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Consumer engagement has been designated as an approach to describing online interactions that more comprehensively reflects the nature of consumers’ interactive relationships in online brand communities. This paper aims to explore consumers’ brand community engagement in the context of Facebook brand pages. This research puts forth the hypothesis that consumers’ brand community engagement on Facebook is dependent upon two overarching themes: external social forces and internal personal forces.

Based on social impact theory, social identity theory and social exchange theory, a conceptual research model is developed and empirically tested through structural equation modelling using cross-sectional data of 460 Facebook brand fans.

The empirical results suggest that internal personal forces primarily positively influence brand community engagement, while external social forces can even impact consumers’ brand community engagement negatively.

Future research should test and validate the proposed model for specific categories and brands.

This paper offers help to online brand marketers to trigger meaningful engagement of consumers in a brand community on Facebook.

This paper examines the consumer engagement construct from a behavioural perspective in a defined social media context and highlights the peculiarities of online brand communities on Facebook that distinguish them from traditional brand communities. The research uses a strong theoretical foundation to develop a model that investigates the prevalent variables that influence consumers’ brand community engagement on Facebook.

The purpose of this paper is to give retailers an insight into consumers' capacity for feeling pleasure associated with specific purchase motivations across different product categories.

A hedonic regression model was estimated from data collected from shoppers in shopping malls that enabled the generation of implicit prices of each constituent purchasing motive.

Hedonic values of consumer motivations vary for different products categories. Convenience items, like bread, allow little scope for self‐congruence, whereas shampoo offers significant scope for pleasurable emotive appeals to boost consumers' status enhancement and social image. This study identified opportunities to create good feelings for the purchase of both bread and shampoos, by engaging shoppers' attention on themes relating to social referents and family values. Shopping items like apparel and specialty items like cosmetics offer prospects of titillating consumer motives of status and self‐image enhancement, respectively, by engaging them with reputable merchandise in reputable settings.

No insight was sought on the hedonic value of consumers' buying motivations of impulse purchases.

Products that are used in public (apparel) or whose consumption outcome is manifest in public (shampoos and cosmetics), have purchase motivations that are susceptible to hedonic appeals. On the other hand, only a few purchase motivations for products like bread, with limited “public face”, have some hedonic value. The results of this study inform retailers on choice of purchase motivations to direct engagement appeals in order to generate emotional excitement. Getting consumers to fantasize on themes relating to relevant purchasing motives could facilitate their purchase choice.

Targeting consumers' preferred urges is an efficient way to stimulate buying intentions.

Consumers’ motivations for purchasing counterfeit branded luxuries are a topic of heated discussion amongst academics and practitioners. Drawing on self-discrepancy theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of actual-ideal self-discrepancy on consumers’ attitudes towards counterfeit branded luxuries. It investigates how self-monitoring and perceived social risk moderate this effect. Furthermore, it explores cross-cultural differences in the impact of actual-ideal self-discrepancy.

A pilot study provides preliminary evidence that highlights the importance of actual-ideal self-discrepancy in counterfeit consumption. Based upon a large-scale survey across Hong Kong, the USA and Australia, the principal study explores the moderating effect of self-monitoring and perceived social risk as well as cross-cultural differences.

The results indicate that self-discrepancy increases consumers’ tendency to engage in symbolic consumption, and that consumption of counterfeit branded luxuries can serve the social function of self-expression to reduce the discomfort induced by self-discrepancy. Self-monitoring and perceived social risk have significant moderating effects, with the former strengthening and the latter attenuating this effect. Moreover, the effect of self-discrepancy is more pronounced amongst individualistic consumers than collectivistic consumers.

This is the first study to highlight the significance of self-discrepancy in the consumption of counterfeit branded luxuries. It examines the important moderating effects of self-monitoring and perceived social risk. Consumers from collectivistic and individualistic cultures define their self-concept differently, thus the findings provide meaningful cross-cultural information on the impact of self-discrepancy in counterfeit consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of patriotism, nostalgia, drama and excitement of the game, and interest in star players to predict fans’ intentions to follow one-day cricket in near future. Furthermore, social influence is positioned as a moderator to enrich the understanding of fans’ motives to follow one-day cricket.

