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Abstract
Considerable research in consumer experimental psychology has examined the self-expressive role of brands but has found little support for the premise that the interaction of the personality traits associated with a brand and those associated with an individual's self-concept influence attitudes. The current research focuses on the influence of the malleable self-concept on consumer attitudes toward a brand, based on the its personality associations. The results of two experiments demonstrate that traits that are made accessible by salient situational cues and those that are chronically accessible (schematic traits) positively influence consumer attitudes toward a brand based on its personality associations. More important, these effects are tested in a set of theory-based interactions that rely on the self-monitoring individual difference variable. Self congruity is enhanced for low versus high self-monitoring subjects, whereas situation congruity is enhanced for high versus low self-monitoring subjects. Together, these experiments shed light on the self-expressive use of brands and the role of the malleable self-concept in influencing consumer attitudes.
... For example, the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1970) and theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) proposed that consumers' behavioral intentions are determined as a function of personal factors (i.e., personal attitude to act) and social normative beliefs (i.e., beliefs about what "society" expects one should do). Similarly, Aaker (1999) argued that self-concept is multifaceted and that brand choice can be based on personal beliefs (e.g., self-related factors) or the situation (e.g., group-related factors), depending on what self-concept is manifested. ...
... Similarly, consumers may face a goal conflict between SBC and PBE when selecting a brand, as illustrated in the above example of choosing an apparel brand. However, previous research on brand choice has focused primarily on the interaction and synergistic effects of SBC and PBE (Aaker, 1999;Escalas & Bettman, 2005). No study has focused on the intrinsic nature of SBC, which is based on the emotional bond between a consumer's "true self" and a brand. ...
... In addition, consumers use brands as a means of self-expression (Aaker, 1999;Belk, 1988). ...
Consumers’ purchasing decisions are shaped by personal factors, such as self-brand connection (SBC), and social factors, such as group norms. However, these influences often conflict; for example, a consumer may personally favor Brand A, while their friends recommend Brand B. Previous research has not explored which of these factors prevails in such situations. This study addresses this gap by applying construal level theory to assess whether SBC or social factors are more relevant in brand selection. According to construal level theory, a high-level, abstract mindset leads people to prioritize essential, overarching goals, whereas a low-level, concrete mindset focuses attention on secondary, context-dependent attributes. Across three empirical studies, we found that consumers with an abstract mindset prioritize SBC alone in their purchasing decisions, whereas those with a concrete mindset consider both SBC and social influences. These findings suggest that, fundamentally, consumers prioritize SBC over social norms when making brand purchase decisions.
... Ideal self-congruence refers to the alignment between a consumer's self-concept and the image of a brand or destination (Aaker, 1999). In the tourism industry, travelers often choose destinations that reflect their ideal self-image, such as being adventurous, cultured, or socially prestigious. ...
... Ideal self-congruence refers to the alignment between a consumer's ideal self-image and the image of a brand or destination (Aaker, 1999). Travelers are more likely to form strong emotional connections with destinations that align with their desired self-image, which fosters brand attachment (Japutra et al., 2019). ...
... Compulsive Buying indicators from Beerli & Martin (2004). The scale for perceived value followed the measurement criteria suggested byZeithaml (1988), and ideal self-congruence was measured using the scale proposed by Aaker (1999). The tourism brand attachment and compulsive buying constructs were measured using scales from Thomson et al. (2005) and Valence et al. (1988), respectively. ...
This study aims to analyze the effect of materialism and tourism brand attachment on compulsive buying for travel in generations Y and Z in Indonesia. This study also to analyse the influence of the predecessors of materialism and compulsive buying such as SNS advertisement, celebrity endorsement, and ideal self-congruence. This research is an explanatory research with a quantitative approach. A survey using a questionnaire was conducted to collect primary data in this study. The population in this study is all Y and Z generations in Indonesia. The sample in this study was determined using a non-probability sampling method because the total population is not known with certainty. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling with the criteria (1) maximum birth in 1981, because the research wanted to explain about compulsive buying in generations Y and Z, (2) active users of social media or social network services (SNS), because this research wanted explain the effect of variables related to the use of SNS such as SNS advertisement, celebrity endorsement, and ideal self-congruence on compulsive buying. The number of respondents in this assessment was 250 respondents. The data obtained was then analyzed using Covariance Based Structural Equation Modelling.
... The DSMM (Valkenburg and Peter 2013) is in line with congruence theory (Aaker 1999). According to congruence theory, messages have greater impact when they are in line with the self-concept of the receiver (see Aaker 1999). ...
... The DSMM (Valkenburg and Peter 2013) is in line with congruence theory (Aaker 1999). According to congruence theory, messages have greater impact when they are in line with the self-concept of the receiver (see Aaker 1999). When done correctly, microtargeted messages are in line with the priorities of the receiver, and congruent to their opinions, which would increase the chance of message scrutiny (to attend to the message's content) and, subsequently, the chance of influencing the message recipient (Chang 2006;Petty and Cacioppo 1986;Petty, Haugtvedt, and Smith 1995;Wheeler, Petty, and Bizer 2005;Wheeler, DeMarree, and Petty 2008). ...
... The study only includes the participants who were a priori more inclined to vote for leftist PvdA than for rightist VVD. These "leftist" participants received a congruent message, in line with congruence theory (Aaker 1999). This approach, as opposed to the approach with a sample more representative of the general population, was desirable to keep the design realistic. ...
Political microtargeting is the subject of heated societal debate but not much is known about its effects, especially in non-US contexts. Microtargeting, used by political actors to send citizens tailored messages, could have the potential to overcome barriers that make generic political messages less effective. In this article, we present a small-scale field experiment, which serves as a case study to illustrate how microtargeting’s effects on citizens could be measured. The field experiment showed that receiving a microtargeted message via postal mail increased likelihood to vote for the microtargeting party, but this increase did not translate into actual votes.
... The concept of self-congruity is particularly important in fashion marketing, as fashion products are items of conspicuous consumption and are frequently used as a means of self-expression Piacentini & Mailer, 2004). Although the concept of self-congruity is well established and generally accepted, empirical research which examines the relationship between consumer and brand personality is often inconclusive (Aaker, 1999;. ...
... A key issue is that 'the self' is not a singular concept; for example, many authors make the distinction between the 'actual self' and the 'ideal self' (Dolich, 1969;Phau & Lau, 2001;Sirgy, 1982). In addition, consumers may wish to express different aspects of their personality in different social situations (Aaker, 1999;Schenk & Holman, 1980). Thus different consumption settings or situations may influence consumers' self-congruency with a brand (Aaker, 1999;Phau & Lau, 2001). ...
... In addition, consumers may wish to express different aspects of their personality in different social situations (Aaker, 1999;Schenk & Holman, 1980). Thus different consumption settings or situations may influence consumers' self-congruency with a brand (Aaker, 1999;Phau & Lau, 2001). ...
Several studies have noted the frequent use of fashion brand names in contemporary fiction, but to date there has been little academic research into this phenomenon and the effect that it has on the reader. This study therefore set out to address this research gap. Focusing specifically on chick lit (a type of contemporary popular fiction, typically featuring and aimed at young women), the present study aimed to explore the use of fashion brand names in women’s fiction, concentrating on the relationships between fashion brands, authors, fictitious characters and readers, with a view to establishing whether there might be potential commercial benefits of fashion brand product placement in chick lit novels.
A mixed methods approach was used to explore the topic from multiple perspectives. A summative content analysis was undertaken to investigate the frequency, variety and types of fashion brand names used in a corpus of 19 chick lit novels drawn from the Bridget Jones, Shopaholic and I Heart series. A qualitative analysis of the novels in the corpus focused on the ways in which the characters interacted with fashion brands in the text. An online survey of 166 chick lit authors was used to explore why writers use fashion brand names in their work, and a survey of 96 female students was used to investigate readers’ response to fashion brand names in novels.
The study findings indicated that chick lit authors use fashion brand names to support characterisation due to the ability of fashion brands to express the values, self-concepts and stereotypes of their typical brand users. The outcomes of the consumer survey suggested that readers use textual cues, including those related to fashion consumption, to help them to develop their impressions of characters in novels, however the study was unable to demonstrate a clear relationship between readers’ perceptions of character personality and brand personality.
In terms of product placement, the findings confirmed that readers demonstrated high levels of recall and recognition of fashion brand names used in chick lit narratives, but no evidence was found to indicate that the appearance of brand names in the text had an impact on consumers’ brand attitudes. Readers were found to be broadly positive about the use of brand names in novels, indicating that they preferred to see real brands, rather than fictional brands, in books. Readers appeared to have no significant objection to commercial product placement in fiction books, provided that such placements were accompanied by a disclosure. The results of the study therefore provide support for the proposal that chick lit novels are a potential product placement medium for fashion brands seeking to generate brand awareness. The frequent mentions and positive treatment of fashion brand names in chick lit mean that it would be relatively easy to incorporate paid-for placements of fashion brands in chick lit novels without compromising the narrative.
... The use of human characters in describing the brand has grabbed the attention of many scholars (Aaker, 1997(Aaker, , 1999Aaker & Jacobson. 2001;Rojas-Méndez et al., 2004;Chun & Davies, 2006;Bosnjak et al., 2007), to name a few. ...
... 2001;Rojas-Méndez et al., 2004;Chun & Davies, 2006;Bosnjak et al., 2007), to name a few. People tend to prefer the brand that is perceived to be congruent with their own character (Aaker, 1999). Thus, the brand becomes a representation of oneself in which their personality is reflected through the brand they have acquired. ...
... Customer responses are more positive if their own personality is congruent with a brand (e.g. Aaker, 1999;Arora & Stoner, 2009;Barone & Roy, 2010). If customers share the same personality with the brand, such as agreeableness, it may result in positive responses. ...
