Pride in Technology-Based Health Interventions: A Double-Edged Sword

This study examines the contrasting effects (positive and negative) of hubristic pride about one’s weight, after exposure to a weight control website, on consumers’ attitudes and self-regulatory behavior. Using an experiment embedded in a survey, this study offers insights into the multifaceted consequences generated by pride, when elicited by technology-based social marketing interventions. Greater feelings of hubristic pride about one’s weight translate into positive attitudes toward the website information but reduce the perceived relevance of the information to the self. This reduced perceived relevance leads to poor perceptions of website interactivity with consequent negative effects on behavioral regulation. Thus, increasing feelings of pride can be a double-edge sword. Hubristic pride directly affects technology-based behavioral intentions, such as intentions to download a health-related mobile application, but indirectly influences nontechnology-oriented intentions to take health action through attitudes. Marketers should be cautious of the mixed attitudinal and behavioral effects of pride.