Extant literature suggests that a consumer who purchases a sensitive product will experience embarrassment if others, real or imagined, witness the purchase. However, the parallel embarrassment experienced by observers is largely absent in retailing and service literature. Across four studies, we validate the presence of vicarious embarrassment, as well as the underlying perspective-taking mechanism. The results show that observers experience embarrassment when imagining themselves as the actor. Furthermore, vicarious embarrassment leads to avoidance tendencies and negatively influences word of mouth toward retailers and service providers. Retailers can use interventions to restore both interactional and distributive justice to mitigate these consequences.

现有文献表明，如果其他人（无论是真实的还是想象的）目睹了购买行为，购买敏感产品的消费者会感到尴尬。然而，观察者所经历的平行尴尬在零售和服务文献中基本上没有。在四项研究中，我们验证了替代性尴尬的存在，以及潜在的观点采择机制。结果表明，观察者在想象自己是演员时会感到尴尬。此外，替代性尴尬会导致回避倾向，并对零售商和服务提供商的口碑产生负面影响。零售商可以使用干预措施来恢复互动和分配正义，以减轻这些后果。