An empirical investigation of how the impact of the four self-congruity types on brand attitude varies depending on an individual's self-construals, cosmopolitan and local orientaion.

This thesis empirically investigates the impact of an individual’s dominant independent self-construal, interdependent self-construal, cosmopolitan and local orientation on the effect of the four self-congruity types (actual, ideal, social, ideal social) on brand attitude. A widely used practice among marketers focuses on communicating the notion that using their brands will bring consumers closer to how they would like to see themselves, their ideal self-concept (e.g. being a slim person like the models in the ads), instead of how they actually see themselves, their actual self-concept. However, recent research shows that there is no “universality” of a superior self-congruity effect. Specifically, individual-level characteristics (e.g. public self-consciousness) determine whether actual or ideal self-congruity impacts brand perceptions more strongly (Malär et al., 2011). This study extends that research by considering (a) all four self-congruity types and (b) additional individual-level characteristics (independent and interdependent self-construal, cosmopolitan and local orientation), which are valuable for segmenting consumer markets within and across countries. Survey data from a non-student sample were collected in two countries (the US and India). After performing data cleaning procedures, over 800 usable responses in each country were analysed with the use of PLS-SEM. The findings show that, as expected, these individual-level characteristics have an impact in regard to which of the four self-congruity types has the strongest effect on brand attitude. For instance, for individuals with a local orientation or interdependent self-construal, actual self-congruity has the strongest effect on brand attitude. These findings extend self-congruity theory by considering how an individual’s dominant independent and interdependent self-construal, cosmopolitan and local orientation impact the effect of the four self-congruity types on brand attitude. Moreover, the findings offer marketers insights into which self-concept type they should try to match with their brand communications when targeting these specific consumer groups. Details on the contributions as well as managerial implications are presented.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Bradford

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Gonzalez Jimenez, Hector

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Fastoso, Fernando
• Fukukawa, Kyoko
• Reast, Jon

• Self-congruity, Self-construals, Cosmopolitan orientation, Local orientation, Brand attitude, Consumer behaviour

Statement dc:rights

• <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>.

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10454/7295

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/7295