Consumer-brand congruence and conspicuousness: an international comparison

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand how congruence influences product evaluations in an international Latin culture context, as moderated by the public vs private nature of the product and user-image vs product-personality congruence. Design/methodology/approach Participants were recruited from two universities in Spanish-speaking, Latin cultures: Spain – Latin Europe (n=340) and Uruguay – Latin America (n=400). All participants were asked to indicate product-personality congruence (i.e. congruence between one’s self and the product) and user-image congruence (i.e. congruence between a product’s typical user and the product) for two private and two public products. Findings Two types of congruence (product-personality and user-image) positively influence brand evaluations more for publicly consumed than for privately consumed brands for consumers in both Latin cultures, with effect sizes being greater than prior research in other cultures. Research limitations/implications This research supports congruence theory in showing that similarity between a consumer and a brand leads to more favorable attitudes. Limitations include the sole use of student subjects and examination in only two countries of Latin culture. Practical implications Regardless of a brand’s personality, brands should seek consumers with similar personality traits, especially in Latin cultures. Originality/value This research addresses several limitations in prior research by examining both publicly and privately consumed products in one study, exploring congruence across Latin cultures, and testing products not confounded by addictive properties.

Creation of a brand model through SEM to predict users’ loyalty and recommendations regarding a public sports service

“…Congruence is an aspect that has been accepted terminologically both in terms of consumer attraction to the brand and in terms of attachment and loyalty ( Karampela et al., 2018 ). Congruence is therefore the concept that explains why users choose to buy the brands that have an image that is more similar to their self-conception ( Kwak and Kang, 2009 ); if in addition to buying a product that satisfies the needs that a user has at that time, which is the main reason for buying the product, the product brand has an image consistent with that of the user, the satisfaction with the purchase will be greater ( Bajac et al., 2018 ). Consumers in general, obviously including sports services clients, need a certain level of congruence between the purchase they make and the values or image that they have of themselves.…”

The effect of perceived value by the tourists toward electronic word of mouth activity: the moderating role of conspicuous tendency

“…In this study the tendency to show off takes the term conspicuous consumption (excessive consumption, striking, showing self and showing off). Research related to the need to show off in the field of marketing and consumer behavior has been carried out in the last 5 years, such as Bajac et al, (2018); ; Dev et al, (2018); Amatulli et al, (2018); O'Cass (2018); Nabi et al, (2019); Shao et al, (2019) but research that connects the needs of showing off with WOM has not been done much (Kim et al, 2015;House et al, 2015;Kim & Jang, 2017). Other studies such as Chaudhuri et al, (2011); Wang & Liu, (2007) treat conspicuous consumption as a moderating variable, which links the perceived value with EWOM activity.…”

Naked Consumer's Mind Under Branded Dress: Case Study of Slovak Republic

“…Due to these findings, the theories of Mokrysz (2016), Misankova (2016), Resano & Sanjuan (2017), Berthon & Pitt (2018), Bajac et al (2018) etc. are most supported because the research has verified the assumption that across the partial brand management activities there is a phenomenon of reduction of the customer subjectively perceived brand value while taking into account higher degree of the national socio-cultural specificities.…”

“…However, we believe that too much specification of the brand building and managing models causes the same undesirable effect. We refer to the publications Mokrysz (2016), Misankova (2016), Trinh et al (2016), Resano & Sanjuan (2017), Berthon & Pitt (2018), Bajac et al (2018), Fox (2018) etc. These authors agree that across the partial brand management activities there is a phenomenon of reduction of the customer subjectively perceived brand value while taking into account higher degree of the national socio-cultural specificities.…”