• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.21-46
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• 2003

Despite importance of private brands in the retail industry, not many studies have been performed on factors affecting consumers' attitude formation toward private brands. This study tries to understand attitude formation toward private brands from the perspective of image congruence. Focusing on three types of image congruence-image congruence between a private brand and a consumer's self, image congruence between a store and a product category used for a private brand, and image congruence between a store and a consumer's self - this study explores relationships and effects of these three types of image congruence on attitudes toward private brands. According to results, image congruence between a private brand and a consumer's self has the strongest effect among three types of image congruence. Image congruence between a store and a product category also has a significant positive effect on attitudes toward private brands. Effects of image congruence between a store and a consumer's self on attitudes toward private brands were opposite to the hypothesized direction, and explanations about the unexpected result are provided.

• Journal of the Korean Home Economics Association
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• v.46 no.7
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• pp.35-45
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• 2008

For the highly involved and emotional product, such as cosmetic product, the consumer focuses on the information about the symbolic meaning of a product. As a continuum, cosmetic advertising frequently requires a celebrity and/or cue since it provides identification between customer and cosmetic. Although many studies have examined the effectiveness of the congruence between brand image and self-image, there are little research regarding the congruence between advertising image and self image. The objective of this study is to examine the attitudinal effectiveness of the congruence between cosmetic advertising image and self-image. For the experiment, 2(ad type: rational vs emotional) factorial designs were performed. A total of 240 undergraduate female students participated in the experiment. The results of the study are as follows. First, the congruence had a significantly positive influence on advertising attitude, but not on brand attitude. Second, the type of cosmetic advertising caused differences in attitudinal persuasiveness affected by the congruence.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.161-169
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• 2005

The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of congruence between brand image and advertisement model on fashion advertisement effect. 206 female college students were surveyed for this study. For this study, three hypothesis were set up as follows: First, if fashion brand image and advertisement model image are in congruence, consumers' product preference would be higher, compared to in disharmony. Second, if fashion brand image and advertisement model image are in congruence, consumers' advertisement attitudes would be higher, compared to in disharmony. Third, if fashion brand image and advertisement model image are in congruence, consumers' purchasing intention would be higher, compared to in disharmony. As the results, three all hypothesis were accepted. Based on these results, fashion marketing strategies regarding advertisement would be suggested.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.667-678
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• 2022

A characteristic of a region's environmental resources is the competitiveness of local agricultural products. This study explores methods of making locally produced agricultural products appealing to consumers. We looked at ways to appeal to consumers by using the image of environment resource and environment-agriculture product image congruence. The relationships of two dimensions of environmental image, perceived quality and purchase intention, are examined. From the results of the study, both the image of environment resource and environment-agriculture product image congruence have a positive effect on purchasing local agricultural products through perceived quality. This study tried to ascertain which of the two dimensions of the environmental image factor is more effective in terms of consumer appeal for local agricultural products. As a result, both the image of environment resource and environment-agricultural product image congruence are found to have a positive effect on the purchase intention of consumers through perceived quality. By comparing the paths of the two dimensions it is found that the method of appealing to consumers by using the environment-agriculture product image congruence is more effective. The results of this study present an effective method of making locally produced agricultural products appealing to consumers and suggest an effective strategic direction for selling local agricultural products.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.140-155
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• 2023

This study was undertaken to observe the influence of the model image and self-image congruence of consumers in Korean cosmetic advertisements on the advertising attitude and analyze the relationship between self-image congruence and advertising demand type, participation, and advertising effect, and to help develop plans to more effectively communicate advertising images. The experimental design of this study was 2 (self-image congruence: consistency vs. inconsistency) × 2 (advertising appeal: rational appeal vs. emotional appeal) × 2 (involvement: high vs. low) three-way ANOVA. The results of the study showed that the interrelationship between self-image congruence and advertising appeal type and involvement played an important role in determining the advertising attitude. More specifically, firstly, the self-image congruence of consumers in Korean cosmetic advertising affected the advertising attitude. Secondly, in the advertisements of Korean cosmetics, consumers preferred a rational advertising appeal to an emotional advertising appeal. Finally, statistical results showed significant differences in the influence of the interaction effect of the self-image congruence status of consumers and the advertising appeal on the attitude of advertising. The Korean cosmetic involvement of consumers had a significant impact on whether the Korean cosmetic advertising model image and consumer self-image were consistent with the type of advertising appeal and on the interaction effect of advertising attitude.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.29-62
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• 2012

