Because service failures are inevitable, marketing researchers have devoted considerable attention to the negative consequences of service failure and corresponding service recovery strategies. Previous research has overwhelmingly focused on customers' cognitive, coping, and behavioral reactions to failures. However, more recently, researchers have suggested that emotions may underlie the effects of customers' cognitive responses on their coping and behavioral responses. Despite the increased attention paid to the emotional dimension of customers' responses, the literature has not differentiated between different types of negative emotions. However, the appropriateness of service recovery strategies may rely on differentiating between similarly valenced emotions, because distinct emotions may require different recovery strategies. From a perspective of self-congruence theory, this dissertation contributes to the extant literature by investigating why customers experience distinct negative emotions - basic emotions (e.g., anger) and self-conscious emotions (e.g., shame) - in the context of service failure. Since emotions may influence coping and behavioral responses, distinct sets of coping responses (problem-solving vs. vindictive complaining and support-seeking vs. vindictive negative word of mouth) and behavioral intentions are also explored. Through two experiments, this dissertation provides support for the proposition that different forms of self-congruence evoke different sets of emotional and coping responses. Furthermore, drawing on self-awareness theory, this dissertation provides evidence for the proposition that the mechanisms underlying these observed patterns are distinct. Specifically, when service failures are involved, actual self-congruence and ideal self-congruence differentially trigger public self-awareness and private self-awareness and the different forms of self-awareness mediate the effect of self-congruence on customers' emotions.

Factors influencing tourist behavior have been a focal point in tourism research for decades. Efforts to unveil the determinants that shape travel behavior stem not only from pure academic interest, but from practical business considerations (Pizam & Mansfeld, 1999). Destination personality, self-concept, and congruence between self-concept and destination personality (SC-DP congruence) are among the factors that are believed to influence tourist behavior. However, little research has been undertaken to understand the impact of these factors on tourist behavior. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects destination personality, self-concept and SC-DP congruence on tourist behavior. A theoretical model that attempts to investigate the influence of destination personality, self-concept, and SC-DP congruence on tourist behavior was developed and tested empirically. Specifically, the model proposed that tourist behavior is affected by destination personality, self-concept, and SC-DP congruence. Particularly, self-concept consists of four aspects, including actual self-concept, ideal self-concept, social self-concept, and ideal social self-concept; hence SC-DP congruence also includes fours such facets. Furthermore, tourist involvement is examined to see whether it would moderate the relationship between SC-DP congruence and tourist behavior. Data were collected using an online panel survey in December 2008. A total of 663 usable responses were obtained. Pearson correlation, structural equation modeling (SEM), and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses. For the SEM analysis, the sample was randomly split into two groups. One was used to test the model and the other was used for model validation. The findings suggested significant influences of destination personality, self-concept, and SC-DP congruence on tourist behavior. Findings of this study also showed that there are significant and positive relationships between destination personality and self-concept. However, tourist involvement was found to have no moderating effect on the relationship between SC-DP congruence and tourist behavior. The study also provided managerial implications for destination marketers based on the research results. / Ph. D.

Emotional brand attachment has emerged as an important marketing concept that can strengthen a brand's performance. One way to create emotional bonds with consumers is to match the brand's personality with the consumer's self-concept (i.e. self-congruence). Nonetheless, research on brand attachment has a strong westernized focus leaving a vast majority of the world's population outside the frame of research, which limits our understanding of how consumers perception of self form emotional attachments to brands across cultures. We address this issue by developing the novel construct of ought self-congruence and test a conceptual model in two large scale studies including 810 respondents from Sweden and South Korea. The results showed similarities as well as unique cultural differences. Brand personalities in line with a consumer's actual self-view yield the strongest positive impact on emotional brand attachment in both cultures. However, an ideal self-congruent brand only showed a positive impact on Swedish consumers or when the self is sculpt independently from others. In contrast, South Koreans formed attachments to global brands that were congruent with an ought self-perception. A consumer's regulatory focus provides a theoretical explanation to the mixed results. Avenues for further research and managerial implications are also proposed.

