Self-congruence, brand attachment and compulsive buying

Abstract

Compulsive buying refers to a phenomenon that promotes excessive consumerism which may hurt the brands' reputation in the long run. This study examines the influence of actual and ideal self-congruence on brand attachment and two dimensions of compulsive buying behavior (i.e. impulsive and obsessive-compulsive buying). Based on a survey of 427 respondents, it is evident that self-congruence directly affects brand attachment, where actual self-congruence is a stronger predictor of brand attachment. Both actual and ideal self-congruence do not directly affect obsessive-compulsive buying. This indicates that brand attachment fully mediates the relationships. However, actual self-congruence directly affects impulsive buying but ideal self-congruence does not. This indicates that brand attachment partially mediates the relationship between actual self-congruence and impulsive buying and fully mediates the relationship between ideal self-congruence and impulsive buying. Interestingly, the direct effect of actual self-congruence on impulsive buying is negative. Academic and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.