UNIQUE CONSUMPTION OR STATUS CONSUMPTION: THE IMPACT OF FACE ON SYMBOLIC CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIP

摘要

Most researches explain the influence of face on status consumption or conspicuous consumption in China; but they neglect the potential impact of face consciousness on unique consumption. This paper mainly discusses the moderating roles of face consciousness and identity congruence on the relationship between brand's personal image and social image and consumer's self-brand connection. The result shows that face consciousness and identity congruence have positive and significant impact on consumer-brand relationship. But under the influence of face consciousness, consumer is more likely to form self-brand connection based on brand personality; under the impact of identity congruence, individual tends to construct self-brand connection based on brand's status signal.