The data are collected by means of a cross-sectional survey conducted among 609 university students enroled in Pakistani and Sri Lankan universities. The collected data are analysed by employing a structural equation modelling procedures to reach meaningful conclusions.

The variables of patriotism, nostalgic associations, excitement and drama of the game, and interest in star players are found to positively relate to the fans’ intentions to follow one-day cricket in near future. However, the moderating effects of social influence only moderated with interest in star players, which has practical and theoretical implications.

The study is an original contribution to the field of sports marketing. The proposed relationships are based on social identity theory paradigm. Furthermore, the moderating effects of social influence and a multi-country data are unique to this study. Finally, in previous studies, football fans’ motivation and test-match cricket fans’ motivations are studied, hence one-day cricket as a context is also unique to this study.

The purpose of this paper is to test: the applicability of Aaker’s (1997) brand personality model in the context of mountain running races; and the influence of event personality on event involvement and loyalty.

In total, 177 runners (n=177) at two mountain running races participated in the study and filled the brand personality (Aaker, 1997) and leisure involvement (Kyle et al., 2004a, b) questionnaires.

The confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the factorial validity of the brand personality and event involvement models. The analysis confirmed also the structural model. Four of the five personality facets (excitement, competence, ruggedness and sincerity) significantly influenced the three dimensions of event involvement, which in their turn influenced event loyalty (intention to participate and W-O-M communications).

The topic of brand personality is important for building brand equity and guiding market positioning in the growing running races sector. The current study provides event organizers with a tool for measuring the personality of their events. Furthermore, it explains how event personality influences the development of event involvement, which is an important variable for the development of event loyalty.

It contributes to the academic literature in two ways: first, the construct of brand personality has not been previously applied in the context of outdoor sport events and especially mountain running races; and second, while it has been theoretically proposed (Aaker, 1997; Keller, 2008) and empirically supported (Eisend and Stokburger-Sauer, 2013) in the general marketing literature that brand personality is associated with positive behavioral and attitudinal (e.g. brand loyalty and brand involvement) outcomes, there has been no published research to test the relationships among brand personality, involvement and loyalty in the context of outdoor sport events.

This study aims to examine the moderated mediation model among self-image congruity, self-brand connection, self-motivation and brand preference and validate that actual and ideal self-image congruity are two distinct constructs. As shown in the conceptual model, actual and ideal self-image congruity toward a brand have direct and indirect positive effects on brand preference through self-brand connection, whereas self-motivation moderates the effect of self-image congruity on self-brand connection.

Data collection was done through mall intercepts in six shopping malls in Guangzhou, Zhuhai and Huizhou in southern China. In total, 461 usable questionnaires were collected with 500 distributed copies. Confirmatory factor analysis using Mplus (v.7) was done to assess the measurement validity for each construct. PROCESS analysis for SPSS (v.19.0.0) was used for hypothesis testing.

Both actual and ideal self-image congruities present significant positive effects on brand preference through self-brand connection. The relationship between self-image congruity and the self-brand connection is also moderated by self-motivation.

This study fills an existing literature gap by distinguishing self-image and ideal self-image congruity as distinct constructs. Self-brand connection is posited as a new way to understand the mechanism of the self-image congruity effect on brand preference. Samples from several shopping malls in southern China are used to justify the important moderating role of self-motivation in consumers’ brand preferences.

Despite the growing research into luxury symbolism and its influence on consumer behavior, few studies have investigated the underlying psychological processes that occur in different cultural contexts. This study investigates the relationships among luxury symbolism, psychological underpinnings of self-congruity, self-affirmation and customer loyalty, especially regarding how these relationships differ between consumers in China and those in the US.

