Abstract
PurposeThis paper aims to examine a chain of relationships running from self-congruity with a brand – that can stem from the actual, ideal or social self – to brand attachment and from there to consumer engagement on social networking sites (SNS), specifically liking, sharing and commenting. It further advances self-extension tendency (SET) as a moderator affecting the self-congruity -> brand attachment link.Design/methodology/approachTwo studies were conducted to test four hypotheses. Study 1 (n = 282) engaged a self-administered survey with students at a large Australian university. Study 2 (n = 342) was conducted amongst the members of an Australian online panel and thus, enhances generalizability.FindingsActivated self-congruity orientations are brand-specific. Both studies reveal that two of the three self-congruity orientations affect brand attachment, which, in turn, influences consumers’ proclivity to like, share and comment on Facebook. Moreover, the self-congruity -> brand attachment relationship is moderated by SET. When SET is high, it strengthens the relationship between a self-congruity orientation and brand attachment.Research limitations/implicationsAccepted methodological approaches were used to improve the veracity of the findings. Nevertheless, further research should consider a wider area of focal brands (e.g. store brands, mundane brands, luxury brands) and other SNS.Practical implicationsSNS are widely acknowledged as a key marketing channel affecting both pre- and post-purchasing behaviours. Discussed here are means to trigger pro-brand advocacy behaviours.Originality/valueThese findings extend existing theory in three ways as follows: they show social self-congruity affects brand attachment in online contexts, brand attachment is a mediating variable affecting pro-brand social networking behaviours and SET moderates the self-congruity -> brand attachment relationship. SNS are widely acknowledged as a key marketing channel affecting both pre- and post-purchase behaviours; hence, these insights have theoretical and practical relevance.
Highlights
These findings extend existing theory in three ways: they show 1) social selfcongruity affects brand attachment in online contexts, 2) brand attachment is a mediating variable affecting pro-brand social networking behaviours, and 3) self-extension tendency moderates the self-congruity brand attachment relationship
We propose that triggering the self-concept that leads to brand attachment will positively affect consumers’ proclivity to engage in Facebook liking, sharing, and commenting
These dimensions of self-congruity account for 53% of the variance (R2 = 0.53) for brand attachment
Summary
We employed Hayes’ (2013) PROCESS macro Model 4 (5,000 bootstrapped samples). The PROCESS macro tests for indirect effects using ordinary least squares regression to estimate the parameters of each of the equations separately (Hayes et al, 2017; Zhao et al, 2010). The Johnson-Neyman point was 5.2651, and the relationship between social self-congruity and brand attachment strengthened at higher levels of self-extension tendency (e.g. at 5.2651, the effect size was .17, whereas at 7.0, it was 0.26) The research reveals that self-congruity orientation, brand attachment and self-extension tendency influence consumers’ pro-brand behaviours, notably their actions of liking, sharing and commenting on Facebook. The mediating role of brand attachment on the effect of actual, ideal, and social selfcongruity on social networking behaviours is the second key contribution of this research Both studies showed brand attachment mediating the links between self-congruity orientations and liking, sharing, and commenting. Shown here are the effects brand attachment has on online pro-brand consumer engagement social networking behaviours, namely liking, sharing, and commenting In both studies, brand attachment mediated the self-congruity SNS behaviour relationships. While follow-on research is encouraged, progress has been made to better our understanding of antecedents driving social networking behaviours
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