Can you represent me? The influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to verify the impact of consumers' self-congruity on brand loyalty behavior when stock-out happens; the role of the psychological reactance theory as a mediator was assessed.

Design/methodology/approach

Data collection was carried out in the form of a questionnaire survey. Data from 417 respondents were analyzed, and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses.

Findings

The findings revealed the positive significant impact of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, and the mediating effect of psychological reactance between self-congruity and consumers' brand loyalty behavior.

Practical implications

This study offers retailers/brand owners a deeper understanding of the remedy strategy needed to reduce the sales loss in their firms when stock-out happens.

Originality/value

This study provides a theoretical and empirical test on the influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, bringing consumers' psychological reactance into the research as a mediating factor, thereby enriching the existing research on consumers' out-of-stock reactions.

Citation

Zhang, X. (2022), "Can you represent me? The influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior", Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, Vol. 34 No. 10, pp. 2073-2090. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-04-2021-0238