Sample data were collected through surveys administered to 653 participants (327 in China and 326 in the US). A multi-group structural equation model was adopted to examine the conceptual model and proposed hypotheses.

The results show that luxury symbolism positively influences self-consistency, social consistency, social approval and self-esteem, and subsequently impacts self-affirmation and customer loyalty. However, for US consumers, self-esteem and social approval have significantly negative impacts on self-affirmation, while for Chinese consumers, social approval has no significant impact on self-affirmation. The authors also find that interdependent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism, and social approval and social consistency. Independent self-construal positively moderates the relationship between luxury symbolism and self-consistency, and negatively influences the relationship between luxury symbolism and self-esteem.

Based on the theory of self-congruity and self-affirmation, this study fills a literature gap by revealing the psychological underpinnings regarding luxury symbolism and customer loyalty. It extends extant studies in luxury consumption by introducing self-construal (independent self vs interdependent self) as an important cultural moderator in luxury symbolism. This paper provides insights for luxury practitioners to create efficient marketing strategies by satisfying consumers' psychological needs in different cultures.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior/intentions. Some people are more inclined than others to engage in helping behaviors. Determining what individual characteristics are related to helping behavior could have important implications for both marketers and non-profit organizations. Drawing on research on self-enhancement, this paper examines the relationship between the “above-average effect” (the tendency of individuals to rate themselves more favorably than they rate others) specifically on altruistic traits and helping behavior.

Data were collected through two surveys and analyzed with correlation analysis, path analysis and structural equation models.

In two studies, we find a positive relationship between interdependence and self-enhancement and a positive relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior (volunteering in Study 1 and donation behavior in Study 2). We further show that self-enhancement mediates the effect of interdependence on helping. Personal importance of altruistic traits is shown to underlie these relationships.

By understanding the antecedents of helping behaviors, non-profit and charity organizations, social marketers and other advocates of pro-social behaviors can enhance the effectiveness of their appeals. Our findings provide insights for both messaging and targeting.

This study examines the relationship between self-enhancement and helping behavior. In so doing, it contributes to the self-enhancement literature by identifying the relationship between self-construal and self-enhancement. It also extends understanding of the relationship between these two constructs and helping behavior by revealing the mediating role of self-enhancement on helping behavior.

This study aims to examine the influence of past environmental behaviour, green peer influence and green apparel knowledge on the subject of Indian consumers’ evaluation of the perceived benefits of green apparel.

Data was collected through a mall intercept technique in 10 cities across India.

Past environmental behaviour, green peer influence and green apparel knowledge had an impact on green apparel perceived benefits. Perceived benefits comprise of product attributes such as awareness of fair trade practices, the perceived value in buying fair trade clothes, and enhancement of self-image.

The research did not examine the impact of demographics and lifestyle on green apparel buying or the influence of product attributes such as quality, price and functional features in predicting consumers’ behaviour towards green apparel.

Green apparel manufacturers should focus on altruistic, physical and aesthetic product attributes. Green apparel can be marketed as a distinct product that communicates environment-friendly commitment. The social influence could be used to spread awareness about green apparel benefits.

There is little research on consumers’ perception of the benefits and value of green apparel in India. The study looks into altruistic and physical product features of green clothing and their role in enhancing an individual’s self-identity.

This paper presents a marketing perspective that may have considerable relevance within niche markets that are served by hotels positioned at the top end of the market, with distinctive lifestyle products. It considers the extent to which such products can be effectively positioned through semiotic marketing strategies. Emergent strategies are presented in a model of a live market communication system. It is proposed that this represents a reorientation in focus of positioning strategies from product and transaction, to cultural criteria and sensory differentiation. Justification is presented on the basis that while core hotel products and services and their functionality are easily duplicated, semiotics, aesthetics and their lifestyle associations are more difficult to mimic. The application of this reorientation is illustrated through the examples provided as an extraordinary collection of highly individual hotels. These products have been deliberately defined to align to conceptions of self‐image, selling a set of symbolically defined features that are prototypical of a certain lifestyle.