 pant. We also show that appearance self-esteem moderates the (mediating) effect of imagery on vanity sizing effectiveness—while vanity sizing evokes more positive mental imagery for both low and high appearance self-esteem individuals, the effect of the positive imagery on clothing preference is significant (only) for people with low appearance self-esteem, supported by the theory of compensatory self-enhancement. Our suggestion of simple marketing communications affecting valence of imagery and consequent product evaluation have implications for many other marketing domains.

Size labels adopted by food vendors can have a major impact on size judgments and consumption. In forming size judgments, consumers integrate the actual size information from the stimuli with the semantic cue from the size label. Size labels influence not only size perception and actual consumption, they also affect perceived consumption. Size labels can also result in relative perceived size reversals, so that consumers deem a smaller package to be bigger than a larger one. Further, consumers are more likely to believe a label that professes an item to be smaller (vs. larger) in the size range associated with that item. This asymmetric effect of size labels can result in larger consumption without the consumer even being aware of it (" guiltless gluttony ").

Strategic alliances entail process-oriented decisions, in which information about outcomes is unveiled over time. Therefore, it is difficult for investors to gauge the value of such decisions in the short term; longitudinal analysis is necessary. Accordingly, the authors apply latent growth modeling to a data set of 270 international codevelopment alliances announced over an 18-year period. The results demonstrate that investors reward firms for their international codevelopment alliances in the short term but punish them in the long term. Initially, exchange conditions have positive effects, but these effects decrease over time. However, the decrease slows when firms' market updates contain positive news. Although investors view sharing of innovation resources as a competitive advantage in the short term, they perceive exchange conditions as transaction hazards in the long term. The results also show that long-term decreases in market returns are greater when codevelopment activities are conducted offshore rather than onshore.

Strategic alliances entail process-oriented decisions, in which information about outcomes is unveiled over time. Therefore, it is difficult for investors to gauge the value of such decisions in the short term; longitudinal analysis is necessary. Accordingly, the authors apply latent growth modeling to a data set of 270 international codevelopment alliances announced over an 18-year period. The results demonstrate that investors reward firms for their international codevelopment alliances in the short term but punish them in the long term. Initially, exchange conditions have positive effects, but these effects decrease over time. However, the decrease slows when firms' market updates contain positive news. Although investors view sharing of innovation resources as a competitive advantage in the short term, they perceive exchange conditions as transaction hazards in the long term. The results also show that long-term decreases in market returns are greater when codevelopment activities are conducted offshore rather than onshore.