The expansion of ASEAN’s digital space has attracted serious attention from major foreign technology
companies. Numerous numbers of deals had been made by technology giants with ASEAN companies and continued
to grow quickly. For instance, Amazon of the U.S. expanded into Singapore in 2017, and recently announced a 4
billion. China's Tencent and JD.com have jointly invested more than 1 billion funding for Grab, the Singapore-based ride-hailing group that has
since taken over the Southeast Asia operations of global rival Uber. In 2017, for example, Alibaba and the Malaysian
government jointly launched the Digital Free Trade Zone, a cross-border logistics and e-commerce hub for Malaysian
micro, small and medium- sized enterprises. A new Malaysia also will be experiencing a process of delivering new
service or innovation to citizens which known as Digital Transformation or DX. It involves three (3) integration of
key building blocks consists of business intelligence, organizational integration, and customer impact. The key
component for DX is data, and these 3 building blocks address the unprecedented amount of data about business
ecosystems from other agencies, making sense of it to explore improvements and potential services. It also involves
data sharing across the organization, applying common systems, consolidating shared services and yes, even
establishing proper governance. This initiative would enable citizen e-service provision via not just counters, but
kiosks, portals, and mobile apps, making anytime, any place 24/7 service became a reality by enabling ecosystems for
digital transformation in the Malaysian public sector. It was also formalized as a framework called MyGovEA. This
paper is merely a conceptual paper that focus on examination of the potentiality of new digital government and the
respectively implementation of several ASEAN member states. The discusion of this paper will contribute to academic
bodies to further enlighten on contextual basis of findings for the policymakers, implementers as well as academic
purposes.
Keywords: Digital Government, ASEAN’s Digital Space, Digital Transformation
... Second, it is proposed that the difference in perceived brand personalities can happen even within the same brand in two gifting scenarios. Past research mainly relies on implicit theory which explains the personality of self being malleable (Aaker, 1999). Subsequently, brand personalities October 2023 edition Vol. ...
... There are two main reasons for malleability of brand personality. The first reason is because consumers make inferences regarding the malleability of their own self and other people's personality traits (Aaker, 1999). Therefore, they project such inferences towards brands (Yorkston et al., 2010). ...
According to social identity theory, people behave differently in a social context than when they are by themselves because of social identity salience. Like people, brand personality changes depending on situations and context. There is lack of research investigating identity salience within the context of gifting and its subsequent impact on the perceived brand personality of a gift in different gifting situations. This paper proposes that in gifting situations of others, a social identity is activated which leads to change in the perceived brand personality of the same product purchased for self-gifting. Within the Japanese context, the hypothesis states that the excitement of brand personality dimension is more prominent in self-gifting than in gifting others, while competence and sincerity brand personalities are more prominent in gifting others than in self-gifting scenarios. To test these hypotheses, thirty-six brand personality traits (Aaker et al., 2001) of eight brands were evaluated by 251 respondents in Japan. Factor analysis and multiple regression results support the main hypotheses. The paper concludes with managerial implications and future research directions.
... However, the big five has been the favourite of consumer researchers (Steel et al., 2008) and various shorter versions of the original 50 item scale has been developed for more pragmatic but easy to administer situations (John et al,, L99l-;John & Srivastava, 1999). Early researchers have observed that consumers'personality has an impact on consumer behaviour (Kassarjian, I971,;Aaker;1999). Later researchers have predominantly used the five factor model of personality to comprehend shopping motives and behaviour in various ways 1-997;Verplanken & Herabadi,2001.;Caplan, 2003). ...
... However, the big five has been the favourite of consumer researchers (Steel et al., 2008) and various shorter versions of the original 50 item scale has been developed for more pragmatic but easy to administer situations (John et al,, L99l-;John & Srivastava, 1999). Early researchers have observed that consumers'personality has an impact on consumer behaviour (Kassarjian, I971,;Aaker;1999). Later researchers have predominantly used the five factor model of personality to comprehend shopping motives and behaviour in various ways 1-997;Verplanken & Herabadi,2001.;Caplan, 2003). ...
... "Selfimage congruence", "self-congruence", "self-congruity", and "image congruence" are used interchangeably in the consumer behavior literature (Kressmann et al. , 2006) . Sirgy (1982) Self-congruence is a conformity between the self-concept of followers and certain influencers obtained by following the actual or ideal self of the influencer (Aaker, 1999). Actual self-congruence can be achieved by finding a match between the actual self of one's actual self and the influencer, while the ideal of self-congruence can be achieved by finding a match between one's self ideal and that of an influencer (Aaker, 1999). ...
... Sirgy (1982) Self-congruence is a conformity between the self-concept of followers and certain influencers obtained by following the actual or ideal self of the influencer (Aaker, 1999). Actual self-congruence can be achieved by finding a match between the actual self of one's actual self and the influencer, while the ideal of self-congruence can be achieved by finding a match between one's self ideal and that of an influencer (Aaker, 1999). So that the actual self-congruent influencer is an influencer image that is similar to the actual person, while the ideal self-congruent influencer is an influencer image similar to what someone wants. ...
This paper aims to propose a proposition of selfie effectiveness from influencers that impact the attitude and buying intentions. The method is to review of several articles reveals the phenomenon of selfie marketing and the science of exercise to develop a proposition about the effectiveness of selfies concerning forming positive attitudes and purchasing intentions of a brand. The study produced a conceptual framework based on Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) as the basis for the development of propositions that explain the relationship between selfie charm and self-congruence, attitudes toward influencers, and attitudes toward brands and purchasing intentions with social interaction as moderation variables of the relationship between those variables. This paper describes selfies taken by non-celebrities as influencers. The implication of this study is an alternative model that conceptualizes selfie charm and social interaction as two variables that influence the process of forming a brand's buying attitudes and intentions, which marketers need to consider in creating marketing strategies. The phenomenon of selfies that occur today has given rise to a new stimulus, namely the charm of selfies and netizen comments that affect consumer activity in the purchase of a brand.
... Brand symbolic value plays a vital role within the formation of customer brand preferences because it provides the customer with the brand's selfexpression and sym-bolic value, thus facilitating the customer's impression management (J. L. Aaker, 1999); (P.W., 1999) suggest that symbolic value within the variety of a brand's functional value, symbolic value, and aesthetic value has the strongest influence on customers' purchase intentions and word-of-mouth communication. ...
... Customers generally think that high symbolic brands (such as high-grade goods and luxury goods) provide better product and service quality and higher grades (J. L. Aaker, 1999). These brands are symbols of social prestige and prominent status. ...
Purpose: This study examines the kind of community value companies should provide when strengthening the relationship between customers and brands through the establishment of an online brand community, and how this kind of community value promotes customers’ sense of community engagement and willingness to spread brand reputation. The paper also discusses how an enterprise’s brand symbolism affects the relationship between community value and customers’ engagement in online brand community. This study explored the important role of brand symbolism in the establishment of an online brand community.
Design/methodology/approach: This study uses data collection from questionnaire surveys to design a quantitative research method. An online questionnaire survey of mobile phone users in East Java was conducted to collect data on social value, cognitive value, brand symbolism, customer community engagement, and brand recommendation. The brands of mobile phone include Apple, Huawei, Samsung, OPPO, VIVO, and MI Randomly selected 240 subjects from their sample database and then sent the questionnaire link to research participants’ mobile phones. For the model analysis and hypotheses test-ing, the researcher used statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics and AMOS 21.
Findings: First, online brand community value (both cognitive and social value) has a pos-itive impact on customer community engagement. Second, customer communi-ty engagement has a positive impact on customers’ brand recommend intention. Third, the customer community engagement is a mediator between the online brand community value and the customer brand recommend intention. Most importantly, fourth, the symbolic value of the brand controls the relationship between community value and customer community engagement. For brands with high symbolic value, the community value should emphasize cognitive val-ue rather than social value. For brands with a low symbolic value, the communi-ty provides cognitive or social value, which is not affected by the symbolism of the brand.
Research limitations/implications: Among the 240 research participants, the researcher ex-cluded participants who lacked online brand community experience or had in-valid data to qualify for data collection. After the researcher excluded participants who did not qualify for data collection, only 203 qualified questionnaire surveys advanced to the data collection and analysis phase, which was the ques-tionnaire recovery rate of 84.58%.
Originality/value: This paper is original
Paper type: Research paper
... Targeted marketing relies on the development of a specific connection between the brand and the target segment (J. L. Aaker, 1999), so institutions seeking to reach Black students effectively must establish trust and gain a thorough understanding of the target group. According to Bradley (2013), universities' marketing materials should provide reliable information about the benefits of higher education and the financial commitment involved, thereby equipping a student to make informed decisions. ...
... Given targeted marketing relies on the development of a specific connection between a brand and the target segment (J. L. Aaker, 1999), targeted marketing strategies often involve personal contacts, large-scale advertising in selected areas, and ethnographic foci. To reach Black students effectively, university marketers must have an in-depth understanding of the target group; otherwise, they may fail to connect effectively. ...
Given the steady decline in undergraduate admissions over the past decade, universities in the United States have a unique imperative to use positive, targeted, and niche marketing techniques that focus on building brand equity among members of underrepresented groups, including Black students. Despite significant efforts by university leaders and policymakers to promote equal opportunities in the United States, multiple barriers to education continue to impede Black students. Traditional boundaries are well known and researched; however, an additional hurdle lies in the lack of transparency about specific benefits higher education can deliver to Black students. Without access to a deeper understanding, Black prospective students tend to find it difficult to make an informed decision about whether to pursue higher education. Highlighting the benefits of a product or service is a common sales tactic used by university recruiters because the relative salience of benefits and risks is critical to buyers’ purchasing decisions. If employed correctly, a targeted marketing strategy can positively influence Black students’ decisions about whether to pursue higher education, with downstream outcomes in support of their financial wellness and career paths that benefit society as a whole.
... Not all types of harm are the same or seen as equally detrimental by everyone. An act can cause instrumental harm, that is, a loss of objective, concrete, tangible, and material outcomes (Lievens & Highhouse, 2003) or, it can cause symbolic harm, that is, detrimental consequences for abstract, subjective, intangible, and immaterial outcomes such as one's reputation or image (Aaker, 1997(Aaker, , 1999Highhouse et al., 2007;Ledgerwood et al., 2007, see also De Cremer & Van Vugt, 2002;Scheepers et al., 2003). To the best of our knowledge, no study on punitive reactions distinguished between instrumental or symbolic harm. ...
... On the contrary, people who value interdependency and belonging to a group and at the same time accept social hierarchy experience symbolic harm as more detrimental and display more negative reactions to it. These results are in line with prior research showing that people might differ in the way they experience instrumental versus relational/symbolic needs (see Aaker, 1997Aaker, , 1999Highhouse et al., 2007;Ledgerwood et al., 2007, see also De Cremer & Van Vugt, 2002;Scheepers et al., 2003) and culture might be an important antecedent of people's reaction to offenders who violate those needs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first research investigating the effect of differential types of harm on people's reaction to offenders; Further research is required to draw more solid conclusions regarding these results. ...
