Nari Yoon and H. Shanker Krishnan
Imagine that your friend won the first prize in a competition. How would you feel?
Would you feel proud of your friend or would you be envious?
My research shows that you will be differently inspired by your friend depending on the emotion you experience.
Abstract
People may react differently in response to others’ achievements. Some people may experience envy while others experience pride, which is called vicarious pride. In this research, we propose that both emotions lead to inspiration but in different ways. We find that vicarious pride (vs. envy) increases the preference for the self-improvement product used by the high achieving person. The desire for affiliation and motivation to differentiate were found to be the process underlying the effect. This research contributes to the literature by investigating an underexamined form of response to another person’s achievement. The findings advance our understanding of a positive emotion – pride – by incorporating the concept “vicarious” and highlighting the motivational properties of this process.
Nari Yoon | Assistant Professor of Marketing 