Marina Carnevale and Lauren Block Baruch College, City University of New York

1. The Brand, Me, and the Other: The Influence of External Social Relationships on Consumer-Brand Relationships Marina Carnevale and Lauren Block Baruch College, City University of New York

2. Introduction Current Research • Do social, external (to consumer-brand) relationships impact consumer brand relationships? What are the mechanisms underlying these effects?

3. Current research Social External Relationships Consumer-Brand Relationships (e.g., Fournier 1998; Johnson, Matear, Thompson 2011) (e.g., Sherry 1983; Ruthet al. 1999)

4. Theoretical Model Affect towards the external party Self-Brand Connection External Relationship Episode Brand-related Behaviors c Study 1 Study 2

5. Study 1: Method Three sessions, 3 weeks apart • Pretest: brand stimulus selection • Part 1: prior SBC • Part II: Relationship episode (Reinforcement vs. Dissolution) N=39 • Relationship story development; manipulation • Affect towards the external party • Filler tasks • Dependent Variable (SBC) • Manipulation checks

6. Study 1- Results • Affect towards the external party • Negative • Positive *** *** • (F (1, 38)= 137.9; p < .001) • (F (1, 38) = 41.12; p < .001) Participants in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition experienced significantly higher levels of negative (positive) affect towards the external party

7. Study 1-Results • Participants in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition displayed significantly lower (higher) levels of SBC (F (1, 37) = 5.25; p <.05) • Bootstrapping method, cross sectional mediation (Preacher and Hayes 2004, 2008; Zhao, Lynch, and Chen 2010): • Negative affect mediates the effects of relationship episode on SBC (a x b = -.80; CI: -1.89 to -.01 ) while positive affect does not (CI: -1.73 to 2.11) • Stronger impact of negative (vs. positive) information on consumer’s evaluations (e.g., Ito, Larsen, Smith, and Cacioppo 1998) -> significant difference of SBC largely explained by negative affect in the dissolution condition Self-Brand Connection External Relationship Episode

8. Objective • Replicate and build on study 1 (brand-related behaviors) • Design • Relationship episode (Reinforcement vs. Dissolution) • Procedure (study 1-part II) • N= 117 • Manipulation: same as study 1, except for pdt category (cell phone) and brand (fictitious) • Process measures (affect towards external party, association with the external party and pdt/brand) • DVs (SBC, Attitude, PI, Avoidance pdt/brand) Study 2- Method

9. Study 2- Results • Desire of avoidance: significantly higher (lower) for those in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition • Product (MD = 4.11 vs. MR = 2.04; F (1, 113) =99.94; p < .001) • Brand (MD = 3.52 vs. MR = 1.95; F (1, 113) =23.97; p < .001) Changes in external relationships go beyond those on the gifted product; rather, they spill over to the brand • Participants in the dissolution (vs. reinforcement) condition displayed significantly lower: • Self-Brand Connections (MD = 3.51 vs. MR = 5.00) • Attitude towards the Brand (MD = 3.98 vs. MR = 5.25) • (All Fs (1,116) > 10, p ≤ .001)

10. Study 2- Results • Purchase Intentions • High Fit • Low Fit *** (F (1, 116)= 14. 68; p < .001) (F (1, 116)=.02; p > .1) • Participants in the dissolution (vs. reinforcement) condition displayed significantly lower (higher) purchase intentions • However, this only happened for relatively more fitting product categories

11. Study 2- Results Process measures • As in study 1, participants in the dissolution (vs. reinforcement) condition experienced significantly higher levels of negative affect (F (1, 115) = 347.48; p < .001 ) andlower levels of positive affect towards the external party (F (1, 116) = 588.84; p < .001) • Associations of the external party with both the product and the brand did not vary significantly across conditions (p>. 10) -> High association of the external party with the product/brand, regardless of relationship episode

12. Study 2- Mediation Analysis Affect towards the external party • a x b = -1.59; CI: -2.99 to -.04 Self-Brand Connection External Relationship Episode c a x b = -1.59; CI: -2.99 to -.04 • Bootstrapping method; 5,000 bootstrap resamples, 95% bias-corrected and accelerated CI (Preacher and Hayes 2004, 2008; Zhao et al. 2010) a x b = -0.07; CI: -.17 to -.01 All a x bs>o and significant

13. Discussion Study 1 and 2 • Changes in an external relationship impact feelings of SBC, because of the negative affect associated with the external party Study 2 • Lower (higher) SBC that follow explain less (more) favorable brand-related behaviors, such as attitude towards the brand, purchase intentions (PI), desires of product and brand avoidance • The effects of relationship episode on PI are limited to product categories more strictly related to the product that symbolizes the external relationship

14. Contribution Social, external relationships impact consumer-brand Relationships The effects go beyond those on the gifted product; rather, they spill over to the brand and to brand-related responses • Relationship Theory: not only consumer-brand relationships mirror interpersonal ones; they also are affected by them • Consumer-brand relationships-> new avenue for future research • New perspectives on gift experience • Influence of SBC • Practical implications: brands as means to reinforce desirable external social relationships (communication/brand positioning)

15. Future Research Short-term plan: • Enhance external validity • “Non-student” participants • Field experiment • Rule out incidental mood as an alternative explanation Other future research: • Persistence of the effects across time • Explore different types of relationships and of reinforcements/dissolution

16. Thank you!