In the present research, we examine how culture influences individuals' reactions to financial offenders. We hypothesized that horizontal individualists deploy increased active reactions (i.e., punishment-oriented) whereas vertical collectivists deploy increased passive reactions (i.e., condemning beliefs) to financial offenders. Moreover, we hypothesized that horizontal individualists would react stronger to a financial offender when an offense has instrumental (i.e., related to material costs) as opposed to symbolic (i.e., related to one's self-image) implications for a victim, while vertical collectivists would show the opposite pattern of results. In Studies 1 and 2 we directly compared British (i.e., a horizontal individualist culture) versus Greek (i.e., a vertical collectivist culture) participants. Study 3 aimed to replicate Studies 1 and 2 by measuring cultural values at the individual level. The results obtained in the three studies provided support for most of our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Traditional BP theory borrows from brand anthropomorphism (Epley et al., 2007;Guido & Peluso, 2015;Puzakova et al., 2009) and symbolic consumption theory (Gardner & Levy, 1955;Plummer, 1984) to explain why brands can be associated with humanlike attributes and how BP is meaningful for brands and consumers. By imbuing a brand with a humanlike personality, marketers can differentiate their brand from its competitors and consumers can better identify themselves with the brand and thus fulfil self-definitional needs (Aaker, 1997(Aaker, , 1999. ...
... The concept of self-congruity (Sirgy, 1982), i.e., the perceived alignment between a consumers' self-concept and the brand's personality, is another related theoretical framework that has been widely used to argue for the significance of BP in general (Aaker, 1997(Aaker, , 1999Radler, 2018). Numerous studies have established that consumers prefer brands with a personality similar or complementary to their own because this allows them to verify, express, or enhance their self-concept (Karampela et al., 2018;Kressmann et al., 2006;Malär et al., 2011;Sirgy, 1982). ...
In a digital world, it is becoming increasingly important for marketing researchers and practitioners to understand how consumers attribute humanlike characteristics and personality traits to brands, as the brand’s personality has a significant influence on consumers’ behavior and their brand relationships. However, despite a growth in research interest over the past two decades, the literature on consumers’ digital brand personality perceptions remains fragmented and dispersed across digital contexts. Thus, now is an opportune time to take stock of the field and build a knowledge foundation for future research to establish the domain of digital brand personality. To this end, this systematic literature review, based on the TCCM framework, identifies dominant theories, contexts, characteristics, and methodologies used to study consumers’ digital brand personality perceptions by systematically reviewing 107 peer‐reviewed journal articles published between 2005 to 2021. Using an in‐depth content analysis of the articles, this review integrates research findings from different digital contexts and provides a new conceptual framework of digital brand personality. The review concludes with a comprehensive research agenda that highlights the need to broaden the theoretical groundings of the field (theory); identifies numerous digital touchpoints and new technologies that remain underexplored (context); reveals inconsistencies and knowledge gaps regarding dimensions, antecedents, and consequences of digital brand personality (characteristics); and suggests diverse, digital‐based research approaches (methodology) to further advance the study of consumers’ digital brand personality perceptions.
... No marketing, pesquisas têm vinculado o conceito de personalidade da marca à Teoria da Autocongruência como uma solução para promover atitudes positivas e aumentar a intenção de compra (Moedeen et al., 2024;Na et al., 2023). A personalidade da marca tem a função de conceder benefícios autoexpressivos, em que os consumidores usam as marcas para expressar seu próprio autoconceito em detrimento daquelas que não ressoam a sua personalidade, sentimentos e valores (Bargoni et al, 2024;Chieng et al., 2022;Aaker, 1999). Por conseguinte, consumidores com alta autocongruência enxergam a marca como mais saliente, tendem a ser mais consistentes na identificação com a personalidade da marca e demonstram maior lealdade, mesmo quando enfrentam indisponibilidade de estoque (Chieng et al., 2022;Rabbanee et al., 2020), pois criam uma conexão emocional mais forte e alta identificação com o produto ou serviço oferecido (Bargoni et al., 2024;Gang & Ahmad, 2023;Kim, 2023;Venciute et al., 2023;Chieng et al., 2022;Holmes, 2021;Lee, 2020). ...
Resumo Nos últimos anos, observa-se um significativo aumento na utilização de avatares como representantes de marcas nas mídias digitais. Consequentemente, surge a necessidade de elaborar melhores estratégias para criar, comunicar, entregar e facilitar interações valiosas no comportamento do consumidor a partir de tais figuras virtuais, demandando estudos sobre o marketing de avatar. Considerando esta temática emergente e ainda fragmentada, este ensaio teórico objetivou discutir de modo abrangente, crítico e estruturado o marketing de avatares, adotando os pressupostos da Teoria da Autocongruência como perspectiva de investigação. A partir de perguntas derivadas de uma análise da literatura sobre o tema, foi possível averiguar as conceituações de avatares no contexto do marketing e suas ligações com os princípios da autocongruência, de modo a gerar reflexões sobre as implicações do avatar congruente na marca e no comportamento do consumidor. O estudo ainda abarcou o que esperar no futuro do marketing de avatares, ofertando uma agenda de pesquisa vindoura. Por fim, mediante um resgate teórico conceitual, demonstrou-se a importância da congruência entre a personalidade dos avatares e o "eu" dos consumidores e, portanto, a necessidade das organizações em adequarem essas figuras virtuais a uma narrativa congruente aos autoconceitos da marca e do público-alvo.
... Brands must be perceived as a trustworthy partner able of keeping passionate, enthusiastic and challenging relationships with consumers, thus providing them with enriching affective experiences. The dimension of self congruence reflected the theory that posited that consumers responded more positively to brands that were aligned with their global of self-concept (Sirgy, 1982), thus predicting consumers' attitudes and purchase intention (Aaker, 1999;Hong, Zinkhan, 1995). Retained scale items, namely, 'Association with my luxury-travel brands lets me be a part of a shared community of like-minded consumers', conveyed the meaning of self-expression, while items, namely, 'My luxury-travel brand says a lot about the kind of person I would like to be' and 'My luxury-travel brands fit well with my current stage/ status of life' underlined the aspirational self of the travelers that desired to connected with their luxury-travel brands. ...
Luxury consumption is on the rise over the last two decades. This brings challenge for the luxury brand marketers to sustain with the aspirational quotient of the luxury consumers. The inherent perception associated with the luxury consumption, namely narrow-band of consumers having ability to pay premium price, has given way to mass luxury consumption, thereby diminishing the price sensitivity of the segment. This luxury paradox calls for a fresh look into the equations that influence and control the relationship between the consumers and luxury brands. This study aims to develop a brand relationship instrument, namely, TraveLux, with specific reference to the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The cross-sectional study was conducted in three major tourism destinations of India, namely, Rajasthan, Kerala and Goa. The initial scale items for the instrument were obtained by collating past studies and conducting a focus group exercise. The instrument was empirically tested to identify the relationship factors. Findings revealed that the TraveLux Brand Relationship can be mounted on four factors (dimensions), namely, immersive experience, ethno-cultural acculturation, passion & excitement and self congruence. The validated scale was further tested for possible deviations with new group of respondents. The measurement invariance did not reveal significant difference between the baseline model and the tested model. TraveLux will provide a framework for the luxury-travel brand marketers to develop specific brand designs and brand communications based on the identified relationship factors. Future research may be conducted to expand the scope of the instrument to embed behavioural and attitudinal issues of the travelers.
... Self-concept includes the thoughts, feelings, and understandings individuals have about themselves, as well as their perceptions of experiences and interpretations of external contexts (Malik et al. 2020;Rosenberg 1979;Shavelson, Hubner, and Stanton 1976). Meanwhile, brand personality plays the role of providing self-expressive benefits, allowing consumers to use brands to manifest their own self-concept rather than choosing those that do not align with their personality, emotions, and values (Bargoni et al. 2024;Chieng et al. 2022;Aaker 1999Aaker , 1997. Therefore, it is highly likely that consumers establish strong bonds, adopt positive behaviors, and make purchases with brands whose personality reflects their own self-concept (Bargoni et al. 2024;Rabbanee, Roy, and Spence 2020). ...
This study aims to understand how followers' perceptions of environmental knowledge conveyed by greenfluencers and mediated by real and ideal self-congruence affects followers' intentions to make environmentally friendly purchases and engage in pro-environmental behaviors. Employing a quantitative research approach, data were collected from 224 followers of green-fluencers through nonprobabilistic sampling. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized for analysis. Contrary to prior assumptions, our findings indicate that ideal self-congruity does not significantly predict pro-environmental intentions or behaviors. However, real self-congruence emerged as a significant mediator, influencing both pro-environmental behavior and the intention to engage in green consumption. This research contributes to understanding virtual relationships involving greenflu-encers by highlighting the importance of real self-congruence in crafting persuasive content and selecting influencers for effective promotion of green brands. We conclude that the use of greenfluencers can indirectly encourage pro-environmental actions, promoting sustainability objectives and ecological awareness in society.
... It is a negative impulse, but if it does not restrict or even increase the freer feelings, its benefits are far reaching. Using selfexpressive brand has been previously documented (Aaker, 1999). Strong brands are those through which consumers communicate their feelings and desires, and a projected image of themselves. ...
In a competitive motorbike industry where consumers can choose from a vast variety of collection of early mover motorbike brands, it is compulsory for marketers of late movers to encourage brand loyalty in order to create enduring consumer-brand relationships and build market share. This study concentrated on determining the intensity to which the three elemental dimensions of brand romance, namely brand pleasure, brand arousal and brand dominance conclude brand loyalty among motorbike users in District Haripur, Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, Pakistan. A questionnaire based survey was conducted with 260 respondents. Results show a significant impact of brand romance and its three dimensions on the brand loyalty of late mover motorbike brands. Marketers of late movers in motorbike industry are suggested to enhance brand romance to achieve emotional attachments between brand and consumers in order to develop the brand loyalty.
... Previous studies consider self-brand connections as an antecedent to brand attachment (Banerjee & Shaikh, 2022;Gill-Simmen et al., 2018;Japutra et al., 2018;Vredeveld, 2018). The fit between the self-concept and the brand personality is known as self-congruence (Aaker, 1999;Sirgy, 1982). Also, argues that the self-concept is composed of two different types: the actual self and the ideal self (Malar et al., 2011). ...
... Studies indicate that consumers are more likely to be susceptible to normative influence in their consumption choices and the benefits they seek when their decisions are visible to others (Aaker, 1999;Dibley and Baker, 2001). Despite the large body of research examining the effects of SNI on consumer behavior, few studies have focused on its impact on consumer animosity in the context of tourism behavior. ...
