When Branded Consumption Restores Consumers’ Personal Control

Abstract

As natural disasters and health issues proliferate and alter life situations accordingly, individuals often experience a threat to their personal control. One of the downward coping behaviors is for one to seek structure and order in one’s external environment (e.g., Kay et al., 2009). As a result, consumers alter their consumption behavior to compensate for a lower sense of personal control (e.g., Cutright, 2012). Drawing upon extant literatures of personal control, attribution theory and branded consumption, the current research offers four propositions regarding the instrumental role of branded consumption in restoring consumers’ sense of personal control. The research advances business practitioners’ understanding about consumers’ coping behavior to overcome perceived loss of control. It sheds light on a novel motivation behind branded consumption and thus, helps shape branding and merchandising practices to empower consumers with innovative brand offerings.