Is Men’s Skincare an Emerging Social Norm? Evidence from Norm-Elicitation Vignettes

Abstract

Our study examines whether men’s use of skin-care cosmetics constitutes a social norm in Bicchieri’s (2006, 2016) sense, via empirical and normative expectations and sanctions. Because norms constrain feasible action sets, norm diagnostics precede modelling of downstream determinants (Ajzen 1991). A bilingual Qualtrics survey (March 2025) produced an international sample with a substantial Hungarian component (n = 217), using third-person vignettes and 4-point likelihood scales to reduce self-presentation bias. Empirical and normative expectations cluster near the norm-consistent benchmark (≈ 3/4) and correlate moderately to significantly, consistent with an emerging norm. Sanctioning could not be assessed credibly because sanction items show low internal reliability (α < .40), precluding classification as an enforceable norm. Acceptability is higher when framed as health maintenance; limited communication may hinder consolidation, and reference-group effects vary by context. The findings characterise men’s skin-care use as a nascent norm and motivate incentive-compatible follow-ups on sanctioning and conditional compliance mechanisms.