Image Considerations in Second-Hand Adoption: A Vignette Experiment

Despite growing recognition that image considerations underlie the adoption of secondhand goods, research in this domain has largely overlooked the possibility that different image dimensions operate through distinct channels. Using a vignette experiment on a nationally representative Italian sample (N = 10; 496), this paper disentangles the effects of three image perspectives – self-image, social image, and second-order self-image (beliefs about others’ self-image) – across four main dimensions of secondhand adoption: financial, social, environmental, and hygiene. Contrary to findings in other behavioral domains, self-image emerges as the stronger predictor of intention to adopt second-hand, with the largest gaps over social image for hygiene and social-approval dimensions and the smallest – though still significant – for environmental considerations. Within self-image, hygiene and financial considerations are the strongest correlates of adoption, while environmental consciousness is the weakest; yet it becomes relevant under other-oriented perspectives (social and second-order), suggesting it operates more as a social signal than a private value. Participants also systematically underestimate how positively others view themselves when engaging in second-hand adoption, and this underestimation depresses adoption intentions more than overestimation boosts them – a pattern consistent with pluralistic ignorance that may act as a self-reinforcing barrier to adoption.