Purpose
A growing body of research suggests the detrimental impact animosity will likely have on destination image and intentions to visit. The purpose of this study is to conduct a state-of-the-art literature review to account for observed mixed findings by putting forth research propositions to be tested in future studies. This paper also aims to develop a future research agenda based on gaps identified in the literature.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic quantitative method is adopted to review the consumer animosity literature published in tourism journals.
Findings
This paper identifies several gaps in the literature and suggests several avenues for future research.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this paper is the first to conduct a state-of-the-art review of the literature dating back to the seminal consumer animosity research conducted in a tourist setting in 2014.
... It is likely that consumers who participate in the creation of their vitamin regimen will feel a greater attachment to the decision-making process. Customer attitudes toward a brand can be positively influenced by the brand's personality associations (Aaker, 1999). Consumers consider brand name and price more than any other criteria (Agyekam et al., 2015). ...
A growing number of companies in the healthcare industry are offering consumers the option to personalize their products. The growing use of vitamins and dietary supplements prompts the exploration of artificial intelligence (AI)’s role in optimizing supplement recommendations. This paper investigates the potential integration of medical AI into the personalization of vitamin supplements to enhance consumer healthcare. The influence of AI-assisted medical recommendations was assessed by considering the interplay of patient self-identity and health concerns in choosing between human doctors and AI as evidenced by the Extended Self Theory, the IKEA Effect, uniqueness neglect, and consumer openness. By surveying the literature, this paper aims to explore the benefits of medical AI in the vitamin supplement market; the issues affecting AI uptake in the vitamin supplement market; and a broad theoretical profile of consumers best prepared to switch from a human doctor to AI customization. While acknowledging the current gaps in AI’s capabilities and the challenges of establishing consumer trust in AI-enabled healthcare, this review envisions a future where AI stands as a tool to empower patients and collaborate with human doctors to optimize patient well-being and healthcare. Subsequent investigation might bridge the disparity between the current capabilities of AI in medical support and its potential for widespread adoption.
... More specifically, individuals compare their self-concept (actual, ideal, and social self) to their perception of the product or service under consideration. Products and services that are perceived to match -be congruent -with the self are perceived as more desirable and can be used to express the self (Aaker, 1999;Ekinci, Sirakaya-Turk and Preciado, 2013), while products and services that are being perceived as a mismatch will be rejected. Indeed, empirical studies provide ample evidence for the role of self-congruence within customers' decision process. ...
... Self-congruity didefinisikan sebagai paralelisme antara consumer self-concept dan brand personality yang konsumen rasakan atau alami dalam pembentukan consumer brand relationship. Konsumen lebih cenderung menyukai dan mempertahankan hubungan jangka panjang dengan brand yang memiliki citra yang konsisten dengan diri konsumen (Aaker, 1999;Fournier, 1998;Keller, 2011). Efek dari self-congruity dalam hubungan jangka panjang sebuah merek menjelaskan hubungan dari concept of commitment yang dipertimbangkan menjadi sebuah elemen krusial dalam pembentukan hubungan jangka panjang yang sukses (Gundlach et al., 1995;Morgan & Hunt, 1994). ...
The dynamics in consumer behaviors that are getting smarter requires companies strive to provide the best deals. Consumers are more selective in choosing a brand that suits their desires. When a brand has a strong personality, it will be easy for consumers to adjust to achieve conformity to the brand. Therefore the self-concept and brand personality can be formed in a concept namely Self-Brand Congruity. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors that are measurements of Self-Brand Congruity which are adapted from self-concept and brand personality. The development of self-concept is done by focusing on the psychological process of consumers which is the main weakness in previous research. The survey was conducted on 178 consumers of Cafes and Restaurants in Tasikmalaya, who are over 18 years of age and have visited more than once. To determine the measurements of the self-brand congruity variables in Cafes and Restaurants in Tasikmalaya City, Confirmatory Factor Analysis is used. The results of this study indicate that each indicator adapted from Brand Personality and Self-Concept can prove to be a measure of Self-Brand Congruity. Therefore, Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, Ruggedness, Knowledge, Expectation, and Judgement are the factors to measure Self-Brand Congruity.Keywords: self-concept; brand personality; self-brand congruity.Dinamika dalam perilaku konsumen yang semakin cerdas menuntut perusahaan berusaha keras untuk memberikan penawaran terbaiknya. Konsumen lebih selektif dalam memilih merek produk yang sesuai dengan keinginannya. Ketika sebuah merek memilki kepribadian yang kuat maka akan mudah bagi konsumen untuk menyesuaikan diri dalam mencapai kesesuaian diri dengan merek tersebut. Maka dari itu konsep diri dan kepribadian merek ini dapat terbentuk dalam suatu konsep yaitu Self-Brand Congruity. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah menganalisis faktor-faktor yang menjadi pengukuran Self-Brand Congruity yang diadaptasi dari konsep diri dan kepribadian merek. Pengembangan konsep diri dilakukan dengan memfokuskan pada proses psikologis konsumen yang menjadi kelemahan utama dalam penelitian sebelumnya. Survey dilakukan kepada 178 orang konsumen Café dan Resto di Kota Tasikmalaya yang berusia di atas 18 tahun dan telah melakukan kunjungan lebih dari 1 kali. Untuk mengetahui pengukuran dari variabel self-brand congruity pada Café dan Resto di Kota Tasikmalaya digunakan alat analisis Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa setiap indikator yang diadaptasi dari Kepribadian Merek dan Konsep Diri terbukti dapat menjadi pengukur Self-Brand Congruity. Oleh karena itu, ketulusan, kegembiraan, kemampuan, kecanggihan, kekerasan, pengetahuan, harapan, dan penilaian merupakan faktor-faktor untuk mengukur Self-Brand Congruity.Kata Kunci: konsep diri; kepribadian merek; self-brand congruity.
... Many studies have been conducted over time to identify the influence of self-esteem on the stages of the decision-making process. The studies have been premised on self-image congruence, a model according to which people choose products with characteristics that they identify at the time when they analyse their own behaviour (Aaker, 1999;Onkvisit & Shaw, 1987; Kotler & Armstrong, 2018; Aaker, 1997). Thus, a correlation exists between the product image, the individual's characteristics and, implicitly, his or her image. ...
"Within the consumer behaviour literature, there are few studies in the consumer behaviour literature dealing with the relationship between consumer self-esteem and its role in the buying decision process. This paper explores the influence of self-esteem throughout the five stages of the consumer buying decision process. The first aspect for consideration is getting a clear picture of the definition and dimensions of self-esteem. The second element of the study concerns the five stages of the decision-making process, with special focus on how the process takes place depending on the level of self-esteem. The results show that impulse purchasers have more often than not a low level of self-esteem and do not go through the stages of the decision-making process in the usual way. With respect to managerial implications, the study indicates that organizations have to pay more attention to customer self-esteem when making customer segmentation, as, at the moment, the focus is only on demographic differences (age, gender, background, education) which do not always provide sufficient information. The evidence shows that self-esteem plays an increasing role in explaining consumer behaviour and sheds light on how individuals make decisions which mould their existence. Key words: self-esteem, consumer behaviour, extended self, buying process JEL Classification: M30, M31 Recommended citation: Bejan, B.M., The role of self-esteem in the buying decision process. A theoretical approach, Studia UBB Negotia, vol. 68, issue 1 (March) 2023, pp. 67-80, doi: 10.24193/subbnegotia.2023.1.04 "
... The actual self refers to the individual's perceived reality of oneself, whereas the ideal self refers to the individual's aspirations of ideals and goals (Japutra et al., 2018). In contrast, selfcongruence refers to the perceived personality fit between the consumer's self and the brand's personality (Aaker, 1999;Liu, Li, Mizerski, & Soh, 2012). Indeed, when the brand image is compatible with the consumer's self-image, individuals form a strong emotional connection and loyalty to the brand (Malär et al., 2011;Thomson, MacInnis, & Park, 2005). ...
Brand tribalism Inconspicuousness Brand engagement Brand equity Brand happiness A B S T R A C T Consumption of masstige brands has emerged as an important research domain. This study investigates the key determinants, mediators, and consequences of masstige brands as they impact the willingness to pay a premium price. Following a pre-test with experts, we identified several brands belonging to masstige categories. Based on a sample of 1249 U.S. respondents, the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling to test the proposed conceptual model. The findings reveal that ideal self-congruence, brand tribalism, inconspicuousness, and brand engagement are key determinants of willingness to pay a premium price through the mediating effect of brand equity and brand happiness. This study's contribution to the literature is critical because it helps better understand the relevant factors underlying the emerging domain of masstige consumption. The theoretical and managerial implications, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.
... The consensus of many scholars is that the three dimensions of brand personality are related to the three traits in the Big Five personality (for example, "agreeableness" in the Big Five and "sincerity' in the brand personality both capture the concept of warmth and acceptance; 'extroversion' in the Big Five and 'excitement' in the brand personality both refer to social interaction, vitality, and activities; 'Conscientiousness' in the Big Five and 'Competence' in the brand personality both encompass responsibility, reliability, and safety). The remaining two brand personality dimensions ('Sophistication' and 'Ruggedness') do not correspond to personality traits (Table 2) (Aaker, 1997(Aaker, , 1999. ...
The "similarity-attraction" mechanism of brand personality exists in a state of controversy because many studies have found that the brand personality favored by consumers is inconsistent with their personality. The psychological reasons underlying this paradoxical situation remain unknown. Therefore, based on the circumplex model of emotion theory in neuroscience, this study uses EEG and GSR to measure physiological responses and self-assessment questionnaires to the display of 5 brand personality images to subjects with different Big Five personality traits. 36 undergraduate students participated in the experiment. The results show that: 1) if the questionnaire survey method is used, the results are approximately consistent with previous studies, which is consistent with the theory of 'similar personality leads to attraction'. 2) The subjects' physiological indicators were not concordant with the self-report scores. Based on EEG and GSR results, brands with the "competence" personality strongly attracted consumers with strong 'openness'. Subjects with strong "conscientiousness" avoided the 'sincerity' and 'ruggedness' brand personality; Based on the "emotion/feeling" theory of neurosci-ence, this study explains the non-concordant results of physiological indicators and self-assessment questionnaires , and proposes a new solution to the controversial issue of brand personality theory. Our findings have significant practical value for guiding brand personality design and the identification of target consumer groups.
... Few studies were conducted to examine relationship between self-congruence and compulsive buying behaviour. self-congruence refers to matching between brand personality and customer personality (Aaker, 1999). In the existing marketing literature, numerous studies discussed the impact of self-congruence on positive consumer behaviour in the context of customer satisfaction, word of mouth publicity, brand love and favourable attitude (Ekinci and Riley, 2003;Kressmann et al. 2006;Ekinci et al. 2008). ...
