Islam, Md Tamhid Ul, Dose, David, Farrell, Andrew and Backhaus, Christof (2026). The emotional toll of referral rewards: uncovering the relationship between referral rewards, anticipated embarrassment, self-image-concern, and recommendation likelihood. IN: 2026 American Marketing Association Winter Academic Conference. 2026-02-13 - 2026-02-15. (In Press)
Abstract
Using four experiments (N=765), this research shows that a referral reward offered only to the recommender negatively affects recommendation likelihood via anticipated embarrassment, and this effect is stronger for customers with high self-image-concern but can be minimized by appropriate reward design (e.g., reward both scheme and choice of reward).
| Divisions: | College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Marketing & Strategy College of Business and Social Sciences Aston University (General) |
|---|---|
| Event Title: | 2026 American Marketing Association Winter Academic Conference |
| Event Type: | Other |
| Event Dates: | 2026-02-13 - 2026-02-15 |
| Last Modified: | 20 Nov 2025 08:05 |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2025 14:34 | PURE Output Type: | Paper |
| Published Date: | 2026-02-13 |
| Published Online Date: | 2026-02-13 |
| Accepted Date: | 2025-11-14 |
| Authors: |
Islam, Md Tamhid Ul
Dose, David Farrell, Andrew ( 
0000-0002-5903-3611)
Backhaus, Christof |
![[img]](https://publications.aston.ac.uk/style/images/fileicons/text.png)