In deregulated electricity markets, profit driven electricity retailers compete to supply cheap reliable electricity to electricity consumers, and the electricity consumers have free will to switch between the electricity retailers. The need to maximize the profits of the electricity retailers while minimizing the electricity costs of the electricity consumers has therefore seen a drastic increase in the research of electricity markets. One of the factors that affect the profits of the electricity retailers and the energy cost of the consumers in electricity retail markets is the supply and demand. During high-supply and low-demand periods, the excess electricity if not managed, is wasted. During low-supply high-demand periods, the deficit supply can lead to electricity blackouts or costly electricity because of the volatile electricity wholesale spot market prices. Research studies have shown that electricity retailers can achieve significant profits and reduced electricity costs for their electricity consumers by minimizing the excess electricity and deficit electricity. Existing studies developed load forecasting models that aimed to match electricity supply and electricity demand. These models reached excellent accuracy levels, however due to the high volatility character of load demand and the rise of new electricity consumers, load forecasting alone is unable to mitigate excess and deficit electricity. In other studies, researchers proposed charging the electricity consumers’ batteries with excess electricity during high-supply low-demand periods and supplying their deficit electricity during low-supply high-demand periods. Electricity consumers’ incorporating batteries resulted in minimized excess and deficit electricity, in turn, maximizing the profits for the electricity retailers and minimizing the electricity costs for the electricity consumers. However, the batteries are consumer centric and only provide battery energy for the battery-owned consumer. Electricity consumers without battery energy during low-supply highdemand periods have electricity blackouts or require costly electricity from the electricity wholesale spot market. The peer-to-peer (P2P) energy sharing framework which allows electricity consumers to share their energy resources with one another is a viable solution to allow electricity consumers to share their battery energy. P2P energy sharing is a hot topic in research because of its potential to maximize the electricity retailers’ profits and minimize the electricity consumers’ electricity costs. Due to the increased profits for the electricity retailer and reduced electricity costs for the electricity consumers from implementing battery charging and P2P energy sharing, this dissertation proposes a day-ahead electricity retail market structure in which the electricity retailer supplies consumers’ batteries with excess electricity during high-supply low-demand periods, and during low-supply highdemand periods the electricity retailer discharges the consumers’ batteries to supply their deficit supply or supply their peers’ deficit supply. The electricity retailer aims to maximize its profits and minimize the electricity cost of the electricity consumers in its electricity retail market, by minimizing the excess and deficit electricity. The problem is formulated as a non-linear optimization model and solved using game theory. This dissertation compares the profits of the electricity retailer and electricity costs of the consumers that charge their batteries with excess electricity, discharge their batteries and purchase electricity from their peers to supply their deficit supply, with consumers that only charge their batteries with excess electricity but do not share their battery energy with their peers, consumers that only purchase electricity from their peers to supply their deficit supply but do not employ a battery, and consumers that neither employ a battery nor purchase electricity from their peers to supply their deficit supply. The results show that the consumers that charge their batteries with excess electricity, discharge their batteries and purchase electricity from their peers to supply their deficit supply achieved the lowest electricity cost and highest profits for the electricity retailer. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering / MEng / Unrestricted

This study extends outshopping knowledge from North America to Europe. Outshoppers and non-outshoppers in a Finnish town are compared in terms of socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, importance of shopping area choice attributes, perceptions of the local trading area, and purchase localities of products. Implications are drawn and comparisons of results are made to general findings from North America.

