THE EFFECT SELF-CONGRUENCE ON BRAND AUTHENTICITY EVALUATION

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of self-congruence on consumers' evaluation of brand authenticity. Brand authenticity was considered as four basic dimensions (consistency, originality, reliability and naturalness) and the effect of self-congruence (actual and ideal self-congruence) on them was the subject of the study. Research data were collected from 334 participants. Explanatory and confirmatory factor and linear regression analyses were used in testing the hypotheses. Research findings show that actual and ideal self-congruence has a positive effect on brand authenticity evaluation. Actual self-congruence has no effect on the originality dimension. Our results also showed that ideal self-congruence has a greater effect on the evaluation of brand authenticity compared to actual self-congruence.