Background:               Thanks to digitalization, the current generation Y is constantly exposed to advertising and information, blurring boundaries that can lead to a “buzz”, process more and more common online due to the possibility to publicly respond.   Purpose:          The aim is to understand the processes leading to a possible influence of consumer perception via negative online word-of-mouth and advertisements deemed controversial.   Method:          As an exploratory study, this paper conducted qualitative interviews with a group of students in which they will react to two cases of viral, controversial advertisement.    Conclusion:                The results show that there is indeed a relation between being exposed to negative online word-of-mouth: controversy and interpretation of the content influence the customer’s opinion.

The goal of this research is to better understand the gap between the consumer's actual self image versus their perceived ideal image; in which, could help an online retail company to respond more effectively and provide a better service to its target customer with an added goal of reducing the rate of returns. A two-phased mixed methods approach was applied to this research to test for participants perceived and actual ideas of themselves, as well as their attitudes towards ideals. The first phase consisted of manual measurements taken and recorded, following a semi-structured interviewed. The second phase consisted of a 3D scan (digital measurements) taken and recorded followed by a four question survey comprising of three Likert questions, and one open ended question, concluding with researcher observations noted. The results showed that while the participants were mostly congruent with regards to size, they were mostly incongruent with regards to shape, and had zero congruence between the actual and the ideal self. All participants also experienced varying levels of fit issues with several areas mentioned, though pants/bottoms being the number one fit struggle. All participants expressed interested in the 3D scanning technology, felt it was easy to use, but there was a lack of continuity between participant self-reported survey answers, and their verbal answers as well as research observations.

Abstract Humanizing brands is an essential domain of current branding as it enhances the visibility of a brand by connecting consumers to the brand, thus contributing to strong brand equity. The term humanize used in this dissertation is not limited to brands with anthropomorphic characters, such as the M&M’s characters. Used in this context, the term also includes the ways in which consumers attribute a brand to be “close to me,” “like me,” and a “partner.” Although the research of customer-based brand equity has been well-documented over the past twenty-five years, limited attention has been given to examining the differential effect of brand favorability in forming a self-brand connection. Even more scarce are studies on the antecedents and indicators of brand betrayal. Further, up-to-date research is mostly silent as to whether temporal focus and temporal distance influence a brand’s ability to serve as a means of reflecting the consumer’s selves. To fill up these research gaps, this dissertation reports four research articles. More than two thousand samples were collected from Finland, India, and the US to examine the conceptual frameworks. First, this dissertation contributes to the literature on self-brand connection by articulating the effect of self-presentation by brand on self-brand connection. Second, it contributes to the literature of self-congruence, seen from the temporal perspective. Third, it adds to the brand betrayal literature by examining consumer anthropomorphize tendency and actual high-arousal positive states as the antecedents. It further explains the indicators of brand betrayal, consisting of failure severity and inferred negative motive. In term of managerial implications, the findings contribute to (1) the one-on-one marketing approach to branding, (2) incorporating consumer’s selves into branding considerations, and (3) assessing brand betrayal in a negative brand relationship. / Tiivistelmä Brändien inhimillistäminen on keskeinen alue vallitsevassa brändien tutkimuksessa, sillä inhimillistämällä lisätään brändin näkyvyyttä kytkemällä kuluttajat brändiin, mikä osaltaan vahvistaa brändipääomaa. Tässä väitöskirjassa käytetty termi inhimillistäminen ei rajoitu vain brändeihin, jotka käyttävät antropomorfisia hahmoja