Self-congruence, brand attachment and compulsive buying

Japutra, Arnold, Ekinci, Yuksel and Simkin, Lyndon (2019) Self-congruence, brand attachment and compulsive buying. Journal of Business Research, 99, 456-463. (doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.08.024).

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.

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Contributors

Author: Arnold Japutra

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