Abstract: Shopping addiction and compulsivity is important areas of concern as it develop shopping disorders and lead to negative consumption phenomena.
This study was conducted to diagnose compulsive buying behaviour among management students who hold distinctive personality traits. Total 472 samples
were finally selected for the study and data were analysed using multivariate
analysis. The result of the study depicts that management students are indulged in compulsive buying due to their concern for self-image and social status. It was also found that female students are more prone to shopping disorder than the male students. The result of the study can be used to improve the mental health and happiness index of the students.
Keywords: compulsive buying; brand equity; impulsive buying; visual
merchandising.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Srivastava, G.N.,
Purohit, H. and Malik, D. (xxxx) ‘Understanding shopping addiction: the case
of management students’, Int. J. Business Excellence, Vol. X, No. Y,
pp.xxx–xxx.
... For instance, when a minority racial-ethnic identity is made salient, a brand spokesperson from the same racial-ethnic group can substantially increase brand preference among members of that group (Deshpande & Stayman, 1994;Forehand & Deshpandé, 2001;Oyserman, 2009). Similarly, when situational cues, such as one's social setting (e.g., a dinner party), elicit a specific personality dimension (e.g., excitement), brands that are associated with this personality dimension are rated more favorably than others (Aaker, 1999). Identitycongruent consumption choices are imbued with more meaning, perceived as more expressive, and are more important to the consumer than other consumption choices (Oyserman, 2009). ...
The symbolic meaning individuals ascribe to Electric Vehicles (EVs) strongly predicts EV adoption intent. However, prior literature has been inconsistent in defining symbolic meaning. We assess two types of EV symbolic meaning and evaluate their influences on adoption intent: (1) public meaning (i.e., perceived EV expressiveness), and (2) private meaning (i.e., holding EV-congruent identities). We assess these relationships across two studies, in virtual and real EV test drive experiences (cumulative N = 729). Participants rated EV public and private meanings before and after the test drive, as well as post-drive adoption intent. Both studies find post-drive enhancements in both private and public EV meanings. They also find that only changes in private meaning (i.e., reinforced identity) are associated with EV adoption intent, whereas enhancements in public meaning (i.e., enhanced perception of expressiveness) are not. These results are discussed in the context of Identity Based Motivation Theory. Limitations and implications are addressed.
... Overall, some studies (Aaker, 1999;Kressmann et al., 2006;Sirgy et al., 1991) have examined the impacts of functional congruity and self-congruity on brand evaluations in a positive information context. If positive information influences selfcongruity or functional congruity, then it is reasonable to infer that negative information may also affect the congruity process but in a negative way. ...
Purpose
Studies have shown that negative publicity adversely affects brand trust, but exactly how brand trust can be damaged remains poorly understood. This study aims to explore how negative publicity influences image congruity and, subsequently, brand trust. In addition, the study also examined the effectiveness of two corporate strategies to repair both congruity and trust.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on a valid sample of 522 Chinese consumers between the ages 20 and 50, this study adopted a quasi-experimental design involving two types of negative publicity (performance- and value-related) and two initial corporate repair strategies (compensation and public apology) intended to repair brand trust.
Findings
Negative publicity shaped brand trust through both functional congruity and self-congruity. Moreover, the type of negative publicity affected the role of image congruity in brand trust. The effectiveness of repair strategies further depended on the type of negative publicity.
Research limitations/implications
Mobile phones were an appropriate focal product for this research, but examining only one product category may limit findings’ generalizability. Negative emotions such as frustration or anger and their relationships with congruity can also be addressed in future work. Subsequent research can additionally consider more conditions to explore alternative routes of processing related to brand trust.
Practical implications
Brand trust is a vulnerable brand asset on which negative publicity can have seriously negative consequences. Marketers and brand managers should assess the extent to which negative publicity can damage image congruity and brand trust and come up with different repair strategies subsequently.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the limited and fragmented literature on consumers’ evaluations of negative information. Findings offer fresh insight into the impacts of negative publicity on image congruity and brand trust. The implications extend beyond negative publicity to other forms of negative information, such as rumors, fake news and negative word of mouth. Results also highlight the importance of adopting appropriate repair strategies to restore consumers’ trust in the event of negative publicity.
... Brand personality endows the brand with humanlike traits and plays an important role in understanding the relationship between the brand and consumers (Aaker et al., 2004). Consumers tend to use brand personality to show their true or ideal selves (Belk, 1988;Aaker, 1997Aaker, , 1999. Because they believe that the owner's personality is consistent with the brand personality (Misra and Beatty, 1990), they prefer brands that fit their self-concepts (Swaminathan et al., 2009). ...
Based on the theory of human reproductive motives, this study discusses how erotic stimulation can help activate male and female consumers’ reproductive motives (i.e., mate-attraction and mate-retention motives), influencing product purchase intention and brand personality perception. Specifically, the results of four experiments reveal that when a man receives erotic stimulation from women, his mate-attraction motive is activated. Consequently, he perceives that the brand personality of his possessions is more rugged, and his preference for products with a rugged brand personality is stronger. Unlike male consumers, when a heterosexual woman in an intimate romantic relationship receives erotic stimulation from other women, her mate-retention motive is activated. As a result, she perceives that the brand personality of her partner’s possessions is sincerer and prefers to purchase products with a sincere brand personality for her partner. This effect will not occur when a product is owned by her male colleague than her partner.
... Brands must be perceived as a trustworthy partner able of keeping passionate, enthusiastic and challenging relationships with consumers, thus providing them with enriching affective experiences. The dimension of self congruence reflected the theory that posited that consumers responded more positively to brands that were aligned with their global of self-concept (Sirgy, 1982), thus predicting consumers' attitudes and purchase intention (Aaker, 1999;Hong, Zinkhan, 1995). Retained scale items, namely, 'Association with my luxury-travel brands lets me be a part of a shared community of like-minded consumers', conveyed the meaning of self-expression, while items, namely, 'My luxury-travel brand says a lot about the kind of person I would like to be' and 'My luxury-travel brands fit well with my current stage/ status of life' underlined the aspirational self of the travelers that desired to connected with their luxury-travel brands. ...
Luxury consumption is on the rise over the last two decades. This brings challenge for the luxury brand marketers to sustain with the aspirational quotient of the luxury consumers. The inherent perception associated with the luxury consumption, namely narrow-band of consumers having ability to pay premium price, has given way to mass luxury consumption, thereby diminishing the price sensitivity of the segment. This luxury paradox calls for a fresh look into the equations that influence and control the relationship between the consumers and luxury brands. This study aims to develop a brand relationship instrument, namely, TraveLux, with specific reference to the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. The cross-sectional study was conducted in three major tourism destinations of India, namely, Rajasthan, Kerala and Goa. The initial scale items for the instrument were obtained by collating past studies and conducting a focus group exercise. The instrument was empirically tested to identify the relationship factors. Findings revealed that the TraveLux Brand Relationship can be mounted on four factors (dimensions), namely, immersive experience, ethno-cultural acculturation, passion & excitement and self congruence. The validated scale was further tested for possible deviations with new group of respondents. The measurement invariance did not reveal significant difference between the baseline model and the tested model. TraveLux will provide a framework for the luxury-travel brand marketers to develop specific brand designs and brand communications based on the identified relationship factors. Future research may be conducted to expand the scope of the instrument to embed behavioural and attitudinal issues of the travelers.
... Bu doğrultuda, tüketicilerin de kendi kişilik özelliklerine uygun marka ve ürünleri tercih etmeleri muhtemeldir (Govers ve Schoormans, 2005). Aaker (1999), tüketicinin marka tercihinin, tüketicinin kişiliği ile tutarlı olduğunu belirtmiştir. Sonuç olarak, pratikte pazarlama yöneticileri, tüketicilerin kişilik özellikleriyle uyumlu bir marka kişiliği oluşturarak, tüketicilerin markayı hızlı bir şekilde tercih etmelerine yardımcı olan, kişilik olgusu üzerinden bir iletişim ağı kurmaya çalışmaktadırlar. ...
Pazarlama literatüründe marka kişiliği kavramı araştırmalara konu olmaya başladığı dönemden bu yana pek çok kategoride yer alan markaya yüklenen kişilik özellikleri çeşitli karşılaştırmalara konu olmuştur. Bir tüketicinin almak istediği ürünü veya hizmeti seçerken, kendi kimliği ile özleştirmiş olanı tercih edeceği yapılan araştırmalarda ortaya çıkan bir gerçektir. Bu gerçek, pazarlama sürecinde "marka kişiliği" kavramının önemini bir kat daha artırmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, hizmet sektöründe yer alan beş kurumsal gayrimenkul danışmanlık şirketinin sahip oldukları marka kişilik özelliklerinden hangilerinin tüketiciler tarafından ön planda tutulduğu araştırılmıştır. Bu araştırmanın uygulama kısmında bir anket çalışması düzenlenmiş ve anket sonucunda elde edilen bulgulara göre, katılımcıların tercih ettikleri kurumsal firmalarla cinsiyete ve yaşa bağlı olarak anlamlı bir ilişkiye rastlanmazken; meslek, eğitim durumu ve gelir düzeyleri ile anlamlı bir ilişkiye sahip olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Ayrıca araştırma kapsamında ilgili firmaların marka kişiliği boyutlarından hangileriyle eşleştiği de ortaya konmuştur.
... So with these excessive promotional efforts, operators could not able to create loyalty among customers. Sales-promotion services divert attention to financial incentives and encourage brand switching behavior, as well as increase price sensitivity which minizes the importance of quality criterion (Omotayo, 2011;Aaker, 1996). Thus, salespromotion offerings are not a determinant of creating customer loyalty. ...
The mobile telecommunication companies uphold their service quality and change their marketing core strategies to retain their existing customers by enhancing and optimizing the customer loyalty. Therefore, it becomes significant for telecom companies to identify factors of services that influence customer loyalty and in turn creates loyal customers by satisfying them. This present study aims to explore the influence of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in the context of Bangladesh. This study focused on six factors such as communication, price structure, value-added service, convenience, sales-promotions and customer service. Both primary and secondary information were collected to test the pre-set hypotheses. Descriptive statistics and simple linear regression were employed to analyze the data. Result shows that five factors: communication, price structure, value-added services, convenience and customer service/care have positive correlations with customer loyalty.