Unlike most of the existing literature on reverse supply chains, that focuses on product recovery or waste management, in this thesis we consider reverse supply chain operations for an independent retailer. The latter have forward and reverse supply chains that are independent of the manufacturers. We study three major problems related to Retail Reverse Supply Chains (RRSC) for independent retailers. In RRSCs, each retail store holds some products that are not selling (and/or under-selling) and wishes to salvage them optimally. We refer to these products as Ineffective Inventory. Salvage can be in many forms and take place by relocating a product within the reverse supply chain (RSC), such as sending the product from a franchise store back to a Distribution/Return Center (RC) and then forward to another franchise store, or returning it to a vendor, liquidation, etc. The RRSC network may includes system members such as stores (retailer owned and/or franchise), RCs, warehouses, vendors and liquidators. Each of the stores carries some inventory that is underselling, and it is important to reduce the inventory of such products in order to refill the space with inventory that is more likely to sell. In the first problem, we consider a basic RRSC with retail stores, vendors and a warehouse. The retail company allocates a budget for its RRSC activities. We refer to this budget as a Profit-Loss budget, due to lost income from the items that will be removed from the stores that was a part of the gains resulting from the previous year tax calculations. The objective is to use this Profit-Loss budgetary limitation as effectively as possible with the most suitable products to relocate products within the supply chain and/or return them back to their vendor. A heuristic algorithm is developed to solve this problem, by making use of the problem structure, and results are compared with the solutions of an exact state-of-the-art commercial solver. In the second problem, we consider a network optimization model with inventory decisions. The goal is to optimize ineffective inventory levels in stores and the disposition of their returns. We model a comprehensive RRSC network with multiple stores that could be Company-Owned or Franchise Stores, multiple warehouses, multiple RCs, multiple vendors, and liquidators. The objective of the retailer is to minimize costs for relocating some of this ineffective inventory within the network or scrapping. However, individual franchise stores have their own goals of how their excessive inventory should be handled. The franchisee goals may be conflicting with those of the franchisor in terms of how much inventory should be chosen from each store to be relocated. In return, this conflict may lead to a conflict among franchise stores. This issue is addressed and resolved through inventory transparency among all the supply chain members. The tactical decision making process of which RC should be used for handling returns is incorporated into the model. In order to overcome the complexities of the large size problem, a multi-stage heuristic is developed to solve this problem within reasonable times. The results are then compared with the solutions of state-of-the-art commercial solver. In the third problem, we focus on the strategic decision of developing optimal vendor contract parameters for the retailer, using optimization models. Specifically, we identify optimal return penalties and associated return thresholds, between an independent retailer and its vendors. This model will support the retailer in their contract re-negotiation for its RSC activities. Vendors use a multi-layered penalty structure that assigns higher penalties to higher returns. The objective is to find the optimal penalties and/or optimal return thresholds that should be negotiated with the vendors in order to pay a lower penalty in the upcoming return cycles compared to existing penalty structures. We first design a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Program (MINLP) where the model makes the decision of vendor penalty fees and return thresholds simultaneously for each vendor. We generate small size to large size problems and solve them via MINLP solvers such as DICOPT and ANTIGONE. In order to gain insights to the inner workings of the MINLP, the decision variables, vendor penalty fees and return thresholds, are considered as parameters and hence, two models are designed to find the optimal penalty structure and optimal return thresholds, respectively. Useful insights from both of the models’ solutions are derived in order to generate rule-of-thumb methodologies to find approximate solutions close to optimal penalty percentages and return thresholds via identifying all possible scenarios that can exist in the problem structure. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis deals with Retail Reverse Supply Chain (RRSC) management. We consider an independent retail company's and its franchise stores' ineffective inventory which may be constituted of unsold, under-selling, slow-moving, customer-returned, end-of-life, end-of-use, damaged, and faulty products within their inventory. We take into account the retailer's reverse supply chain structure and investigate the following problems: 1) How to manage a store's product returns under a given budgetary limitation for financial planning and taxation reasons, due to lost income from returned items, 2) Inventory optimization by taking into account the reverse supply chain structure of the retailer, and 3) Providing insight to the retailer on how it can best re-negotiate its vendor (buy-back) contracts for its product returns. The thesis covers decision making in all three levels: day-to-day operational decisions such as which products to be returned and where to allocate them within its reverse supply chain options, mid-term tactical decisions such as which Return Centers (RC) to be activated for the Reverse Logistics (RL) activities, and long-term strategic decisions such as what should be the optimal contract terms to re-negotiate with the vendors in order to cut future return costs.

