Consumer preference for national vs. private brands: The influence of brand engagement and self-concept threat

Previous research on self-brand connections has not considered the inclusion of brand categories (e.g., national and private brands). The current work examines consumers’ preference for national and private brands and their tendency to include brands as part of their self-concept (measured by the brand engagement in the self-concept (BESC) scale and manipulated using a tagline). Study 1 revealed higher BESC consumers to prefer national (vs. private) brands. Study 2 identified a boundary condition for our initial study by demonstrating consumers higher in BESC to prefer national brands (relative to private brands) less when presented a self-concept threat. Additionally, results showed lower BESC consumers deferring to national (vs. private) brands when facing a self-concept threat. Finally, Study 3 results were consistent with Study 2 findings when brand engagement was manipulated (vs. measured). Our work suggests that when a self-concept threat unrelated to the branded self is presented, the central importance of brands, for those consumers more highly engaged with brands, will decrease to the point of impacting preferences.