What Makes People so Prone to Share Celebrity Gossip? A Combination of Less Guilt and More Excitement

Taking a relational approach, this research investigates why people are so prone to gossip about their favorite celebrities relative to other targets. We focus on the emotional dynamics that characterize the choice of whether to gossip and compare parasocial relationships—one-sided bonds in which celebrities influence consumers, but not vice versa—with more balanced social relationships. Across five preregistered studies, we show gossiping about one's favorite celebrity evokes less anticipated guilt and more perceived excitement than gossiping about other targets (e.g., friends, acquaintances, ex-partners, and non-favorite celebrities). These two emotional responses help explain the effect of relationship type on the likelihood of gossiping. We also find that gossiping about one's favorite celebrity can increase consumers' willingness-to-pay for celebrity-related products. Taken together, this research contributes to the literature on word-of-mouth, parasocial relationships and information sharing, while shedding light on a psychological mechanism that helps sustain the ubiquity of celebrity gossip.