As a result of the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, the world was impacted at different levels, and the health and lifestyle of Chinese people were affected as a result. This was a serious challenge for the retail industry in China. Although many industries have resumed work since April 2020, the impact of the pandemic still remains, and retailers of all sizes are looking for a reasonable response to reduce their losses.This thesis uses a self-owned small coating retailer in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, China, asthe case study, and obtains the information needed for modelling through interviews and documents. The modelling approaches chosen for this thesis include Business Model Canvas(BMC) and Business Process Model Notation (BPMN). These two modelling approaches provide an intuitive way to read the information for the study. The SWOT analysis was then used to analyze the effects of the measures taken by the retailer in both short- and long-termperiods. Combined with the firm modelling, this thesis summarizes the measures taken by the case retailer in both periods. In the short term, the case retailer further reduces its own logistics costs with the aid of flexible working hours. In the long term, the case retailer expanded its business horizontally, transforming its business model of selling a single product into a business model of bundled sales of products plus services. This business model weakened the impact of the pandemic on the supply chain in terms of piling up goods and reducing th ecustomer base.

Propósito - El actual contexto evidencia un incremento en la atracción hacia las compras en línea en sitios web de retailers minoristas. Asimismo, se evidencia un cambio en el comportamiento de los usuarios millennials y los factores que afectan su intención de compra. Por ello, el objetivo del presente estudio es analizar el efecto de los factores de la EW (usabilidad, interactividad, confianza y estética) en la intención de compra en línea de los usuarios en sitios web retail, específicamente en la categoría ropa, en Lima Metropolitana. Los descubrimientos del estudio ayudarían a los retailers minoristas en el diseño de sitios web más efectivos. Diseño / metodología /enfoque - De 486 cuestionarios distribuidos a jóvenes millennials en Lima Metropolitana, se obtuvieron 400 respuestas efectivas. Asimismo, se empleó un muestreo no probabilístico con una técnica de muestreo por conveniencia. La data recolectada fue procesada mediante SPSS. Se utilizó el Alfa de Cronbach para comprobar la fiabilidad de las escalas. Un análisis factorial exploratorio fue ejecutado para la reducción de datos que permitió explorar las variables en estudio. Finalmente, se realizó una regresión lineal múltiple para determinar la estructura de relación entre las variables. Hallazgos - Los resultados muestran que la usabilidad, interactividad, confianza y estética son los factores de la EW que afectan positivamente y significativamente la intención de compra en línea en usuarios millennials en Lima Metropolitana. Se propusieron 4 hipótesis las cuales fueron aceptadas en su totalidad. Originalidad / valor - La presente investigación comparte información relevante acerca de los efectos de los factores de la EW en la intención de compra en línea. Además, amplía el conocimiento respecto a la importancia del diseño de sitios web efectivos integrando los factores más relevantes como usabilidad, interactividad, confianza y estética para mejorar la experiencia del usuario en línea. / Purpose - The current context shows an increase in the attraction to online purchases on retail websites. Hence, there is a change in the behavior of millennial users and the factors that seek their purchase intention. Therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the effect of EW factors (usability, interactivity, trust and aesthetics) on the online purchase intention of users on retail websites, specifically in the clothing category, in Lima Metropolitan. The study's findings would aid retail retailers in designing more effective websites. Design / methodology /approach - From 486 questionnaires distributed to millennials in Lima Metropolitana, 400 effective responses were obtained. Likewise, non-probability sampling was used with a convenience sampling technique. The collected data was processed using SPSS. Cronbach's Alpha was used to check the reliability of the scales. An exploratory factor analysis was performed for data reduction that allowed exploring the variables under study. Finally, a multiple linear regression was performed to determine the relationship structure between the variables. Findings - The results show that usability, interactivity, trust and aesthetics are the WE factors that positively and significantly affect online purchase intention in millennial users in Lima Metropolitana. 4 hypotheses were proposed which were fully accepted. Originality / value - This research shares relevant information about the effects of Web Experience factors on online purchase intention. In addition, it expands the knowledge regarding the importance of effective website design by integrating the most relevant factors such as usability, interactivity, trust and aesthetics to improve the online user experience. / Tesis / PE

