I Am That ?Brand: How Self-Brand Connection and Narcissism Influence Social Media Interactivity and Purchase Intent

摘要

Twitter is effective at facilitating consumer-brand interaction, as it allows consumers to engage with other brand community members, as well as the brand itself. The digital extended self compromises those possessions, relationships, and interactions the consumer selectively chooses to display, share, and disclose online (Belk 2013). Consumers publicly display products they feel a strong self-brand connection with, to help craft their identity. Narcissists specifically seek positively-reflective products to display to boost their image. Direct interaction with a brand acts as a publicly visible artifact of a relationship for the consumer. The current research seeks to better understand how self-brand connection, social media activity, and narcissism interact to predict purchase intent, with the expectations that (1) narcissism moderates the influence of self-brand connection on purchase intent, (2) narcissism moderates the influence of social media activity on purchase intent, and (3) self-brand connection mediates the effect of social media activity on purchase intent.