ABSTRACT
This chapter considers deception research in the context of consumer behaviour. The majority of work on deception in psychology has focused on identifying motivations to lie and deception detection. Consumers have the opportunity to lie to a marketer before, during, and after a purchase has been made. In the research considering consumer-to-marketer deception, the most common motivation to lie is financial gain. While there are many opportunities for consumers to lie to marketers, consumers may also have many reasons to deceive other consumers, including self-presentational, altruistic, and financial motivations. Consumers may lie to other consumers to appear as more informed, expert, or smart shoppers. Another important direction for consumer deception research is examining how the social context may influence lying behavior and outcomes. Previous research suggests that social observability may induce impression management concerns that lead consumers to engage in behaviors that will portray them in a positive light, and which differ from decisions they may privately favour.