kuten M&M:n hahmot. Tässä yhteydessä termiin sisältyy myös keinoja, joita hyödyntämällä kuluttajat tuntevat brändin olevan ”lähellä minua”, ”kuten minä” ja ”kumppani”. Vaikka asiakaslähtöisen brändipääoman tutkimusta on tehty paljon viimeisen 25 vuoden aikana, vain vähän huomiota on saanut brändien suosimisen vaikutus kuluttajan minän ja brändin välisen yhteyden muodostukseen. Vielä vähemmän tutkimusta on tehty brändien pettämisen syistä ja indikaattoreista. Lisäksi olemassa oleva tutkimus ei ota juurikaan kantaa siihen, vaikuttavatko ajallinen fokus ja ajallinen etäisyys brändin kykyyn heijastaa kuluttajien minää. Näiden tutkimusaukkojen täyttämiseksi väitöskirja esittelee neljän tutkimusartikkelin tuloksia. Käsitteellisten viitekehysten testaamista varten kerättiin yli 2 000 vastaajan aineisto kolmesta eri maasta. Ensinnäkin, tämä väitöskirja edistää kuluttajan minä-brändisuhteeseen liittyvää tutkimusta kuvaamalla brändin itse-presentaation vaikutusta minä-brändisuhteeseen. Toiseksi, tämä väitöskirja kontribuoi minä-kongruenssiin liittyvään kirjallisuuteen ajallisesta näkökulmasta tarkasteltuna. Kolmanneksi, tämä väitöskirja edistää brändien pettämiseen liittyvää kirjallisuutta tutkimalla kuluttajan taipumusta antropomorfisointiin ja toteutuneita korkean innostuneisuuden tiloja. Tutkimus myös selittää brändien pettämisen indikaattoreita, jotka koostuvat epäonnistumisen vakavuudesta ja brändin negatiivisesta motiivista. Liikkeenjohdollisina päätelminä tulokset ehdottavat (1) yhdeltä yhdelle markkinointia brändäykseen, (2) kuluttajan minän sisällyttämistä brändäyskysymyksiin, ja (3) brändin pettämisen arviointia negatiivisessa brändisuhteessa.

Cette recherche se concentre sur un modèle causal de certains antécédents et les conséquences des dimensions des relations BRQ (chaud vs froid): un test empirique dans un contexte Vietnamien. L'enquête repose sur les théories de la personnalité de la marque, des antécédents (l'auto-congruence et qualité des partenaires), les conséquences (WTP – volonté à payer, la taille de l'ensemble de considération et WOM – le bouche-à-oreille), le BRQ (chaud vs froid) et l'intention de la marque.Les objectifs de cette recherche sont: premièrement, déterminer les effets de la personnalité de la marque sur les antécédents de deux composantes de la BRQ dans le contexte Vietnamien. Deuxièmement, étudier l’impact des antécédents et les conséquences des deux composantes de BRQ sur l'intention d’achat de la marque dans le contexte Vietnamien. Un modèle structurel a été développé illustrant la relation entre la personnalité de la marque (antidépresseur) et les conséquences d'une relation de qualité de marque (BRQ). Cela a entraîné le développement de vingt hypothèses. Pour répondre aux objectifs de cette recherche, des données ont été recueillies, axées sur six classes de produits et, au final, 634 questionnaires ont été recueillis. En ce qui concerne le développement théorique actuel. On a fait recours aux équations structurelles pour analyser les données.Les principaux résultats soutiennent nos attentes. Tout d'abord, les résultats de cette étude révèlent que la personnalité de la marque a une influence positive sur les deux variables de l'auto-congruence et de la qualité des partenaires, mais on voit clairement qu'il existe une différence entre le niveau d'influence et d'importance. Deuxièmement, étant donné que l'auto-congruence a un effet plus important sur le chaud que froid BRQ, d'autre part, la qualité des partenaires a un effet plus important sur le froid que chaud BRQ. Cependant, en fonction du coefficient de chemin de l'auto-congruence et de la qualité des partenaires, les résultats révèlent que l’auto-congruence a un effet positif sur les chauds et froids BRQ par rapport à la qualité des partenaires. Ensuite, pour voir les effets du chaud et froid BRQ sur les conséquences de celui-ci, les résultats révèlent que les chaud et froid BRQ ont des conséquences positives sur la volonté à payer, la taille de l'ensemble de considération et le bouche-à-oreille, qui sont pris en charge par nos hypothèses. En ce qui concerne les résultats de la condamnation des deux composantes de BRQ, nous avons constaté que la taille de l'ensemble de considération et le bouche-à-oreille n'ont aucune relation avec l'intention de la marque, alors que WTP a un effet positif sur la marque.Les principales contributions de cette recherche permettent de mieux comprendre le comportement des consommateurs sur le marché Vietnamien. Les résultats de notre étude montrent que