IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v144y2018icp60-73.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When social identity threat leads to the selection of identity-reinforcing options: The role of public self-awareness

Author

Listed:
  • White, Katherine
  • Stackhouse, Madelynn
  • Argo, Jennifer J.

Abstract

This research shows that activating public self-awareness leads individuals to increase their association with symbolic representations of their identity. When a social identity was threatened, participants high rather than low in public self-awareness were more likely to select options that reinforced their association with the identity (Studies 1a, 1b, and 2). This response was mediated by the desire to convey a consistent self to others (Study 2). In line with the view that the effects are driven by public self-consistency motives, the effects emerge only among those motivated to convey a consistent public self-image (Study 3) and when product choices can be viewed by others (Study 4). Finally, when identity threat occurred in the presence of an ingroup audience, those high (but not low) in ingroup identification were more likely to select identity-reinforcing options when public self-awareness was heightened (Study 5). The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • White, Katherine & Stackhouse, Madelynn & Argo, Jennifer J., 2018. "When social identity threat leads to the selection of identity-reinforcing options: The role of public self-awareness," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 60-73.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:144:y:2018:i:c:p:60-73
    DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.09.007
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0749597816305441
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.09.007?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Belk, Russell W, 1988. "Possessions and the Extended Self," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 15(2), pages 139-168, September.
    2. Aquino, Karl & Douglas, Scott, 2003. "Identity threat and antisocial behavior in organizations: The moderating effects of individual differences, aggressive modeling, and hierarchical status," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 195-208, January.
    3. Katherine White & Jennifer J. Argo & Jaideep Sengupta, 2012. "Dissociative versus Associative Responses to Social Identity Threat: The Role of Consumer Self-Construal," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 39(4), pages 704-719.
    4. LeBoeuf, Robyn A. & Shafir, Eldar & Bayuk, Julia Belyavsky, 2010. "The conflicting choices of alternating selves," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 48-61, January.
    5. Lewis, Amy C. & Sherman, Steven J., 2003. "Hiring you makes me look bad: Social-identity based reversals of the ingroup favoritism effect," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 262-276, March.
    6. Katherine White & Darren W. Dahl, 2007. "Are All Out-Groups Created Equal? Consumer Identity and Dissociative Influence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 34(4), pages 525-536, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Desmichel, Perrine & Ordabayeva, Nailya & Kocher, Bruno, 2020. "What if diamonds did not last forever? Signaling status achievement through ephemeral versus iconic luxury goods," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 49-65.
    2. Rob Kim Marjerison & Jiamin Hu & Hantao Wang, 2022. "The Effect of Time-Limited Promotion on E-Consumers’ Public Self-Consciousness and Purchase Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-23, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Reed, Americus & Forehand, Mark R. & Puntoni, Stefano & Warlop, Luk, 2012. "Identity-based consumer behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 310-321.
    2. Strong, Carolyn A. & Martin, Brett A.S. & Jin, Hyun Seung & Greer, Dominique & O'Connor, Peter, 2019. "Why do consumers research their ancestry? Do self-uncertainty and the need for closure influence consumer's involvement in ancestral products?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 332-337.
    3. Bella Rozenkrants & S Christian Wheeler & Baba Shiv & Gita JoharEditor & Derek RuckerAssociate Editor, 2017. "Self-Expression Cues in Product Rating Distributions: When People Prefer Polarizing Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 44(4), pages 759-777.
    4. Khalifa, Dina & Shukla, Paurav, 2021. "When luxury brand rejection causes brand dilution," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 110-121.
    5. Yang, Defeng & Lu, Yue & Zhu, Wenting & Su, Chenting, 2015. "Going green: How different advertising appeals impact green consumption behavior," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(12), pages 2663-2675.
    6. Barton, Belinda & Zlatevska, Natalina & Oppewal, Harmen, 2022. "Scarcity tactics in marketing: A meta-analysis of product scarcity effects on consumer purchase intentions," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(4), pages 741-758.
    7. Carvalho, Sergio W. & Luna, David & Goldsmith, Emily, 2019. "The role of national identity in consumption: An integrative framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 310-318.
    8. Sangeeta Devanathan, 2020. "Indian Consumers’ Assessment of ‘Luxuriousness’: A Comparison of Indian and Western Luxury Brands," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 9(1), pages 84-95, January.
    9. Daniel Villanova, 2019. "The extended self, product valuation, and the endowment effect," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 9(3), pages 357-371, December.
    10. Dean A. Shepherd & Melissa S. Cardon, 2009. "Negative Emotional Reactions to Project Failure and the Self‐Compassion to Learn from the Experience," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(6), pages 923-949, September.
    11. Remi Trudel & Jennifer J. Argo & Matthew D. Meng, 2016. "The Recycled Self: Consumers’ Disposal Decisions of Identity-Linked Products," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 43(2), pages 246-264.
    12. Bernritter, Stefan F. & Verlegh, Peeter W.J. & Smit, Edith G., 2016. "Why Nonprofits Are Easier to Endorse on Social Media: The Roles of Warmth and Brand Symbolism," Journal of Interactive Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 27-42.
    13. Wolter, Jeremy S. & Brach, Simon & Cronin, J. Joseph & Bonn, Mark, 2016. "Symbolic drivers of consumer–brand identification and disidentification," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(2), pages 785-793.
    14. Joëlle Vanhamme & Adam Lindgreen & Gülen Sarial-Abi, 2023. "Luxury Ethical Consumers: Who Are They?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 183(3), pages 805-838, March.
    15. Thomas, Veronica L. & Yeh, Marie & Jewell, Robert D., 2015. "Enhancing valuation: the impact of self-congruence with a brand on the endowment effect," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 178-185.
    16. Mochon, Daniel & Norton, Michael I. & Ariely, Dan, 2012. "Bolstering and restoring feelings of competence via the IKEA effect," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 363-369.
    17. Jeffrey K Lee & Enric Junqué de Fortuny, 2022. "Influencer-Generated Reference Groups [Nonprofits Are Seen as Warm and For-Profits as Competent: Firm Stereotypes Matter]," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 49(1), pages 25-45.
    18. Hector Gonzalez-Jimenez, 2017. "The self-concept life cycle and brand perceptions: An interdisciplinary perspective," AMS Review, Springer;Academy of Marketing Science, vol. 7(1), pages 67-84, June.
    19. Angle, Justin W. & Forehand, Mark R., 2016. "It's not us, it's you: How threatening self-brand association leads to brand pursuit," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 183-197.
    20. Haroon Qasim & Liang Yan & Rui Guo & Amer Saeed & Badar Nadeem Ashraf, 2019. "The Defining Role of Environmental Self-Identity among Consumption Values and Behavioral Intention to Consume Organic Food," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:144:y:2018:i:c:p:60-73. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/obhdp .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.