| Abstract [eng] |
Authenticity is an important part of a successful brand. Market research company Euromonitor International (2019) report on the 8 “super trends” of the next decade (till 2030) describes authenticity as a significant trend that will shape consumer markets in the future (Euromonitor International, 2019). Authentic brands have an effect on brand attachment (Arya, Verma, Sethi, & Agarwal, 2019; Chen, Lee, & Hyun, 2022). Brand attachment leads to long-term relationships and encourages consumers to stay with the brand they have attached themselves to (Chen, Chen, Mu, & Yu, 2021). Brand attachment is also driven by the consumer's self-congruence with brands (Guèvremont, 2021; Hung and Lu, 2018; Japutra, Ekinci and Simkin, 2019; Rabbanee, Roy and Spence, 2020; Shetty and Fitzsimmons, 2021). Although the phenomena of brand authenticity, consumer self-congruity and brand attachment have been studied quite extensively in the academic literature, the links between them are unclear. Various research findings on the relationships between the constrcucts of brand authenticity, consumer self-congruity and brand attachment (e.g., Fritz et al., 2017; Guèvremont, 2021; Hidayat and Setiawati, 2021; Rabbanee et al., 2020; Sciarrino and Roberts, 2018), show conflicting research results. The inconsistent research findings regarding the relationships between brand authenticity, consumer self-congruity, and brand attachment are a barrier to understanding how these phenomena may influence each other and what marketing strategies could be applied to brands. The empirical study revealed that brand authenticity has a positive and significant influence on both consumer self-congruity and brand attachment. Also, the results of the study revealed that consumer self-congruity has a positive and statistically significant effect on brand attachment. In addition, the study confirmed that consumer self-congruity partially mediates the relationship between brand authenticity and brand attachment. These empirical findings suggest that: the more authentic a brand is perceived by consumers, the greater the attachment to that brand; the more authentic the brand, the more the consumer identifies his personality with that authentic brand; the more people identify their personality with the brand and the consumers of the brand, the more they (consumers) tend to be attached to that brand; the more authentic a brand is perceived by the consumer, the more likely consumers will identify with that brand and, ultimately, tend to stick with it. |
