Toda transação entre consumidor e empresa é suscetível a falhas. Uma das ações que o consumidor pode realizar para comunicar a sua insatisfação é o registro da reclamação junto à empresa. Os grupos de referência têm grande importância no processo de decisão do consumidor, e, dada esta importância, o propósito da presente investigação é o de identificar e analisar a influência destes grupos de referência no comportamento de reclamação do consumidor à empresa. Foi feita uma pesquisa qualitativa que utiliza como técnica entrevistas em profundidade. Foram entrevistados 17 consumidores com recente histórico de reclamação à empresa, cujos processos foram encerrados em até três meses. O método de análise empregado foi o da análise qualitativa de conteúdo, e os dados foram manipulados com auxílio do software QSR NVIVO 8. As análises foram feitas à luz das teorias sobre reclamação de clientes e sobre os grupos de referências. Os resultados encontrados ao longo do trabalho aqui apresentado indicam um papel relevante dos grupos de referência para as escolhas do consumidor sobre como proceder frente à reclamação à empresa. Foram constatadas as influências informacional e normativa, sendo esta última observada em três situações distintas: quando há pressão por conformidade; quando o consumidor deseja seguir as regras do grupo; e quando almeja obter reconhecimento pelos seus atos. Além disto, os relatos demonstram que houve interferência dos grupos antes, durante e ao finalizar a reclamação. Também são apresentadas considerações sobre o processo de reclamação e algumas de suas implicações gerenciais. / Every transaction between consumer and company is susceptible to failures. One of the actions that consumers can take to communicate their dissatisfaction is to record their complaints to the company. Considering the great importance that reference groups have in the consumer decision, the purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the influence of these reference groups in the behavior of consumer complaint to the company. A qualitative research was done, using in-depth interviews as method. Seventeen consumers with recent history of complaints to the companies were interviewed, whose processes were closed within three months. The analysis method used was the content qualitative analysis, and data were manipulated with QSR NVIVO 8 software. Analyses were made based on the theories of customer complaints and reference groups. The results verified in this study indicate a relevant role of reference groups for consumer choices about how to proceed the complaint to the company. It was verified the informational and normative influences, the latter being observed in three different situations: when there is pressure for conformity, when consumers want to follow the rules of the group, and when he/she desire to obtain recognition for his/her acts. Besides this, the reports revealed that there was interference of the groups before, during and at the end of the complaint. The study also presents considerations about the complaint process and some of its managerial implications.

This dissertation consists of three essays on the role of identity centrality in the formation of consumer self-brand connections. It contributes to a better understanding of how consumers negotiate multiple identities in the marketplace when making brand choices. This is significant as much of the research on the self-concept and consumer behavior has focused on isolated self-dimensions or have examined single consumer identities in isolation. Theoretically grounded in identity process theory (Breakwell 1986), which suggests individuals construct their identity through multiple identity motives influencing identity centrality, enactment, and affect; this dissertation addresses these gaps by answering two specific questions: 1) What are the various identity motives that influence a consumer's individual and group identity centrality leading to enhanced self-brand connections? 2) How does identity centrality influence reference group brand associations in the formation of self-brand connections? In Essay 1, a framework for conceptualizing the influence of multiple identity motives on self-brand connections is proposed driven by findings from consumer in-depth interviews. The framework suggests identity centrality mediates the relationship between the satisfaction of multiple identity motives on self-brand connections, and moderates self-brand connections when reference group brand associations are considered. Fourteen propositions are presented, and are empirically tested in Essays 2 and 3. In Essay 2, identity motives from identity process theory along with others identified in Essay 1 are empirically validated, using both hierarchical linear modeling and hierarchical multiple regression. The findings support the influence of two identity motives informing identity centrality, namely: recognition and continuity. This is significant, as prior research in consumer behavior has largely focused on the self-esteem and self-consistency motives (Grub and Grathwohl 1967; Sirgy 1982). Essay 3 investigates the moderating effect of identity centrality on the formation of self-brand connections as reference group brand associations are considered. It is found that the when the ingroup identity is highly central, stronger self-brand connections result. On the contrary, when the ingroup identity is low in centrality self-brand connections are mitigated. The differential effects of self-brand connections due to identity centrality provide insight into intra-group differences when the brand is consistent with the ingroup image. The results support a general importance of the role of identity centrality at both the individual and group levels, providing a catalyst for future studies examining the role of the self-concept in consumer behavior.

Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the relatively new concept of Brand Hate. More specifically, how Brand Hate can occur in people with no to little experience with certain brands, so called non-customers. We want to believe that humans are a rational being that takes decisions based on all the available information and does not jump to conclusions before all options have been exhausted. But upon closer examination theoretical concepts such as brand love can be found. A concept that argues that users of a brand utilize the brand itself in order to internally identify values he or she holds, as well as showcasing those values and personality traits externally to others. With this theory as a basis the relatively new concept of Brand Hate was born. The new concept, posits that there has to be another side of the brand love, where people actually hate or dislike the brand. Up to this point very little research has been done within the area, and that is where the authors of this thesis saw an opportunity to fill a research gap. There has been no previous research attempting to understand WHY these negative feelings comes to present themselves within people. But as soon as the work on the thesis had started another opportunity presented itself, it seemed as though people hate or dislike brands that they themselves does not even use. As a result non-customers became the focal point of investigation of this thesis.  The research itself included three different focus groups, with in total nineteen respondents that discussed a wide variety of topics. During the sessions the discussions touched upon what brands they disliked, why they disliked them and how the respondents identified with other groups of people. This gave the authors the ability to gain a deeper understanding of the psychological reasoning behind why certain brands the respondents did not use were severely hated or disliked.    The findings from the research seem to point in one very specific direction, group identification is an integral reason why non-customers started to hate or dislike brands. No matter how good companies are creating an appealing brand, that same brand will always risk to become distorted, as a result of the different targeted user groups. This research shows that people let their emotions and prejudices come between what they perceive a brand to be, and what companies want them to be. The result is people prematurely judging brands based upon the customers of that brand. If the respondents did not like the user group of a certain brand, that same brand would be inscribed with all the negative connotations with the user groups, thereby distorting the public brand image far from what the companies might intend them to be.

The present study surveyed 644 (337 males, 306 females) high school students and found that social groups that were disidentified from schools, when compared to identified groups; (a) were perceived to be more distinctive, (b) were more sensitive to the number of competing outgroups, (c) had more closed and cohesive group structures, (d) were perceived to have more homogeneous memberships, and (e) were perceived to be more likely to enact behavioral sanctions against members who strayed from internal group norms. While members of school-identified groups had better self-esteem on average than members of disidentified (at-risk) groups, members of disidentified groups who felt closely connected to their groups had better self-esteem than those who felt more loosely associated, and, such disidentified group members had self-esteem comparable to even identified group members. The results of the present study suggest that the dominant individualistic paradigm fails to satisfactorily explain, or address the needs of socially connected at-risk students who rely on their anti-normative groups to buoy their self-esteem and define their identities.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1974. / Typescript. Vita. Based on Kemper's paper, Reference groups, socialism, and achievement, published in American Sociological Review, February 1968. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Toda transação entre consumidor e empresa é suscetível a falhas. Uma das ações que o consumidor pode realizar para comunicar a sua insatisfação é o registro da reclamação junto à empresa. Os grupos de referência têm grande importância no processo de decisão do consumidor, e, dada esta importância, o propósito da presente investigação é o de identificar e analisar a influência destes grupos de referência no comportamento de reclamação do consumidor à empresa. Foi feita uma pesquisa qualitativa que utiliza como técnica entrevistas em profundidade. Foram entrevistados 17 consumidores com recente histórico de reclamação à empresa, cujos processos foram encerrados em até três meses. O método de análise empregado foi o da análise qualitativa de conteúdo, e os dados foram manipulados com auxílio do software QSR NVIVO 8. As análises foram feitas à luz das teorias sobre reclamação de clientes e sobre os grupos de referências. Os resultados encontrados ao longo do trabalho aqui apresentado indicam um papel relevante dos grupos de referência para as escolhas do consumidor sobre como proceder frente à reclamação à empresa. Foram constatadas as influências informacional e normativa, sendo esta última observada em três situações distintas: quando há pressão por conformidade; quando o consumidor deseja seguir as regras do grupo; e quando almeja obter reconhecimento pelos seus atos. Além disto, os relatos demonstram que houve interferência dos grupos antes, durante e ao finalizar a reclamação. Também são apresentadas considerações sobre o processo de reclamação e algumas de suas implicações gerenciais. / Every transaction between consumer and company is susceptible to failures. One of the actions that consumers can take to communicate their dissatisfaction is to record their complaints to the company. Considering the great importance that reference groups have in the consumer decision, the purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the influence of these reference groups in the behavior of consumer complaint to the company. A qualitative research was done, using in-depth interviews as method. Seventeen consumers with recent history of complaints to the companies were interviewed, whose processes were closed within three months. The analysis method used was the content qualitative analysis, and data were manipulated with QSR NVIVO 8 software. Analyses were made based on the theories of customer complaints and reference groups. The results verified in this study indicate a relevant role of reference groups for consumer choices about how to proceed the complaint to the company. It was verified the informational and normative influences, the latter being observed in three different situations: when there is pressure for conformity, when consumers want to follow the rules of the group, and when he/she desire to obtain recognition for his/her acts. Besides this, the reports revealed that there was interference of the groups before, during and at the end of the complaint. The study also presents considerations about the complaint process and some of its managerial implications.

