Emotional Brand Attachment and Brand Personality: The Relative Importance of the Actual and the Ideal Self

Abstract

Creating emotional brand attachment is a key branding issue in today's marketing world. One way to accomplish this is to match the brand's personality with the consumer's self. A key question, however, is whether the brand's personality should match the consumer's actual self or the consumer's ideal self. On the basis of two empirical studies of 167 brands (evaluated by 1329 and 980 consumers), the authors show that the implications of selfcongruence for consumers' emotional brand attachment are complex and differ by consumers' product involvement, consumers' individual difference variables, and the type of self-congruence (fit of the brand's personality with the consumer's actual self versus with the consumer's ideal self). On a general level, actual self-congruence has the greatest impact on emotional brand attachment. Product involvement, self-esteem, and public self-consciousness increase the positive impact of actual self-congruence but decrease the impact of ideal self-congruence on emotional brand attachment. The authors discuss important managerial and academic implications of these findings.

Guanxi GRX ( ganqing , renqing , xinren ) and conflict management in Sino-US business relationships

“…Multi-group SEM analysis was conducted to examine the moderating effect of length of employment and length of relationships on all relationships proposed in the GRX conflict management model, following the existing practice of Malär, Krohmer, Hoyer, and Nyffenegger (2011) by dividing samples into high and low groups and comparing the parameter estimates of both sub-sample groups. A test of invariance regarding the structural coefficients revealed that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected.…”

The self-concept life cycle and brand perceptions: An interdisciplinary perspective

“…In an attempt to project a desired younger self-image, which is significantly lower than their chronological age, middle-aged individuals are prone to purchasing goods such as sports cars or seeking plastic surgery (Guido et al 2014;Ogle and Damhorst 2005;Zavestoski 2002). Furthermore, research shows that consumers are likely to perceive brands more positively that allow them to project an image that matches their actual and ideal self-view (Hollenbeck and Kaikati 2012;Malär et al 2011;Sirgy 1982). In summary, life events influence consumers' selfconcept and subsequently their attitude towards specific brands.…”

“…Recent reviews show that the self-concept is a key construct that influences consumer brand perceptions (AguirreRodriguez et al 2012;Hosany and Martin 2012). Evidence suggests that the self-concept influences various brand-related outcomes, such as brand loyalty (Mazodier and Merunka 2012;Sirgy et al 2008), brand love (Batra et al 2012;Carroll and Ahuvia 2006) or emotional brand attachment (Malär et al 2011) to name a few.…”

“…First, marketers are moving away from mass marketing to more targeted branding approaches (Malär et al 2011). Therefore, it is increasingly important to understand selfrelevant consumer needs across various age segments.…”

Una revisión del constructo consumo simbólico desde la perspectiva de la experiencia turística

“…En este sentido, las personas que poseen, o desean poseer, una identidad determinada, siguen una conducta específica, que condicionará su consumo, e irá acorde a los mensajes publicitarios congruentes con su identidad (Forehand y Deshpande, 2001 Algunos estudios, han dado un paso más allá en la investigación de la identidad y su influencia en el consumo, invitando a académicos y profesionales a examinar los estímulos situacionales que pueden influir sobre la identidad, pudiendo así anticipar las conductas de consumo de manera más efectiva (Grier y Deshpande, 2001;Forehand et al, 2002;Reed y Forehand, 2003). En esta misma línea de análisis, Edson y Bettman (2005), y posteriormente Malar et al (2011) examinaron como en la actualidad, los mensajes publicitarios y los símbolos que el individuo relacione con su auto-concepto y/o su grupo de pertenencia, tienen una influencia especial en la actitud hacia dichos mensajes, y en consecuencia, hacia las marcas a las que éstos hacen referencia.…”