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Look for the signature: Using personal signatures as extrinsic cues promotes identity-congruent behavior

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  • Kettle, Keri L.
  • Mantonakis, Antonia

Abstract

We investigate the novel premise that a personal signature – an individual’s own handwritten version of their name – can prime identities when used as an extrinsic cue. Evidence from seven studies, including two retail field experiments, shows that adding a personal signature as an extrinsic cue promotes identity-congruent behavior, and thus produces different effects on behavior depending on the consumer’s identity. For example, adding a personal signature to a product label leads to more favorable product evaluations among consumers with an associative identity, but less favorable evaluations among consumers with a dissociative identity. We pinpoint identity salience as the process underlying this phenomenon by showing that adding a personal signature as an extrinsic cue influences behavior in an identity-diagnostic context unrelated to the personal signature. We advance the consumer identity and extrinsic cues literatures, and we offer practical business implications.

Suggested Citation

  • Kettle, Keri L. & Mantonakis, Antonia, 2024. "Look for the signature: Using personal signatures as extrinsic cues promotes identity-congruent behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:170:y:2024:i:c:s0148296323007129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114353
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