Toda transação entre consumidor e empresa é suscetível a falhas. Uma das ações que o consumidor pode realizar para comunicar a sua insatisfação é o registro da reclamação junto à empresa. Os grupos de referência têm grande importância no processo de decisão do consumidor, e, dada esta importância, o propósito da presente investigação é o de identificar e analisar a influência destes grupos de referência no comportamento de reclamação do consumidor à empresa. Foi feita uma pesquisa qualitativa que utiliza como técnica entrevistas em profundidade. Foram entrevistados 17 consumidores com recente histórico de reclamação à empresa, cujos processos foram encerrados em até três meses. O método de análise empregado foi o da análise qualitativa de conteúdo, e os dados foram manipulados com auxílio do software QSR NVIVO 8. As análises foram feitas à luz das teorias sobre reclamação de clientes e sobre os grupos de referências. Os resultados encontrados ao longo do trabalho aqui apresentado indicam um papel relevante dos grupos de referência para as escolhas do consumidor sobre como proceder frente à reclamação à empresa. Foram constatadas as influências informacional e normativa, sendo esta última observada em três situações distintas: quando há pressão por conformidade; quando o consumidor deseja seguir as regras do grupo; e quando almeja obter reconhecimento pelos seus atos. Além disto, os relatos demonstram que houve interferência dos grupos antes, durante e ao finalizar a reclamação. Também são apresentadas considerações sobre o processo de reclamação e algumas de suas implicações gerenciais. / Every transaction between consumer and company is susceptible to failures. One of the actions that consumers can take to communicate their dissatisfaction is to record their complaints to the company. Considering the great importance that reference groups have in the consumer decision, the purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the influence of these reference groups in the behavior of consumer complaint to the company. A qualitative research was done, using in-depth interviews as method. Seventeen consumers with recent history of complaints to the companies were interviewed, whose processes were closed within three months. The analysis method used was the content qualitative analysis, and data were manipulated with QSR NVIVO 8 software. Analyses were made based on the theories of customer complaints and reference groups. The results verified in this study indicate a relevant role of reference groups for consumer choices about how to proceed the complaint to the company. It was verified the informational and normative influences, the latter being observed in three different situations: when there is pressure for conformity, when consumers want to follow the rules of the group, and when he/she desire to obtain recognition for his/her acts. Besides this, the reports revealed that there was interference of the groups before, during and at the end of the complaint. The study also presents considerations about the complaint process and some of its managerial implications.

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Scholars have evaluated the causes of clergy political preferences and behavior for decades. As with party ID in the study of mass behavior, personal ideological preferences have been the relevant clergy literature's dominant behavioral predictor. Yet to the extent that clergy operate in bounded and specialized institutions, it is possible that much of the clergy political puzzle can be more effectively solved by recognizing these elites as institutionally-situated actors, with their preferences and behaviors influenced by the institutional groups with which they interact. I argue that institutional reference groups help to determine clergy political preferences and behavior. Drawing on three theories derived from neo-institutionalism, I assess reference group influence on clergy in two mainline Protestant denominations-the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Episcopal Church, USA. In addition to their wider and more traditional socializing influence, reference groups in close proximity to clergy induce them to behave strategically-in ways that are contrary to their sincerely held political preferences. These proximate reference groups comprise mainly parishioners, suggesting that clergy political behavior, which is often believed to affect laity political engagement, may be predicated on clergy anticipation of potentially unfavorable reactions from their followers. The results show a set of political elites (the clergy) to be highly responsive to strategic pressure from below. This turns the traditional relationship between elites and masses on its head, and suggests that further examination of institutional reference group influence on clergy, and other political elites, is warranted.