Note on Escalas and Bettman (2003) – The Influence of Reference Groups on Consumers' Connections to Brands

Paper: “You Are What They Eat: The Influence of Reference Groups on Consumers’ Connections to Brands,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13 (3), 339–48.

Main Topic or Phenomenon

This paper examines how reference group brand usage influences consumers’ self-brand connections - the psychological bonds consumers form with brands as they incorporate them into their self-concept. The research explores the process by which consumers appropriate brand associations from reference groups to construct and communicate their identities.

Theoretical Construct

Self-Brand Connections: The extent to which individuals have incorporated a brand into their self-concept. This represents a psychological linkage where brand associations become connected to consumers’ mental representations of self as they use brands to define and create their self-concepts.

The construct is measured using seven items capturing how well a brand reflects who someone is, personal identification with the brand, and the brand’s role in communicating identity to others.

Key Findings

1. Member Group Influence (H1): Consumers develop stronger self-brand connections when they perceive high fit with a member group that uses a brand, compared to when they don’t identify with the group.

2. Aspiration Group Influence (H2): Consumers form stronger self-brand connections when they desire to belong to an aspiration group that uses a brand, compared to when they don’t aspire to join the group.

3. Self-Goal Moderation (H3): The type of reference group that most influences self-brand connections depends on consumers’ predominant self-goals:

   • Self-verifiers are more influenced by member group brand usage
   • Self-enhancers are more influenced by aspiration group brand usage

Boundary Conditions and Moderators

Primary Moderators:

• Group Fit: The degree to which consumers belong to (member groups) or aspire to belong to (aspiration groups) reference groups
• Self-Goals: Individual differences in self-verification versus self-enhancement motivations

Suggested Boundary Conditions:

• Brand specificity: Effects should be stronger for brands with specific user images versus broad, non-specific associations
• Product visibility: Public versus private goods (effects likely stronger for public goods due to their communicative value)

Building on Previous Work

The paper extends reference group research in several ways:

Previous Research Limitations:

• Most reference group studies focused on conformity and brand choice decisions
• Limited examination of psychological processes underlying reference group influence
• Insufficient attention to how consumers actively construct identity through brand associations

This Paper’s Extensions:

• Moves beyond brand choice to examine self-brand connections as an outcome
• Introduces self-goals as a moderator of reference group influence
• Demonstrates that consumers selectively appropriate brand associations based on their identity construction needs
• Shows that different types of reference groups serve different psychological functions

Major Theoretical Contribution

The paper makes three significant theoretical contributions:

1. Process Understanding: Demonstrates that reference group influence operates through identity construction processes, not just social conformity
2. Self-Goal Integration: Shows how individual differences in self-verification versus self-enhancement goals determine which reference groups have the most influence
3. Active Construction: Reveals that consumers actively and selectively use brand associations from different reference groups to meet specific psychological needs

Major Managerial Implications

Brand Equity Building: Self-brand connections represent a psychological manifestation of brand equity that can lead to:

• More robust, change-resistant brand attitudes
• Greater forgiveness of marketing mistakes
• Increased brand loyalty and reduced price sensitivity
• Sustainable competitive advantage (difficult for competitors to imitate)

Segmentation Strategy: Marketers should understand their target consumers’ predominant self-goals to determine whether to emphasize member group or aspiration group associations in brand positioning.

Unexplored Theoretical Factors

Several potentially influential factors were not examined:

Individual Differences:

• Self-monitoring tendencies (high self-monitors may be more sensitive to reference group associations)
• Need for uniqueness versus conformity
• Social identity strength and centrality
• Cultural values (individualism/collectivism)

Contextual Factors:

• Situational self-awareness or identity salience
• Social presence or evaluation apprehension
• Temporal factors (life transitions, identity uncertainty periods)
• Brand relationship strength and history

Brand-Related Factors:

• Brand authenticity perceptions
• Brand-self congruence at different levels (actual, ideal, social self)
• Multi-brand portfolio effects
• Brand community strength and involvement

Process Factors:

• Identification strength with multiple simultaneous reference groups
• Reference group conflict situations
• The role of negative reference groups (dissociative groups)
• Cross-cultural differences in reference group influence mechanisms

Reference

Escalas, Jennifer Edson and James R. Bettman (2003), “You Are What They Eat: The Influence of Reference Groups on Consumers’ Connections to Brands,” Journal of Consumer Psychology, 13 (3), 339–48.