An Extended Dramaturgical Theory: Raising The Curtain on Consumer Hiding Strategies

Abstract

Consumers often employ hiding strategies to keep people they know—including significant others, friends, family members, coworkers, and acquaintances—from learning about their purchasing behaviors. This study examines the important sociological process that underpins the development, distribution, and enactment of hiding strategies using Goffman’s Dramaturgical Theory (1963), wherein consumers engage in complex hiding behaviors and demonstrate a willingness to take on a high degree of social risk to collaborate with fellow members in the development of these strategies. Discussions about hiding in a large online community are collected and analyzed using a netnographic method. Based on the results of Study 1, we propose a revised Dynamic Dramaturgical Theory that addresses how consumers move back and forth ‘through the curtain’ separating the frontstage and backstage areas by engaging in hiding behaviors. Studies 2 and 3 then used the extended dramaturgical theory to empirically test predictions by applying the extended theory to hiding behaviors in brand communities. These studies examined whether the different types of participation thus far ignored might have alternate effects from those already identified and examined in the literature. Because the little backstage research that is available has generally occurred in digital contexts, this paper examined online communities specifically.