les chauds BRQ ont une influence plus forte et plus significative sur la volonté à payer du consommateur. Cependant, le froid BRQ a considérablement influencé le bouche-à-oreille du consommateur. Par conséquent, le chaud BRQ, qui est la qualité de la relation émotionnelle, augmente principalement le comportement de fidélité des clients. En revanche, le froid BRQ aide à attirer de nouveaux clients’ grâce à une communication positive de bouche-à-oreille des clients. Le maintien des clients actuels et l'attrait des clients potentiels sont des moteurs essentiels pour la survie d'une marque ou d'un produit. Les gestionnaires ont besoin, par conséquent, d'avoir une incidence positive sur le chaud et froid BRQ de leurs clients. En outre, en fonction des résultats de la recherche, ils devraient se concentrer sur une volonté de payer un prix haut de gamme afin d'augmenter leur intention d'achat de marque. / The understanding of Vietnamese consumer behaviors toward brands is crucial for not only local but also foreign marketers to be prepared for the competition in the Vietnamese market. In addition, marketers are increasingly trying to build and to understand the relationship between their brands and consumers. So, this research focuses on a causal model of some antecedents and consequences of hot and cold brand relationship quality (BRQ) dimensions: an empirical test in a Vietnamese context. The investigation is based on the theories of brand personality, antecedents (self-congruence and partner quality), consequences (WTP, consideration set size, and WOM), hot and cold BRQ, and brand purchase intention.The aim behind of this research can be summed up in the following objective: firstly, to determine the effects of brand personality on antecedents of two components of BRQ in the context of Vietnam; secondly, to investigate the impacts of antecedents and consequences of two components of BRQ on brand purchase intention in the context of Vietnam. A structure model was developed illustrating the relationships (assumed) between brand personality on antecedents and consequences of brand relationship quality (BRQ). This resulted in the developed of twenty hypotheses. To address the research aims, data were collected which focused on six product classes and 634 questionnaires were collected in final. Regarding the current of theoretical development, PLS path modeling was used to analyze the data.The key findings emerged from the findings of the current research, which supports our expectation. First, the results of our findings reveal that brand personality has a positive influence on two variables self-congruence and partner quality, but it is clearly seen that there is a different level of influence and importance. Secondly, given that self-congruence is a more significant effect on hot than cold BRQ, on the other hand, partner quality is a more significant effect on cold than hot BRQ. However, based on the path coefficient of self-congruence and partner quality, the results reveal that self-congruence has a positive significant effect on both hot and cold BRQ compared to partner quality. Next, to see how the effects of hot and cold BRQ on the consequences of its, the findings reveal that hot and cold BRQ have positive on consequences with WTP, consideration set size, WOM, which are supported to our proposal hypotheses. Regarding the results of consequences of two components of BRQ on brand purchase intention. We found that consideration set size and WOM have no relationship with brand purchase intention, while WTP has a positive significant effect on brand purchase intention.The key contributions of this research provide a better understanding consumer behavior in the Vietnamese market. The findings of our study show that hot BRQ has been shown to have a stronger and significant influence on consumer’s WTP. Cold BRQ, however, was found to strongly impact the consumer’s WOM. Therefore, hot BRQ, which is the emotional relationship quality, mainly increases the loyalty behavior of customers; in contrast, cold BRQ helps to attract new customers by positively word-of-mouth communication of customers. Both the retention of current customers and the attraction of news customers are crucial drivers for the sustainable future of a brand or a product. Managers need, therefore, try to positively impact both hot and cold BRQ of their customers. Furthermore, based on the research results, they should focus on a willingness to pay price premium in order to increase their brand purchasing intention.

