Consumer-activity identification: identifying antecedents and outcomes

ABSTRACTAlthough consumers rely on their activities to help construct their identity, antecedents and outcomes of consumer-activity identification (CAI) have not been elucidated. This research addresses this gap through the development of a conceptual model that is tested through two studies that implement structural equation modeling. Study 1 finds that CAI leads to consumer-brand identification (CBI). Further, CBI mediates the relationship between CAI and brand loyalty. Study 2 expands these findings by understanding the role of brand and activity social benefits as antecedents for CAI and CBI and including a second brand outcome: brand relationship continuance. Taken together, the results indicate that consumers indeed rely on the activities a brand is used within to construct their identity in addition to the brand. Paradoxically, our findings also reveal that activities that support social interactions decreases CBI. Managerially, marketers should encourage consumers to form relationships with the activities their brand is used within. Additionally, managers could promote their brands as activity facilitators to improve brand identification. The research concludes by offering directions for future research and advice to managers.KEYWORDS: Consumer-activity identificationconsumer-brand identificationbrand loyaltybrand relationship continuanceidentityactivity relationship AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the ICN Seed Funding program for its financial support in conducting this research.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Financial supportThis work was supported by the ICN Seed Funding program.Financial interestsThe authors declare they have no financial interests.ContributionsAll authors contributed to the study’s conception, design, material preparation, and data collection. The data analysis was performed by the first and second authors. The first author wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on and revised previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.Additional informationFundingThe work was supported by the ICN Business School [Seed Funding].