As distribution environment is changing rapidly and competition is more intensive in the channel of distribution, the importance of retailer image and retailer equity is increasing as a different competitive advantages. Also, consumers are not functionally oriented and that their behavior is significantly affected by the symbols such as retailer image which identify retailer in the market place. That is, consumers do not choose products or retailers for their material utilities but consume the symbolic meaning of those products or retailers as expressed in their self images. The concept of self-image congruence has been utilized by marketers and researchers as an aid in better understanding how consumers identify themselves with the brands they buy and the retailer they patronize. Although self-image congruity theory has been tested across many product categories, the theory has not been tested extensively in the retailing. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of self image congruence between retailer image and self image of consumer on retailer equity such as retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty. The purpose of this study is to find out whether retailer-self image congruence can be a new antecedent of retailer equity. In addition, this study tries to examine how four-dimensional retailer equity constructs (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) affect customers' repatronage intention. For this study, data were gathered by survey and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study was 254. The reliability of the all seven dimensions was estimated with Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability values and average variance extracted values. We determined whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity and discriminant validity by Exploratory factor analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted values exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the AMOS 18.0. As expected, the image congruence hypotheses were supported. The greater the degree of congruence between retailer image and self-image, the more favorable were consumers' retailer evaluations. The all two retailer-self image congruence (actual self-image congruence and ideal self-image congruence) affected customer based retailer equity. This result means that retailer-self image congruence is important cue for customers to estimate retailer equity. In other words, consumers are often more likely to prefer products and retail stores that have images similar to their own self-image. Especially, it appeared that effect for the ideal self-image congruence was consistently larger than the actual self-image congruence on the retailer equity. The results mean that consumers prefer or search for stores that have images compatible with consumer's perception of ideal-self. In addition, this study revealed that customers' estimations toward customer based retailer equity affected the repatronage intention. The results showed that all four dimensions (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) had positive effect on the repatronage intention. That is, management and investment to improve image congruence between retailer and consumers' self make customers' positive evaluation of retailer equity, and then the positive customer based retailer equity can enhance the repatonage intention. And to conclude, retailer's image management is an important part of successful retailer performance management, and the retailer-self image congruence is an important antecedent of retailer equity. Therefore, it is more important to develop and improve retailer's image similar to consumers' image. Given the pressure to provide increased image congruence, it is not surprising that retailers have made significant investments in enhancing the fit between retailer image and self image of consumer. The enhancing such self-image congruence may allow marketers to target customers who may be influenced by image appeals in advertising.

• Culinary science and hospitality research
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.120-140
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to understand interrelationships among the congruence of brand personality of family restaurants with the self image of customers, brand identification, and loyalty. The results showed a positive relationship between congruence of brand personality of family restaurants with the self image of customers and brand identification. However, the congruence of brand personality of family restaurants with the self image of customers does not have a direct effect on brand loyalty, and congruence of self image with a pertinent brand is perceived through brand identification. In addition, it was found that the brand identification of family restaurants has a positive effect on brand loyalty. Limitations and future research directions are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.36 no.11
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• pp.1137-1147
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• 2012

Self-congruency plays an important role in the context of mothers' shopping for children's clothing because purchasers are inconsistent with users. This study incorporates three dimensions of self-congruencies (congruency between children's image perceived by their mothers and brand image, congruency between mothers' actual self-image and brand image, and congruency between mothers' ideal self-image and brand image) due to purchaser-user inconsistency in children's clothing consumption. A total of 574 mothers with children aged 6 to 10 participated in a web-based survey. Descriptive statistical analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted. Self-brand image congruency variables have a different influence on brand attitudes when mothers purchase children's clothing. Brand attitude is influenced positively only when the perceived children's image coincides with brand image and when mothers' ideal self-image corresponds to brand image. In contrast, mothers' actual self-image and brand image congruence negatively influence brand attitude. Further investigation indicates that there are different effects of dimensions of self-congruency on brand attitude according to the characteristics of mothers and their children. This study suggests that when there is purchaser-user inconsistency, different types of image congruence has to be implemented to assess the impact on brand attitudes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.784-796
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• 2010

Consumers focus on information about the symbolic meaning of a product for highly involved and emotional products (such as cosmetic products). This study examines the effectiveness of the congruence between cosmetics advertising image and self-image on consumer attitudes. In addition, this study examines two additional moderating effects, which are 'product type' and 'message type'. For the experiment, four advertizing type factorial designs were performed. A total of 320 undergraduate female students in Korea participated in the experiment. This study captured the subjective judgments of consumers on these three comparisons in terms of advertizing attitude, brand attitude, and purchase intention. The results are as follows: First, the greater the self-congruity on cosmetic advertising, then the greater the effectiveness on advertizing attitude. Second, the increased self-congruity on cosmetic advertising did not create greater effectiveness on brand attitude. Third, increased advertizing attitudes on the congruence between cosmetics advertising image and self-image increased the effectiveness on brand attitude. Fourth, increased advertizing attitudes on the congruence between cosmetics advertising image and self-image improved the effectiveness on purchase intention. Fifth, the greater the brand attitude (on the congruence between the cosmetics advertising image and the self-image produced)increased the effectiveness for purchase intention. The results show a significant moderating role of the product type. Marketers can use the results of this study to understand the market of cosmetic products for promotion.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.392-404
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• 2015

This study investigated how the image exaggeration influence consumer attitude toward product in mobile shopping. Image exaggeration was manipulated by adding light effects on image and adjusting the width for slender mirror effect. Subjects were randomly allocated to four mock-mobile website stimuli. The overall results showed that the image exaggeration had negative effect on product attitude mediated by diagnositicity. First, the mediation effect of diagnositicity between exaggeration and product attitude was tested by bootstap method. The diagnositicity fully mediated between two variables and exaggeration had negative total effect on diagnositicity. The image exaggeration had no direct effect on product attitude. Second, to test the moderating effect of image congruence between the image exaggeration and diagnositicity, conditional indirect effect of diagnositicity was analyzed. As a result, the moderating effect of image congruence was significant. When consumers perceived high self-image congruence with picture image on mobile website, the exaggeration had no negative effect on product attitude. This indicates self-image congruence counteracts the negative effect of the exaggeration on diagositicity. And the moderating effect of image aesthetics between the image exaggeration and product attitude was examinated by the conditional direct effect model. The analysis found that image aesthetics had significant moderating effects particularly on high or low levels of aesthetics. When image aesthetics was perceived as high, image exaggeration had negative effect on product attitude, whereas image aesthetics was low, image exaggeration had positive effect on product attitude. This result indicated that the positive exaggeration effects existed when images were aesthetically appealing.