Emergence of Shared Representation of Brand Users

Knowing that one's brand choice was favored only by a few people motivates individuals to seek connections among fellow brand users, which leads minority (vs. mainstream) brand users to perceive fellow brand users to be a homogenous and desirable group. Minority brand users would therefore be more likely to have a shared representation of who they are and what they are like. In five experiments, we found that both the need to seek connections and ingroup communication are critical for individuals to form shared representations of group members. The findings contribute to our understanding of how brand culture emerges.

Citation:

Shirley Y. Y. Cheng and Chi-yue Chiu (2009) ,"Emergence of Shared Representation of Brand Users", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 36, eds. Ann L. McGill and Sharon Shavitt, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 108-111.