L’omni-canal constitue un idéal que la plupart des distributeurs cherche à atteindre en vue de s’adapter aux nouvelles exigences du marché (i.e. évolution du comportement des consommateurs et des standards concurrentiels). Dans la lignée des recherches en marketing de la distribution, nous cherchons à comprendre comment s’opère la mutation des distributeurs multi-/cross-canal vers l’omni-canal, du point de vue organisationnel. Au-delà de l’aspect technologique (e.g. modernisation des systèmes d’information ou logistiques), nous nous interrogeons sur la dimension culturelle de la transformation de ces acteurs « historiques » (e.g. révision des modes de fonctionnement et de pensée au sein des organisations et auprès de leurs membres). Nous nous intéressons d’abord à l’émergence de l’omni-canal et soulignons le changement culturel qu’il requiert ; la culture organisationnelle permet ensuite d’appréhender ce que recouvre ce changement culturel ; enfin, dans le cadre d’une stratégie de marketing interne, le storytelling contribue à faciliter la mutation auprès des collaborateurs, premiers destinataires du changement. Nous mettons en oeuvre une étude de cas multiples pour explorer la manière dont la mise en récit du changement par les distributeurs permet de favoriser l’émergence et le déploiement d’une « culture omni-canal ». Nos résultats témoignent d’une convergence dans la manière dont le changement s’opère mais aussi dont les distributeurs le racontent au travers d’un « storytailing » commun, dessinant les prémices d’une « révolution culturelle » de la distribution. Celle-ci se traduit par une vision élargie de la notion d’omni-canal à celle « d’omni-commerce » et une volonté des distributeurs de définir leur agency. / Most retailers strive to reach the omni-channel ideal in order to meet new market requirements (i.e. evolution of consumer behavior and competition standards). In this study, we seek to understand how multi-/cross-channel retailers transform into omni-channel, from an organizational point of view. Beyond the technological aspect (e.g. modernization of information systems and logistics), we investigate the cultural dimension of the change in “historical” actors (e.g. overhaul of processes and ways of thinking inside organizations and among their members). First, we explore the emergence of omni-channel and outline the cultural change that it requires; then, we investigate organizational culture as a means to achieving such cultural change; finally, when formulating marketing strategy, we propose storytelling as an internal marketing approach with collaborators, who are often the first recipients of change. We conduct multiple case studies to explore the narrative of change whilst favoring the emergence and deployment of an “omni-channel culture”. Our findings show confluent results about the way retailers change and tell this story. Their narrative reveal a shared “storytailing”, shaping the premises of a “cultural revolution” in retailing. It is reflected in the proposition of a widened conception of omni-channel through “omni-commerce” and a wish for retailers to define their agency

This research seeks to explore and understand retailers’ perspectives, realities, and actions regarding refill systems for household products. The reader can ponder not an answer to a question but rather grasp a deeper understanding of the retailers’ role within refill systems, as well as the feasibility of reducing single-use packaging for household products with a goal to reduce waste. Through conducted interviews with retailers, the following categories surrounding refill systems emerged and were explored: drivers, barriers, attitudes, current practices, and future practices. Utilising the Grounded Theory Method, the analysis of the data led to the development of The Theory of Retailer Care. This theory presents that through caring, retailers can drive vertical and horizontal change, along with pressuring and influencing behaviours of consumers and manufactures which in turn support the retailer’s business model.

The retail industry is faced with increased customer service demands and a competitive market environment. For retailers to survive in a competitive marketplace, a customer orientation is vital in order to establish and maintain long-term relationships with customers. As the clothing retail industry is characterised as an industry with high human involvement, employee-related service failures are inevitable. Service failures cause the disconfirmation of service expectations which lead to customer dissatisfaction, a motivator of customer complaint behaviour. Given that the resolution of a customer complaint is critical in order to restore customer satisfaction, retailers are providing customers with a variety of innovative complaint channels, such as online complaining. Although online complaint channels have become commonplace, little research has been undertaken regarding the effect of a complaint channel on customers‟ complaint behaviour and customers‟ expectations in the clothing retail industry. South African clothing retailers could therefore benefit from an understanding of customers‟ online complaint intention and ensuing service recovery expectations. Scholars profess that complaint intention correlates positively with service recovery expectations as customers decide to post a complaint when they generally have high recovery expectations. Furthermore, complaint intention and service recovery expectations are increased by a positive attitude towards complaining. Consequently, attitude towards complaining plays a significant role in forecasting complaint behaviour of dissatisfied customers. Moreover, service failure severity has been used to measure how customers assess the intensity of service failures and is said to also influence customers‟ complaint intention and their subsequent service recovery expectation. The primary objective of this study was to uncover customers‟ online complaint intention and subsequent service recovery expectations after experiencing an employee-related service failure in the clothing retail industry. The empirical study was based on a descriptive research design in which a structured, self-administered questionnaire was fielded amongst respondents within the Johannesburg metropolitan area of South Africa. A non-probability, convenience sampling method was used and a total of 400 respondents participated in this study. The results indicate that although the majority of respondents use the Internet daily