Actual Self-Incongruity and Ideal Self-Congruity Effects of Luxury Fashion Brands
Authors:   Asia-Europe Perspective Association, Kim Jieun 
Published: October 2019

The self-congruity effect refers to the match between consumers’ self-concept and the image of objects compared, such as brand image, product image, store image, and advertising materials (i.e., Choi and Rifon, 2012; Sirgy et al., 2000). Past research has shown that the self-congruity effect (Sirgy, 1982) is an important key predictor for consumers’ responses (i.e., attitude, purchase intention, choice, satisfaction, and loyalty) toward various marketing stimuli such as brand, store, and product (Krishen and Sirgy, 2016; Liu, Li, Mizerski, and Soh, 2012; Sirgy et al., 2000; Sirgy, Lee, Johar, and Tidwell, 2008). The more similar the brand image is to the consumer’s own concept or self-image, the better the consumer evaluates the brand, and the better the purchase intention and the satisfaction with the purchase.
The purpose of this study is to address this knowledge gap by investigating the relevancy of self-congruity theory to the purchase of luxury brands. Furthermore, the impact of income is studied in terms of to what extent income affects consumers’ brand attitudes regarding luxury brands. In contrast to the long-standing self-congruity effect, we propose that actual self-incongruity and ideal self-congruity effects will work when consumers evaluate luxury fashion brands. Therefore, this study would contribute not only to the body of self-congruity theory related literature, but also to the knowledge related to luxury brand management.
A stratified sampling method was employed to obtain an evenly distributed number of participants from different income classes. The strata were identified by income. Three strata were developed: (1) more than $100,000; (2) $55,000 to less than $100,000; and (3) less than $55,000. The average age was 41 and most of them were Euro American (76.3%). Participants (n=502) were of various backgrounds and ages (women between 18 and 74 years old) (m=43).
The results show the positive influence of ideal self-congruity and actual self-incongruity on the evaluation of luxury brand products. Specifically, research findings show that actual self-incongruity positively affects brand attitude, and perceived quality. That means that the more different the image of a luxury brand differs from the actual self-image, the better attitude toward the brand, and the better the quality the brand. However, it has not been confirmed that the greater the difference between my actual self-image and brand image, the greater the purchase intention. Perhaps this seems to be due to the possibility of purchasing. To reiterate, this result showed that actual self-congruity negatively influences consumers’ perception toward a luxury brand. This is the first study identifying that actual self-congruity has a negative influence on the evaluation of brands, as opposed to previous findings. It is a very important finding showing that this phenomenon appears in the luxury brand context. On the other hand, the ideal self-incongruity negatively affects all dependent variables including brand attitude, purchase intention, and perceived quality. In summary, consumers have a favorable attitude toward luxury brands with images that are similar to what they would like to have, they are willing to purchase the brand, and they tend to be well aware of quality.
In addition, by examining the effect of self-incongruity depending on the level of income, the effect of self-incongruity can be seen more deeply. As a result, it was found that the effect of actual self-incongruity is stronger as the income level is lower. If the income is high, the result of the brand evaluation by the degree of self-incongruity is unlikely to be greatly affected. This is because a high level of income does not prohibit them from purchasing their luxury brands. Also their incongruity between their actual self and ideal self is relatively small due to the consumption of luxury brands.