行銷上，我們可以看到有許多品牌透過與消費者建立關係，來創造其與消費者之間更緊密的連結。這種策略的其中一種做法，便是為品牌塑造一種個性，使品牌與消費者之間建立關聯。而品牌個性的概念乃是基於消費者對於品牌的知覺，將人類的性格與特質加諸在該品牌上。消費者傾向透過在品牌當中尋求自我表達的功能，因此如果個人能夠認同該品牌，將會經驗較高程度的自我概念一致性，從而正向影響他對該品牌在理性和感性上的評估。 時尚產業的服飾、配件等主要產品具有外顯的性質，在消費者使用這些產品的時候，得以藉此表達自我的形象、特質，因此，在時尚產業的行銷當中，品牌與消費者的自我概念一致性被視為扮演重要的角色。然而，時尚產業當中不同的產業位階，如傳統精品、快速時尚，兩者即有諸多面向的不同，在不同位階之間，究竟品牌應塑造與其目標客群在真實自我，或是理想自我上的一致性，才能成功創造消費者對品牌較好的態度，甚至產生情感依附呢？ 本研究旨在分析品牌個性與消費者的真實與理性自我概念一致性在傳統精品、快速時尚品牌之間，是否存有適用性上的差異。研究首先回顧過去相關研究之文獻，了解品牌自我概念領域的研究進程，並探討自我概念一致性類型、時尚產業位階之間的特性，以及消費者在理性與感性上評估品牌的指標。接著訂定研究方向，以人物個性和品牌個性共同組成真實、理想自我一致性的不同情境，從而探討當品牌在提升消費者品牌態度與品牌情感依附時，在傳統精品和快速時尚之情形下，品牌自我概念一致性的適用性各自為何。 本項研究實驗採用情境故事法進行，並以2（人物個性：真實外向理想內向、真實內向理想外向）x 2（品牌個性：外向、內向）x 2（時尚產業位階：傳統精品、快速時尚）的二因子實驗設計，將實驗總共分成八組。 本研究發現，不同的時尚產業位階在真實、理想自我概念一致性並無顯著適用性的差異，反而在整體而言，皆以真實自我概念一致性對於品牌情感依附具有顯著較好的影響。 因此，對於時尚產業之行銷規劃上，無論傳統精品或快速時尚，皆應以其目標客群之真實自我為其設計品牌個性之主要依據，並強調品牌貼近、表達，並能體現消費者之真實狀態與價值，從而成功提升消費者對品牌之情感依附，加深消費者與品牌之心理層面連結。 / In today’s marketing world, it is commonly seen that certain brands are trying to build up relationships with their consumers in order to create a stronger connection with them. Among the many tactics of this strategy is to match the brand’s personality with that of the consumers’, in turn generating a linkage in between. The concept of brand personality is to have the brand endowed with a personality which is usually found in humans. A consumer tends to seek and pursue within the brand the function of self-expression, since if a consumer can identify with the brand, he will experience a higher level of self-congruence, which then leads to positive impacts on his perception and evaluation of that same brand. The conspicuousness of apparels in the fashion industry implies the fact that consumers use these products as a means to express their self-images and personality traits. Therefore, brand self-congruence plays an important role in the marketing of such an industry. Nevertheless, since characteristics vary greatly within the fashion industry due to the existing hierarchy among brands, there remains the question whether a fashion brand should create a personality to fit the actual or ideal self-congruence of its target audience to successfully generate better brand attitude and even form stronger relationships as emotional brand attachment. The objective of this study is accordingly to analyze whether the application of actual and ideal self-congruence differs within the fashion industry. The study first reviews previous literatures related to the topic to understand the progress having been made to date, and researches on the topic of types of self-congruence, the fashion industry, and the predictors of consumer evaluation of brands. The study then moves on to setting the conceptual framework, where scenarios were designed to understand the application of actual and ideal self-congruence of luxury fashion and fast fashion. The study adopts a scenario approach to manipulate self-congruence, and has a 2 (personality of the person: actually extrovert-ideally introvert vs. actually introvert-ideally extravert) x 2 (brand personality: extravert vs. introvert) x 2 (fashion industry: luxury fashion vs. fast fashion) between-subjects full factorial design, generating eight experimental conditions. The study found no significant difference between luxury and fast fashion in terms of the application of two self-congruence types. In contrast, a generally better influence is seen for the actual self-congruence in generating consumer emotional brand attachment. Therefore, the study attempted to suggest that actual self-congruence should be used to build brand personality both for luxury fashion and fast fashion through expressing and performing consumers’ authentic self and value, so as to successfully increase emotional brand attachment which in turn deepens the psychological connection.