... Furthermore, admiration and rivalry are moderated by the relationship between the age of the consumer, and nostalgic preference. For example, when older people want to be admired by their peers, they will be motivated to reinforce their own self-identity, by affirming their own cultural and social values (Aaker, 1999 andRyan andDeci, 2000), in comparison to younger people. However, in contrast to this, if older people display qualities relating to rivalry, they may do so due to the need to stand out from their peers (Brewer and Gardner, 1996). ...
This research investigates the contingent effect of age and self-concepts on narcissism
in shaping nostalgic preferences. The results show that narcissism impacts on
consumers’ nostalgic preferences, while age significantly moderates these
relationships. Furthermore, when public self is activated under admiration, the results
show that younger people choose nostalgic preferences in contrast to older people, who
choose non-nostalgic preferences. However, when the public self is activated under
rivalry, the opposite occurs, such that younger people choose non-nostalgic preferences
compared to older people, who choose nostalgic preferences. The findings of this
research have theoretical as well as managerial implications. Firstly, this is the first
study to examine the relationship between nostalgia and the dimensions of narcissism,
admiration vs. rivalry, in relation to the consumption of cultural artefacts. Secondly, the
theoretical relationship between self-concepts, relating to the public self and the private
self, has not been applied to the two dimensions of narcissism (admiration vs. rivalry).
Thirdly, the moderating role of age relating to admiration vs. rivalry has not been
examined in relation to nostalgic preferences. Finally, this research extends existing
research examining the consumption of nostalgic preferences, which is incidentally
limited and under-researched. In practice managers can draw on the findings on this
research to better understand the factors at play in shaping nostalgic consumptions.
This knowledge can be leveraged in designing more effective marketing campaigns.
... Autori (Aaker 1991, Aaker 1997, Aaker 1999, Veljković 2010, Rakita i Mitić 2010, Keller i Kotler 2016 dali su definicije brenda u kojima se naglašava vrednost i emocionalna veza koju brendirani proizvod ima za korisnike, kao i visok stepen njihove identifikacije sa brendom i vrednostima koje taj brend propagira. brend možemo definisati kao proizvod, uslugu, osobu ili mesto sa kojima se potrošači mogu identifikovati i koji sa sobom nose relevantne, jedinstvene dodatne vrednosti koje zadovoljavaju potrebe korisnika, a ujedno izazivaju i emocije koje se vezuju za taj brend. ...
A brand could be named as the marketing goal of any organization, including the educational one. The issue of brand in education is becoming more and more actual, but the current focus of the scientifc community has remained mainly on branding higher education, while non-formal adult education organizations on this issue have been largely ignored. Therefore, we conducted research to determine whether users of non-formal education organizations perceive the educational service provider as a brand, as well as to identify which activities are carried out by non-formal education organizations to reach this level of connection with their users. The research used a combination of quantitative-qualitative research paradigm, with a multiple case study as a research model and a descriptive method as the dominant one. The research sample consists of managers and students of the analyzed foreign language schools. The results of the research indicate that non-formal education organizations in Serbia follow world trends and make efforts to achieve the status of an educational brand, that branding is not a uniform process, and that each organization and their strategies have certain specifcs.
... Ayrıca analiz süreçlerinin değerlendirilmesi, faktör ve değerlerin etkin bir şekilde belirlenmesi gerekmektedir. (Aaker, 1999) Stratejik yönetimde durum değerlendirmesi yapılırken çeşitli analizlerin yapılması gerekmektedir. Tablo 2'de görüldüğü gibi müşterileri taleplerinin tespiti amacıyla tüketici analizi, pazar ve rakipler için rekabet analizi yapılmıştır. ...
SPORDA STRATEJİK YÖNETİM
Sponsorluk - Sistem Düşüncesi ve
Duygusal Zekâ
Purpose
The research investigates the concept of sport brand gender personality and its effects on life satisfaction through the lens of self-congruence theory and the transformative sport research paradigm. Particularly, the research examines the impact of congruence between an individual’s perceived gender personality and the gender personality of athleisure brands on life satisfaction and whether brand loyalty mediates this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
The research employs a case-based approach, focusing on athleisure brands to analyze how the alignment between an individual’s perceptions of gender personality and sport brand gender personality affects life satisfaction. The research leverages polynomial regression with response surface analysis and a mediated value congruence structural regression analysis to test the proposed relationships.
Findings
The findings indicate that gender personality congruence between athleisure sport brands and individuals enhances evaluations of life satisfaction. However, the strength of the congruence effects varied across the different gender personality values, and its impact on life satisfaction was contingent upon individuals’ salience to a particular value. Additionally, brand loyalty, including both attitudinal and purchase loyalty, mediates the relationship between gender personality congruence and life satisfaction.
Originality/value
The research contributes to the sport marketing literature by demonstrating how gender personality congruence influences consumer behavior by emphasizing the need for branding strategies that align with consumers’ self-concepts.
Purpose
The primary purpose of this study is to investigate the role of product design (PD) and consumer brand engagement (CBE) in boosting brand loyalty (BL). Through a dimension-level analysis using the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework and visual perception theory, it examines the relationship between BL and PD dimensions (aesthetics, functionality and symbolism) as well as CBE dimensions (cognitive processing, affection and activation).
Design/methodology/approach
This study proposes a conceptual model for PD, CBE and BL interrelationships and employs partial least squares structural equation modeling to examine the model using data from 565 smartphone users in the United States.
Findings
The study finds that PD aesthetics, while having a marginally positive effect on BL, significantly enhances all dimensions of CBE. PD functionality demonstrates a more complex influence, positively affecting the affection and activation dimensions of CBE while negatively impacting cognitive processing and slightly hindering BL. PD symbolism prevails as a robust booster for BL and all CBE dimensions. The current study also reports positive direct effects of the affection and activation dimensions of CBE on BL. Furthermore, this research uncovers the mediating effects of CBE affection and CBE activation on the relationship between PD dimensions and BL.
Practical implications
The present research enhances our understanding of PD as a dynamic and strategic tool for improving firms’ branding performance and offers managerial insights into the complex interdependencies between PD, CBE and BL.
Originality/value
The paper empirically demonstrates how PD serves as a powerful branding tool to enhance CBE and, ultimately, foster and sustain BL, shifting the perception of PD from a static outcome to a strategic driver of positive branding results. It addresses the gap between marketing and design fields and contributes to the literature by demonstrating the multifaceted relationships between PD, CBE and BL.
The rejuvenation of the brand through social media has become a key issue for traditional brands that want to target millennials. Indeed, in the digital age, researchers are on the lookout for new technologies in order to develop the best possible strategies and to be more efficient in a market where competition is becoming harder. Thus, the recent study aims to highlight strategies capable of rejuvenating a brand through socialmedia. LE RAJEUNISSEMENT DE LA MARQUE PAR LES MÉDIAS SOCIAUX Résumé: Le rajeunissement de la marque par les médias sociaux est devenu un enjeu majeur pour les marques traditionnelles qui souhaitent cibler la génération Y. En effet, à l’ère du numérique, les chercheurs sont à l’affût de nouvelles technologies afin de développer les meilleures stratégies possible, et cela dans le but d’être plus performants dans un marché où la concurrence est dure et ardue. La récente étude vise à mettre en lumière les éventuelles stratégies possibles pour rajeunir une marque à travers les médias sociaux.
The study examined the effect of hotel brand attributes (perceived service quality and brand personality) on guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry in a university community in the garden city of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research gathered data from 150 guests who patronised the five hotels selected for the study. A well-structured questionnaire containing 23 items, with five demographic items was used to generate primary data from the respondents. To validate the hypotheses, inferential statistics was conducted with the help of SPSS. The result of the inferential statistical analysis showed that,the two brand attributes individually had direct positive significant effect on brand loyalty, while brand loyalty also had direct positive effect on brand advocacy. To enhance positive behavioural intentions by guests towards hotels through guest satisfaction, hotel owners/managers are expected to develop capabilities in quality service delivery and customer experience management in terms of humanising some aspects of their offerings.
Purpose
This research extends self-congruity theory and assesses the predictive validity of the triad personality congruence among brand, brand-related sustainability initiatives (BSI) and self-concept (BSSC: brand-sustainability-self-congruence) on consumers’ brand evaluation.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies assessed BSSC using the brand personality scale (BPS) and the direct congruence measure (DCM). Through moderated mediation analyses, BSSC effects were examined on consumers’ behavioral intention, behavior and subjective well-being (SWB). The mediating role of brand trust and the moderating role of brand/BSI types and consumer characteristics were also assessed.
Findings
BSSC increased consumers’ brand trust, behavioral intention, behavior and SWB. Data based on BPS revealed impactful attributes that increase/decrease BSSC levels across brand-BSI combinations and the moderating role of sustainability involvement and income to enhance BSSC effects. BSSC was particularly effective, according to DCM.
Practical implications
For BSI planning, strategic consideration of BSSC based on both BPS and DCM is recommended. Thus, managers may predict the psychological impact of BSI and align its attributes to increase consumers’ brand evaluation.
Originality/value
In the sustainable marketing context, this research discusses BSSC – triad personality congruence – based on BPS and DCM and its predictive effects on consumers’ short-term brand evaluation, their actual behavior and SWB, a long-term life evaluation. The results imply a possible variation in consumers’ information processing according to the congruence measurement approach. Thus, it is relevant to the research on self-congruity, sustainability, marketing, consumer psychology/behavior and well-being.
The concept of competition and collaboration are poles apart in professional life but of late the undesirable pressure and its implications are creating a lot of impact on the performance and productivity of the employees. The performance pressure creates a lot of stress among working professionals and affects their personal as well as professional life. In this article an attempt has been made to highlight how by being competitive towards our goals in life, yet being collaborative towards our health and body, we can achieve a state of mental peace. A state of competitive collaboration and an ability to express self can not only create but also foster positive mental health. A positive mind leaves an equally positive impact on people around us and this in turn can help us develop strong managerial and leadership skills.
