“I” seek differentiation and “we” seek assimilation: the impact of self-expressive customization on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium

Abstract

Purpose Customization, as a crucial way to meet the heterogeneous demand of individuals, exists two fundamental and competing motivations, namely, assimilation and uniqueness. Based on optimal distinctiveness theory, this paper aims to validate the interactive effect of self-expressive customization types (i.e. customization to express individual identity and customization to express a shared identity) and self-construal on consumers’ willingness to pay a premium (WPP). Design/methodology/approach Two studies were conducted to provide empirical support for all proposed hypotheses. The first study (n = 151) uses a hypothetical scenario of a basketball game to test the interaction effect of self-expressive customization and self-construal. The second study (n = 184) assumes a scenario of designing a t-shirt or a uniform to examined the moderated mediating role of consumer-product identification. Findings The results reveal that independent (vs interdependent) self-construal will have stronger consumer-product identification for customization to express an individual identity (vs customization to express a shared identity), thus generating a higher WPP. Also, perceived task difficulty is the boundary condition of the research model. Research limitations/implications This paper makes insightful contributions to the customization literature by strengthening the identity signals of customization and exploring the psychological mechanism and the boundary conditions. Originality/value This research is one of the first few empirical studies to examine the impact of self-expressive customization on consumers’ WPP via the identification with the focal object. This paper not only expands the literature of self-expressive customization but also provides a new research direction for the research of person-object interaction in marketing.

Did the COVID-19 Pandemic Make Consumers Shop Alone? The Role of Emotions and Interdependent Self-Construal

“…As pandemic-related emotions discussed above pertain to interactions with other people, and so does pandemic-related isolation behavior, consumer perception of the self concerning others (i.e., the individual trait of interdependent self-construal) may act as an important factor. Interdependent individuals pay more attention to their relationship with other people and social roles, as opposed to the attention to their own autonomy and uniqueness [40,41]. People differ in the degree to which the interdependent self-construal is dominant, and that long-term variation may be determined by the culture in such a way that interdependent self-construal is more dominant in collectivistic vs. individualistic cultures [41].…”

When does customization improve brand attitude?

“…Customers simply choose the alternative that best matches their preferences; this customization is "passive" because customers are not engaged in modifying the final product in any way. In contrast, "active" customization offers customers value by enhancing their ability: to integrate elements of their self-identity into the product; and to individually combine product modules to create an all-new product that matches their individual needs (Miceli et al, 2013;Lei et al, 2021).…”

“…From BMW's effort to allow customers to modify the design of their "Mini" to M&M candies that let customers print their personal photos on the actual chocolate candies, brands are letting customers customize or co-create products to meet individual customers' unique needs (Li et al, 2022). Having customers actively participate in the process of co-creating an individual product not only meets their unique needs (Pallant et al, 2020) but also imbues the resulting product with elements of the self (Lei et al, 2021). Co-creation allows consumers to develop stronger relationships with brands (Bargoni et al, 2022).…”

The effects of visual-audio merchandising elements on consumers’ impulsive purchase intentions in apparel e-customization

“…For instance, affected by online stimuli, some consumers prefer to pay more for customized products to express their individual identities. 41 Thus, the effects of IPIs on e-customization should be explored. In this study, the IPI refers to a sudden strong psychological impulse to own a customized clothing during the purchase process of e-customized apparel.…”