and exhibit a high propensity to complain, they prefer to complain in-store. After respondents had been presented with a fictional employee-related service failure scenario, they did not indicate a high intention to complain online. Very few differences were uncovered between different groups of respondents pertaining to their attitude towards complaining, online complaint intention, service failure severity perception and strength of service recovery expectation. Finally – with respect to an empirically tested theoretical model – respondents‟ attitude towards complaining in general and their perceptions of the severity of the service failure experienced, significantly and positively influence their strength of service recovery expectations, while no significant positive influences were uncovered for paths linking the aforementioned constructs with online complaint intention. As a result, online complaint intention was omitted from the measurement model seeing that respondents who participated in this study did not indicate a high tendency to complain online. It is recommended that clothing retailers recognise the importance of in-store complaint management programmes and ensure that in-store complaint channels are easily accessible, efficient and pleasant to use. Clothing retailers should actively educate customers regarding alternative mechanisms and channels available for complaining. In order to increase customers‟ online complaint intention, clothing retailers should provide a visible complaint portal on their website and communicate the benefits of online complaining during in-store advertising. Clothing retailers should furthermore provide the appropriate strength of service recovery for particular levels of service failure severity when managing customer complaints. Consequently, it is recommended that clothing retailers provide their employees with sufficient training that will educate them regarding their interaction with customers and the best practice thereof, the difference between minor and major service failures, and the selection of an appropriate service recovery strategy during different service failure severity encounters. It is recommended that this study is extended to other service settings in order to uncover online complaint intention and strength of service recovery expectations of customers in other industries. Finally, seeing that respondents‟ strength of service recovery expectations vary according to the severity of the service failure, scenarios representing different levels of service failure severity can be used as basis to measure the key constructs measured in this study. / MCom (Marketing management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

The retail industry is faced with increased customer service demands and a competitive market environment. For retailers to survive in a competitive marketplace, a customer orientation is vital in order to establish and maintain long-term relationships with customers. As the clothing retail industry is characterised as an industry with high human involvement, employee-related service failures are inevitable. Service failures cause the disconfirmation of service expectations which lead to customer dissatisfaction, a motivator of customer complaint behaviour. Given that the resolution of a customer complaint is critical in order to restore customer satisfaction, retailers are providing customers with a variety of innovative complaint channels, such as online complaining. Although online complaint channels have become commonplace, little research has been undertaken regarding the effect of a complaint channel on customers‟ complaint behaviour and customers‟ expectations in the clothing retail industry. South African clothing retailers could therefore benefit from an understanding of customers‟ online complaint intention and ensuing service recovery expectations. Scholars profess that complaint intention correlates positively with service recovery expectations as customers decide to post a complaint when they generally have high recovery expectations. Furthermore, complaint intention and service recovery expectations are increased by a positive attitude towards complaining. Consequently, attitude towards complaining plays a significant role in forecasting complaint behaviour of dissatisfied customers. Moreover, service failure severity has been used to measure how customers assess the intensity of service failures and is said to also influence customers‟ complaint intention and their subsequent service recovery expectation. The primary objective of this study was to uncover customers‟ online complaint intention and subsequent service recovery expectations after experiencing an employee-related service failure in the clothing retail industry. The empirical study was based on a descriptive research design in which a structured, self-administered questionnaire was fielded amongst respondents within the Johannesburg metropolitan area of South Africa. A non-probability, convenience sampling method was used and a total of 400 respondents participated in this study. The results indicate that although the majority of respondents use the Internet daily and exhibit a high propensity to complain, they prefer to complain in-store. After respondents had been presented with a fictional employee-related service failure scenario, they did not indicate a high intention to complain online. Very few differences were uncovered between different groups of respondents pertaining to their attitude towards complaining, online complaint intention, service failure severity perception and strength of service recovery expectation. Finally – with respect to an empirically tested theoretical model – respondents‟ attitude towards complaining in general and their perceptions of the severity of the service failure experienced, significantly and positively influence their strength of service recovery