This study investigates the relationship between sibling rivalry and self-expression among young adults, examining potential influences and gender differences. Through a review of existing literature and empirical analysis, the study explores whether sibling rivalry affects self-expression and if gender moderates this relationship. Data from 200 participants revealed no significant correlation between sibling rivalry and self-expression. Additionally, regression analysis indicates no statistical influence of sibling rivalry on self-expression. Independent sample t-tests show no significant gender differences in sibling rivalry or self-expression scores. The findings suggest that sibling rivalry may not directly impact self-expression among young adults, irrespective of gender. Further research is warranted to explore additional factors contributing to variations in selfexpression within sibling relationships
Understanding how green hotels can gain marketing advantages could motivate hoteliers to adopt green practices during construction and operation. This study investigates the mediation role of perceived psychological benefits on consumers’ environmental concerns and their willingness to pay a measurable premium for green-label hotels. Data gathered from 540 Chinese consumers revealed that a mismatch between the involvement of hotels and online travel agencies (OTAs) hampers the relationship between environmental concerns and perceived psychological benefits of booking green-label hotels on OTAs, further influencing consumers’ willingness to pay a premium. This research uncovers an overlooked but crucial factor that reduces consumer satisfaction with the hotel-choice process and why it makes consumers willing to pay a premium for green-label hotels. Drawing from the findings, recommendations are also proffered for hoteliers to conceive and execute green marketing tactics.
The validity of self-monitoring personality in organizational settings was examined. Meta-analyses were conducted (136 samples; total N = 23,191) investigating the relationship between self-monitoring personality and work-related variables, as well as the reliability of various self-monitoring measures. Results suggest that self-monitoring has relevance for understanding many organizational concerns, including job performance and leadership emergence. Sample-weighted mean differences favoring male respondents were also noted, suggesting that the sex-related effects for self-monitoring may partially explain noted disparities between men and women at higher organizational levels (i.e., the glass ceiling). Theory building and additional research are needed to better understand the construct-related inferences about self-monitoring personality, especially in terms of the performance, leadership, and attitudes of those at top organizational levels.
As the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped consumers' perception of brand messages, advertisers are revisiting their messages and investing even more heavily to strengthen brand identity alignment. Brand identity alignment is the configuration of all semiotic components (brand name, logo, and slogan) to support the brand image desired by the firm.
Using semiotic theory and congruence theory as foundations, this paper examines slogan attributes that affect their alignment with brand identity. Using data from a large-scale field study, followed by a validation study using senior advertising managers, the authors find that message clarity and creativity enhance, whereas a jingle in a slogan message reduces the slogan-brand alignment.
This research sets to understand how functional and emotional employer branding in the instrumental-symbolic framework and the perceived religiosity of Muslim employees jointly moderate the relation in the organizational commitment–quit intention link within Islamic banks in Turkey. This study seeks to explore the employer branding and religiosity relationship in a Muslim-dominated context that is a different context from most of the studies on employer branding. The quantitative study collected 578 usable responses in four Islamic banks and tested the data in a moderated moderation model. The findings suggest that when functional and emotional employer branding are low, self-reported high religiosity of Muslim employees enhances the negative relationship between organizational commitment and quit intention. Overall, when self-reported functional branding is low, employees’ religiosity seems to strengthen the negative relationship between organisational commitment and intention to quit. This implies that Islamic banks that are perceived by its Muslim employees as being weak in terms of functional branding (i.e. salary, career opportunities) may benefit most from the negative effect of organizational commitment on quit intention when their Muslim employees have high perceived religiosity. However, unlike functional branding, religiosity is only important when emotional branding is low. The negative relationship weakens, be it for functional or emotional branding, when both branding and religiosity are high. These revelations provide practical implications for resource utilization and conservation in managing employer branding in consideration of the religiosity in Islamic banks to better manage employee retention.
Brands often employ spokespersons to serve as the face of their organization and spokespersons characteristics can influence consumer behavior. We examined whether a subtle, appearance‐based aspect—facial width‐to‐height ratio (fWHR)—affects brand judgments. Specifically, we demonstrate that high (low) fWHR spokespersons are more effective for rugged (sincere) brands leading to more positive ad evaluations, greater brand liking, and higher purchase intensions. Across four experiments, we used across‐target and within‐individual manipulations of spokesperson fWHR to test our hypotheses and investigate the downstream implications for consumer preferences and purchasing intentions. We find that spokesperson fWHR influenced judgments of spokesperson effectiveness for different kinds of brands (Study 1); spokesperson fWHR impacts a brand's perceived personality (Study 2); and that congruency between spokespersons’ faces and brands’ personalities influence how much consumers like brands, their advertisements, and how willing they are to purchase advertised products (Studies 3–4). This study has implications for marketers and contributes to the brand personality and person perception literatures by demonstrating how subtle variations in spokespersons’ face structure can influence consumer judgments.
This paper aims to test the effect of structural relations between memorable tourism experience, destination brand personality, destination place attachment and tourist satisfaction on tourist behavioral intention within a theoretical model. Two different methods were applied for research purposes. First, structural equation modeling was used to analyze linear effects and relationships. Afterwards, as part of asymmetric analysis, fsQCA was used to reveal sufficient and necessary configurations to predict tourist behavioral intention. The results indicate that tourists’ future intentions can be predicted by both symmetric and asymmetric models. Linear analysis demonstrated that memorable tourism experience has positive effects on brand personality, attachment, satisfaction and consequently on intention of tourists. Thereafter, asymmetric analysis revealed that satisfaction was necessary for intention, whereas memorable tourism experience, attachment and brand personality were sufficient for intention. While fsQCA provides a supplementary perspective to the structural model, results indicate mediating relationships and configurational variations of research variables.
Consumers often make decisions that reflect either personal or social identities. In many cases, such decisions are made along a sequence. Our research introduces a central factor that influences consumers’ likelihood of expressing a consistent identity type along a sequence of decisions: the extent to which their usage of the product involved in the first decision is expected to be observable by others (the product’s expected visibility). A field experiment, and four lab studies, coupled with an internal meta-analysis, show that when the product involved in the first decision has high (as opposed to low) expected visibility, consumers are more likely to make a subsequent decision that is consistent with the first. Results show that self-presentation mediates this effect, and suggest that low integration between the identities involved in the decisions might attenuate it. Our findings offer implications for identity research and practical implications for marketers seeking to develop products and design communications that encourage consistent (or inconsistent) behavior.
Both healthcare industry marketers and physicians have been paying more attention to the growth and potential competition in the healthcare market. This research developed a theoretical model for physician brand personality (PBP), which is intended to present applicable traits that professional physicians could consider for increasing their brand personality associations. This scale was developed through the use of some listing and item reduction techniques in combination with the explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis procedures. The findings extend previous research on human brand and brand personalities of physicians and suggest that patients view physician as a human brand with a unique brand personality.
Conveying a brand image to a target market is a fundamental marketing activity. The authors present a normative framework, termed brand concept management (BCM), for selecting, implementing, and controlling a brand image over time. The framework consists of a sequential process of selecting, introducing, elaborating, and fortifying a brand concept. The concept guides positioning strategies, and hence the brand image, at each of these stages. The method for maintaining this concept-image linkage depends on whether the brand concept is functional, symbolic, or experiential. Maintaining this linkage should significantly enhance the brand's market performance.
Most empirical work on product symbolism has paid relatively little attention to how products are used by consumers in everyday social life. This paper argues that the subjective experience imparted by the consumption of many products substantially contributes to the consumer's structuring of social reality, self-concept, and behavior. Moreover, the consumer often relies upon the social meanings inherent in products as a guide to the performance of social roles, especially when role demands are novel. While marketing theory traditionally views products as post hoc responses to underlying needs, the focus here is on conditions under which products serve as a priori stimuli to behavior. By integrating concepts adapted from symbolic interactionism, this approach stresses the importance of product symbolism as a mediator of self-definition and role performance.
In the 1st of 2 studies, 52 undergraduates were required to judge the appropriateness of 15 behaviors in each of 15 situations in a behavior-situation matrix. Differences among behaviors, situations, and Behavior * Situation interactions contributed substantial proportions of the total variance in judgments. The concepts of behavioral appropriateness and situational constraint were offered to account for the differences obtained among behaviors and situations, respectively. A 2nd study, using a new sample of 42 Ss and different methods of measurement, provided initial construct validity evidence for the concepts. Implications of these results for the construction of situational response hierarchies, the development of behavior and situation taxonomies, and causal attribution are discussed. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
People in different cultures have strikingly different construals of the self, of others, and of the interdependence of the 2. These construals can influence, and in many cases determine, the very nature of individual experience, including cognition, emotion, and motivation. Many Asian cultures have distinct conceptions of individuality that insist on the fundamental relatedness of individuals to each other. The emphasis is on attending to others, fitting in, and harmonious interdependence with them. American culture neither assumes nor values such an overt connectedness among individuals. In contrast, individuals seek to maintain their independence from others by attending to the self and by discovering and expressing their unique inner attributes. As proposed herein, these construals are even more powerful than previously imagined. Theories of the self from both psychology and anthropology are integrated to define in detail the difference between a construal of the self as independent and a construal of the self as interdependent. Each of these divergent construals should have a set of specific consequences for cognition, emotion, and motivation; these consequences are proposed and relevant empirical literature is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Impression management refers to the behavioral strategies that people use to create desired social images or identities. The current status of impression management explanations in social psychology is discussed, and it is argued that the common practice of referring to impression management theory is misleading. Many potential theories of impression management exist, each based on distinct assumptions. Methodological strategies that investigators have used to distinguish between impression management and intrapsychic explanations for a variety of research findings are reviewed. Although empirical confrontations between impression management and intrapsychic explanations have stimulated innovative research, there are serious limits on the discriminability of the 2 classes of explanation. Possible conceptual frameworks are discussed for integrating the psychological processes described by both impression management and intrapsychic explanations. (60 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined, in 3 studies, the evaluative and behavioral reactions of 130 undergraduates with high and low self-monitoring personalities to 2 advertising strategies: appeals to a product's image and claims about a product's quality. High self-monitoring Ss reacted more favorably to image-oriented advertisements, were willing to pay more for products if they were advertised with an image orientation, and were more willing to try a product if it was marketed with an image appeal. By contrast, low self-monitoring Ss reacted more favorably to product-quality oriented ads, were more willing to pay more for products if they were advertised with a quality orientation, and were more willing to try a product if it was marketed with a quality claim. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The self—a sense of who and what we are—is suggested as an organizing construct through which people's everyday activities can be understood. Life's mundane tasks and the consumer behaviors necessary to enact them are cast in a perspective of self little used by consumer psychologists—social—identity theory. Two structural modeling studies in support of the perspective are reported. The results of the first one imply that people use products to enact one of their social identities and that products relate only indirectly to the overall or global self. The second study indicates that the frequency with which activities are performed depends on the salience of the identity they represent and that such salience, in turn, depends on several enabling factors. Taken together, the studies provide theoretical support for the common-sense notion that we are attracted to products that are consistent with, and that enable the enactment of, the various social identities which make up our sense of self; the more important an identity to us, the more attractive its associated products.
