The purpose of this paper was to conduct an interpretive analysis of the motives for keeping consumption secret, in order to shed light on the motives that existing studies have addressed, and to reconstruct the classification framework. Based on the findings of existing studies, this paper defined secret consumption as "consumption in which the consumer, for some reason or other, withholds the use of a product or service from a specific other person". We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 consumers, in order to understand the nuances of the motives for secret consumption. Qualitative coding of the verbatim (textual) data revealed two points. First, that secret consumption does not necessarily result from the motive of "avoiding negative consequences", but that there is also a motive of "protecting Peer-Reviewed Article 査読論文

This paper presents a literature review that organizes studies on secret consumption and evaluates their contributions and limitations, in order to consider directions for future research. Secret consumption is defined as "consumption with the intention of concealing information from others." The paper particularly focuses on the notion of "secret," which refers to the information itself that is intentionally concealed. The paper is structured as follows. First, studies are divided into three categories: " motives for secret consumption, " " effects of secret consumption on consumers" and "practical aspects of secret consumption," and each of their contributions and limitations is summarized in turn. The following section addresses the conceptual confusion of " secret " as a challenge that may prevent overcoming the identified limitations in the literature review. More specifically, the paper argues for further theoretical development with regard to the need to distinguish between two sub-concepts of "secret": "individual secret" and "collective secret." Finally, the paper suggests directions for future research by making a distinction between these two sub-concepts.