expectations, while no significant positive influences were uncovered for paths linking the aforementioned constructs with online complaint intention. As a result, online complaint intention was omitted from the measurement model seeing that respondents who participated in this study did not indicate a high tendency to complain online. It is recommended that clothing retailers recognise the importance of in-store complaint management programmes and ensure that in-store complaint channels are easily accessible, efficient and pleasant to use. Clothing retailers should actively educate customers regarding alternative mechanisms and channels available for complaining. In order to increase customers‟ online complaint intention, clothing retailers should provide a visible complaint portal on their website and communicate the benefits of online complaining during in-store advertising. Clothing retailers should furthermore provide the appropriate strength of service recovery for particular levels of service failure severity when managing customer complaints. Consequently, it is recommended that clothing retailers provide their employees with sufficient training that will educate them regarding their interaction with customers and the best practice thereof, the difference between minor and major service failures, and the selection of an appropriate service recovery strategy during different service failure severity encounters. It is recommended that this study is extended to other service settings in order to uncover online complaint intention and strength of service recovery expectations of customers in other industries. Finally, seeing that respondents‟ strength of service recovery expectations vary according to the severity of the service failure, scenarios representing different levels of service failure severity can be used as basis to measure the key constructs measured in this study. / MCom (Marketing management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

This research aims to examine a framework to test the relationships between consumers' perceptions of a retailer's brand personality and outcome variables (i.e., positive word-of-mouth about and patronage intention toward the retailer) by applying identity and social identity theories to reveal possible factors influencing these relationships in both department and discount retailer image formats. This research hypothesized that retailer brand personality should influence consumers' behavioral outcomes through private and public forms of self-congruity. The more positive the perception of a retailer's brand personality, the higher the private and public self-congruities with the brand personality. In addition, considering the unique, tangible nature of a store's environment, this research suggested that retailer brand identity (RBI), a consumer's perception of oneness with a retailer brand, should play an important role in the retailer brand personality-behavioral outcomes framework by mediating the influences of both private and public self-congruities on various behavioral outcomes. Moreover, the relationships among two forms of self-congruity and perceived RBI should be moderated by the shopping conspicuousness situation (i.e., whether co-shopping with important others or alone and whether shopping in an environment in which one is visible to important others or is relatively secluded) and consumer shopping involvement (i.e., whether consumers see shopping as an important and self-relevant activity). To test the study's hypotheses, data were collected from a sample of 616 general consumers via a self-administered questionnaire provided through the website of an online survey research firm. This research used a 2 (retailer image format) X 2 (shopping situation conspicuousness) between-subjects quasi-experimental design in which subjects were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups who read a scenario that provided a description of a retailer image format of either a hypothetical department (n = 311) or discount store (n = 305) and a description that manipulated the shopping situation as being either high (n = 303) or low (n = 313) in shopping conspicuousness. Results revealed that the retailer brand personality scale, adapted from BPS, a brand personality scale developed by Aaker (1997) and other scales specifically used to measure retailer brand personality (Dardin & Babin, 1994; d'Astous & Lévesque, 2003; Helgeson & Supphellen, 2004) comprised two positive dimensions (i.e., Modish and Genuine) and one negative dimension (Inactive). Each dimension influenced the behavioral outcomes of Word-of-Mouth and Patronage Intention differently. Perceived Genuineness was the most influential dimension among the three, exerting direct and indirect influences through increasing Private and Public Self-congruities and overall RBI on both WOM and Patronage Intention. However, Modish had only a direct negative effect on Patronage Intentions whereas Inactive had indirect effects on both behavioral outcomes through a combined (direct and indirect) negative effect on overall RBI. This research also revealed that overall RBI, driven by its affective and evaluative dimensions, fully mediated the influences of Private and Public Self-congruities on behavioral outcomes, suggesting overall RBI as an important factor in the retailer brand personality-behavioral outcomes framework. Moreover, the relationship between Public Self-congruity and overall RBI was found to be stronger in the high Shopping Conspicuousness Situation whereas the relationship between Private Self-congruity and overall RBI was found to be stronger in the department store image format. The moderating role of Consumer Shopping Involvement on the relationships among self-congruities and overall RBI was not significant. Theoretical and managerial implications of these findings and limitations of the study are provided.