Phase transitoire du cycle de vie, l’adolescence se caractérise par une période de construction de l’identité. En permettant aux individus de transmettre un message sur soi aux autres, la consommation symbolique participe à la construction identitaire des 12-18 ans. Afin d’optimiser les campagnes publicitaires à leur intention, il convient alors de déterminer les capacités respectives de la marque et du produit à véhiculer les signes que les adolescents souhaitent diffuser auprès des tiers. Ce papier apporte des éléments de réponse à cette problématique grâce à la présentation d’un cadre théorique et des résultats d’une étude qualitative et d’une étude quantitative menées respectivement auprès de 12 et de 208 adolescents.
Our possessions are a major contributor to and reflection of our identities. A variety of evidence is presented supporting this simple and compelling premise. Related streams of research are identified and drawn upon in developing this concept and implications are derived for consumer behavior. Because the construct of extended self involves consumer behavior rather than buyer behavior, it appears to be a much richer construct than previous formulations positing a relationship between self-concept and consumer brand choice.
Why do people choose interaction partners who see them as they see themselves? Self-verification theorists propose that a desire to bolster perceptions of predictability and control underlies such activities. In contrast, advocates of positivity strivings argue that people choose such interaction partners in the hope of making themselves feel good. Two studies tested these competing explanations by examining the spontaneous verbalizations of participants as they chose interaction partners. The results suggested that positivity as well as self-verification strivings caused participants with positive self-views to choose partners who appraised them favorably. The epistemic considerations underlying self-verification processes, however, best explained why people with negative self-views chose partners who appraised them unfavorably.
Using a sample of 315 adult men and women, self-reports on Wiggins's revised Interpersonal Adjective Scales were jointly factored with self-reports, peer ratings, and spouse ratings on the NEO Personality Inventory to examine the relations between the two models. Results suggest that the interpersonal circumplex is defined by the two dimensions of Extraversion and Agreeableness, and that the circular ordering of variables is not an artifact of response biases or cognitive schemata. Circumplex and dimensional models appear to complement each other in describing the structure of personality, and both may be useful to social psychologists in understanding interpersonal behavior.
We proposed that married persons would want their spouses to see them as they saw themselves but that dating persons would want their relationship partners to evaluate them favorably. A survey of 176 married and dating couples tested these predictions. Just as married persons were most intimate with spouses whose evaluations verified their self-views, dating persons were most intimate with partners who evaluated them favorably. For married people with negative self-views, then, intimacy increased as their spouses evaluated them more negatively. Marriage apparently precipitates a shift from a desire for positive evaluations to a desire for self-verifying evaluations.
A rationale and procedures for the development of a taxonomic basis for personality research and theory construction are outlined. Some prior research efforts in this area are briefly reviewed and evaluated. Results of a series of studies are presented which employed primarily groups of university male Ss who varied in length and intimacy of previous associations. Data were obtained using peer nomination rating methods. These analyses yielded clear and consistent evidence for the existence of 5 relatively orthogonal, easily interpreted personality factors. Behavioral correlates of selected patterns of scores on these factors are briefly discussed and suggestions are made concerning subsequent research efforts warranted by these findings.
In 2 studies, the authors examined whether or not G. Mandler's (1982) schema congruity theory would explain students' evaluations of new products purportedly introduced by companies with established brand names that were congruent, moderately incongruent, or extremely incongruent in relationship to the product. Consistent with this theory, results showed that products associated with moderately incongruent brand names were preferred over ones that were associated with either congruent or extremely incongruent brand names. Results suggest that this finding may be mediated by students' greater elaboration of the incongruent brand name and related information and by the process of resolving incongruity.
Although a considerable amount of research in personality psychology has been done to conceptualize human personality, identify the ''Big Five'' dimensions, and explore the meaning of each dimension, no parallel research has been conducted in consumer behavior on brand personality, Consequently, an understanding of the symbolic use of brands has been limited in the consumer behavior literature. In this research, the author develops a theoretical framework of the brand personality construct by determining the number and nature of dimensions of brand personality (Sincerity, Excitement, Competence, Sophistication, and Ruggedness). Tc, measure the five brand personality dimensions, a reliable, valid, and generalizable measurement scale is created. Finally, theoretical and practical implications regarding the symbolic use of brands are discussed.
Similarities of brand images with self images were tested to determine differences between (a) most preferred and least preferred brands, (b) socially consumed and privately consumed products, and (c) real-self and ideal-self image relationships.
Marketing researchers have repeatedly attempted to relate purchasing behavior, media choice, innovation, and other marketing phenomena to personality, with varying degrees of success. This article reviews this mass of literature and draws some conclusions on the present state of knowledge.
Circumstances, contexts, or situations are often cited but rarely examined as explanations for unpredicted behaviors. This article reports an exploration of the amounts and patterns of variance in selected purchase decisions as a function of consumption and purchase contexts. Results for the two product categories studied reveal sizable situational effects.
Two studies examined the extent to which a core dimension of cultural variability, individualism-collectivism (Hofstede, 1980, 1983; Triandis, 1990), is reflected in the types of persuasive appeals that tend to be used and that tend to be effective in different countries. Study 1 demonstrated that magazine advertisements in the United States, an individualistic culture, employed appeals to individual benefits and preferences, personal success, and independence to a greater extent than did advertisements in Korea, a collectivistic culture. Korean advertisements employed appeals emphasizing ingroup benefits, harmony, and family integrity to a greater extent than did U.S. ads. Study 2, a controlled experiment conducted in the two countries, demonstrated that in the U.S. advertisements emphasizing individualistic benefits were more persuasive, and ads emphasizing family or ingroup benefits were less persuasive than they were in Korea. In both studies, however, product characteristics played a role in moderating these overall differences: Cultural differences emerged strongly in Studies 1 and 2 for advertised products that tend to be purchased and used with others, but were much less evident for products that are typically purchased and used individually.
Introduces the concept of possible selves (PSs) to complement current conceptions of self-knowledge. PSs represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming, and thus provide a conceptual link beteen cognition and motivation. PSs are the cognitive components of hopes, fears, goals, and threats; they give the specific self-relevant form, meaning, organization, and direction to these dynamics. It is suggested that PSs function as incentives for future behavior and to provide an evaluative and interpretive context for the current view of self. The nature and function of PSs and their role in addressing several persistent problems (e.g., the stability and malleability of the self, the unity of the self, self-distortion, the relationship between the self-concept and behavior) are discussed. (143 ref)
Past research has demonstrated that congruence between brand image and self-image is positively related to consumers' product evaluations. Results from this study support the hypothesis that increased self-monitoring is associated with a greater effect of image congruence on consumers' evaluations of publicly consumed brands, but not privately consumed brands. Results also suggest that consumers' evaluations of publicly consumed brands are more affected by the congruence between brand image and ideal self-image than actual self-image, whereas actual and ideal congruence have equal effects on consumers' evaluations of privately consumed brands. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Categorical beliefs about everyday situations were submitted to a prototype analysis. The aim was to clarify how the naive perceiver construes, categorizes, and gives meaning to classes of social situations (e.g., parties, work, therapy sessions). Free description, imagery-reaction time, and structured rating paradigms served to analyze structural, processing, and content properties of a sample of situation categories. The results indicated that people shared relatively orderly and easily retrievable prototypes for the 36 situation categories studied here. These situations were often characterized by the typical person-action combinations expected in them. Naive perceivers agree about person-situation matches, sharing knowledge of the most prototypic behaviors and personality types associated with different types of situations. The findings suggested that such knowledge about social situations might prove useful for the perceiver as actor to plan and regulate behavior.
Previous approaches to attitude functions have examined personality and situational influences on the multiple functions that can be served by the same attitudes. The present analysis focuses on the role of attitude objects in attitude functions and proposes that attitudes toward some objects tend to serve a single function. Using newly developed measures of attitude functions, Study 1 established that objects that are primarily associated with a single attitude function (utilitarian, social identity, or self-esteem maintenance function) can be identified. In Study 2, such objects served as a basis for directly varying the functions of attitudes, by varying the types of objects that served as experimental stimuli. This study investigated whether attitudes toward objects that engage different functions respond to different types of persuasive appeals. Subjects read appeals (advertisements) containing function-relevant or function-irrelevant information about products assumed primarily to engage either a utilitarian or a social identity function. Function-relevant ads were more persuasive than function-irrelevant ads, consistent with the findings of previous functional approaches. Additional data identified a situational factor, the juxtaposition of appeals, that influenced the magnitude of these effects.
Proposes a social psychological construct of self-monitoring (self-observation and self-control guided by situational cues to social appropriateness) of expressive behavior and self-presentation. An internally consistent, temporally stable self-report measure of individual differences in self-monitoring was constructed. 4 converging laboratory and field studies of peer perception ratings, criterion group membership, self-control of facial and vocal emotional expressive behavior, and attention to normative social comparison information were conducted with undergraduates to demonstrate the convergent and discriminant validity of the Self-Monitoring Scale (SM). The use of SM to investigate hypotheses concerning consistency in expression across situations and between channels of expressive behavior is discussed. (28 ref)
The self-concept literature in consumer behavior can be characterized as fragmented, incoherent, and highly diffuse. This paper critically reviews self-concept theory and research in consumer behavior and provides recommendations for future research.
The Journal of Consumer Research and the Association for Consumer Research initiated a new discipline, intended to embrace divergent topics, methods, concepts, data, motives, partners, and ideas. Over the years, that vision has faded. Now the discipline faces inward, toward a narrower range of issues, and away from the real world. Five guidelines seek to redirect the discipline toward its original goals. These guidelines advocate wider horizons, a larger audience, a different talent mix, more emphasis on discover, more attention to consumers, and more single-minded dedication to meaningful results. Copyright 1993 by the University of Chicago.
The self-concept literature is characterized by a continuing controversy over whether the self-concept is stable or malleable. In this article we suggest that it is both but that the stability observed for general descriptions of the self may mask significant local variation. In this study the social environment was varied by creating a situation in which subjects found themselves to be either very unique or very similar to others. Following this manipulation, subjects responded to a series of self-concept measures. Although the uniqueness and similarity subjects did not differ in the trait terms they used to describe themselves, they did differ systematically in their latency for these judgments, in positivity and negativity of their word associations, and in their judgments of similarity to reference groups. These findings imply that subjects made to feel unique recruited conceptions of themselves as similar to others, whereas subjects made to feel similar to others recruited conceptions of themselves as unique. The results suggest that very general self-descriptive measures are inadequate for revealing how the individual adjusts and calibrates the self-concept in response to challenges from the social environment.