Le concept de générativité, soit la préoccupation des adultes à l'égard du bien-être des générations futures, a fait l'objet de nombreuses études en psychologie sociale depuis les années 1950. En parallèle, plusieurs entreprises positionnent leurs produits et services comme génératifs, une réalité qui n'a toutefois pas été examinée d'un point de vue académique en marketing. Afin de remédier à cette lacune, nous proposons l'introduction formelle du concept de générativité dans la littérature marketing, ainsi que le développement d'une échelle de mesure entièrement dédiée à la générativité du consommateur. Nous analysons également les effets du positionnement génératif des produits sur le comportement du consommateur. Les résultats de la première étude ont montré que le positionnement génératif affectait positivement et significativement les attitudes envers le message et le produit, ainsi que les intentions d'achat. Ces effets étaient encore plus importants lorsque la publicité ciblait des consommateurs fortement génératifs. De plus, la construction de l'échelle de la générativité du consommateur a mis en évidence la présence de deux dimensions de la générativité : communale et agentique. L'analyse de la validité prédictive de l'échelle a de nouveau montré l'importance de cibler des personnes fortement génératives dans le cas de produits positionnés comme génératifs. Toutefois, l'analyse du type de positionnement génératif, du lieu de contrôle et du revenu familial comme modérateurs n'a pas révélé de relations statistiquement significatives. Notre recherche a néanmoins montré que les consommateurs mariés étaient plus génératifs que les célibataires, et que seules les personnes possédant un revenu familial confortable ou élevant des enfants possédaient un indice élévé de générativité communale. Qui plus est, les pères étaient plus génératifs sur le plan agentique que les mères. Ces résultats pointent également l'importance d'identifier le type de générativité du consommateur (communal ou agentique). / The concept of generativity—that is, adults' preoccupation for the well-being of the next generations—has been the subject of numerous studies in social psychology since the 1950's. In parallel, many companies are positioning their products and services as generative, a reality that has not been extensively studied from an academic perspective in marketing. To remedy this shortcoming, we propose the formal introduction of the concept of generativity in the marketing literature, as well as the development of a measurement scale entirely dedicated to consumer generativity. We also analyze the effects of a generative positioning on consumer behaviour. The results of our first study showed that product generative positioning had positive and significant effects on attitudes toward the ad and the products, as well as purchase intentions. Those effects were even more important when targeted consumers were themselves highly generative. Moreover, the construction of the consumer generativity scale revealed two dimensions for the construct: communal and agentic. The analysis of the predictive validity of the consumer generativity scale has again shown the importance of targeting highly generative people in the case of products positioned as generative. However, the analysis of the generative type of positioning, the locus of control and family income as moderators did not reveal statistically significant relationships. Our research have nevertheless shown that married consumers were more generative than singles, and only people with a confortable family income or raising children had a high index of communal generativity. In addtion, fathers were more generative than mothers with regards to the agentic dimension of generativity. These results also stress the importance of identifying the type of generativity (communal or agentic) demonstrated by said consumers.

El presente trabajo consiste en un análisis de la relación entre autocongruencia, apego a la marca, y la compra impulsiva. Para el estudio se tomó en cuenta papers relacionados con la compra impulsiva, y cómo se desencadena a través del apego emocional hacia las marcas, lo que hace que los consumidores desarrollan esta conducta. Además, se busca conocer principalmente la influencia de la autocongruencia real e ideal en el apego a la marca, planteando una visión integradora entre los tres conceptos. Esto implica un estudio cuantitativo que abarca realizar 400 encuestas a personas que realizan compras online y offline no planificadas de forma quincenal. / The present work consists of an analysis of the relationship between self-consistency, brand attachment, and impulsive buying. For the study, papers related to impulsive buying were taken into account, and how it is triggered through emotional attachment to brands, which causes consumers to develop this behavior. In addition, it is mainly sought to know the influence of real and ideal self-congruence in the attachment to the brand, proposing an integrating vision between the three concepts. This implies a quantitative study that covers 400 surveys of people who make unplanned online and offline purchases every fortnight. / Trabajo de investigación