interpersonal primacy and templates in consumer-brand relationships
TRANSCRIPT
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Aaron Ahuvia
University of Michigan-Dearborn
Interpersonal Primacy and Templates
in Consumer-Brand Relationships
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INTRODUCTION
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The scope of relationships we
study
Fiske (1991) 4 types of human relationships
Aggerwal– Exchange relationships
– Communal relationships
Any ongoing series of interactions is a relationship, and fair game for us to study
– What are their rules and expectations?
– How do relationship types fit together into a whole system?
– When will each type be the most relevant?
But . . .
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Relationships & relationships
What makes what we have to say really
interesting?
– Dog bites man
• buyers have exchange relationships with sellers
– Man bites Dog
• consumers have communal relationships with
brands
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Ironically, it is the primacy of
interpersonal relationships that
makes CBRs interesting
It is because nothing matters more to people
than other people, that the idea of
consumers having quasi-interpersonal
relationships with brands is powerful
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AND THAT MAKES BRAND
LOVE SO VERY INTERESTING
A shameless plug for my work
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Attack of the giant construct
Brand Love
Passion-driven Behaviors
Willingness to Invest
Resources
Passionate Desire to Use
Things Done Past (involvnt.)
Self-Brand Integration
Life Meaning
Desired Self-identity
Current Self-identity
Attit. Strength 1:Frequent Thoughts
Positive Emotional Connection
Intuitive Fit
Emotional Attachment
Positive Affect
Long-term Relationship
Anticipated Negative Affect
Overall Attitude Valence
Attit. Strength 2: Certainty/Confidence
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Why so big?Not just another pretty face
Love has a unique place in western culture
– Love as a theme in music, drama, art, etc.
– People are often willing to die (and kill) for
love
– Love is sacred
• Some people are offended by “brand love”, but
• not offended by love of country, art, freedom or
God
– Not only do people love God, but many
claim that God is love
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Love is a summational category
For the psychological processes that lead to attraction and relationship maintenance
– Murstein (1988) found a single factor underlying love which encompasses all the good things one can think of another
– Love sumarizes all the most normatively positive aspects of relationships
Brand love is the ultimate “man bites dog” story
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INTERPERSONAL PRIMACY
HYPOTHESIS
Often unstated, it underlies much of our work
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Nothing matters as much to
people, as other people
altruistic concern for other people
having the “right” relationships with
the right people
– close relationships
– the respect of strangers
– and even being feared by competitors
If you trace consumer motivations back
far enough, you will almost always
bump into another person
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What about materialists . . .
who substitute brands for interpersonal
relationships?
– Those aren’t materialists, those are lonely
people
“Mater” = worldly
Materialists use brands to structure their
social relationships in hierarchical ways
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Nothing matters as much to
people, as other people
Evolutionary roots
Bourdieu
Ayne Rand
– even a broken clock is right twice a day
Fournier (2009) notes that CBRs are often the byproduct of attempts to for IPRs, such as joining consumption communities
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THE INTERPERSONAL
TEMPLATES HYPOTHESIS
The Interpersonal-Communal Relationship Templates Hypothesis
aka
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IPRs are so basic to human psychology,
that they lurk in the background of
CBRs
Mental templates include
– Schemas
– Scripts
– Prototypes
– Cultural models
– Relationship contract
– Etc.
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Four main responses
– Yes
– No -- CBRs have their own types and their
own rules
– Sometimes -- our job is to find out when and
why
– Sort of -- people start with interpersonal
relationship models and then adjust for
brands
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Brand LoveA definite case of “sort of”
People decide if they love a brand by using a
prototype matching hypothesis (i.e. the duck
test)
The prototype comes from some situationally
relevant form of interpersonal love
Which is then adjusted to the brand context, e.g.
• lack of responsiveness
• unconditional very conditional love
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DOES FOCUSING ON
RELATIVELY COMMUNAL
RELATIONSHIP MODELS
OVERLY CONSTRAIN OF OUR
WORK?
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If we look at CBRs as including
communal and exchange
relationships, we’ll always be
relevant
On the other hand
– High involvement relationships are a pretty
big area
– Our models may extend beyond their original
context
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Brand love predicting
WOM/loyalty/resistance to neg.
Loved brand
R2 = .61
Mundane brand
R2 = .63Brand Love
Passion-driven Behaviors
Willingness to Invest
Resources
Passionate Desire to Use
Things Done Past (involvnt.)
Self-Brand Integration
Life Meaning
Desired Self-identity
Current Self-identity
Attit. Strength 1:Frequent Thoughts
Positive Emotional Connection
Intuitive Fit
Emotional Attachment
Positive Affect
Long-term Relationship
Anticipated Negative Affect
Overall Attitude Valence
Attit. Strength 2: Certainty/Confidence
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Where to from here?
Communal
relationships
Exchange
relationships
Brand
relationshipsYou are here
Needed to
provide context
Interpersonal
relationships in
marketing
contexts
Low hanging
fruit
Not so
interesting right
now
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Interpersonal relationships in
marketing contexts
Sales people
– Dyadic interpersonal relationships
– Organization-to-organization relationships
Service providers
– Doctors, matchmakers and social support
Highly involved customer collaboration on
innovation
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RESEARCH IDEAS
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When will templates matter?
Will interpersonal relationship templates
(schemas, scripts, relationship contracts,
prototypes, etc.) be more influential in more
communal CBRs?
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A rose by any other name . . ..
Does it matter if a consumer uses an
interpersonal metaphor to describe their
relationship with a brand?
– How much?
– When?
– Why?
Sternberg’s commitment includes a
declaration of love
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Attachment
Attachment styles are based on the default
models people have for relationships
– Is consumer attachment style primarily a
function of their interpersonal attachment
style?
– Or do consumers have a separate model for
CBRs?
• Paulssen and Fournier (2008)
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Persons and personification
Do brand personification such as mascots,
celebrities, and founders increase
communal(ish) CBRs?
– Theology again
What about relationships with employees?
– Individual sales or service people?
– Typical sales or service people from a
company?
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Consumer or customer BRs?
Customers includes B2B
– B2B relationships tend to be more long term
and intense then typical consumer-brand
relationships
– There is a large literature on B2B
relationships to build on
How do B2B CBRs compare to B2C CBRs?
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Managerial outcomes of CBRs
We know in general terms that stronger CBRs lead to better managerial outcomes
We need a much more theory driven account of how specific aspects of CBRs lead to specific managerial outcomes, such as:
– Loyalty/increased volume
– Expanding brand usage to new products
– Advocacy/WOM
– Resistance to negative information
– Willingness to pay a price premium
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RESEARCH QUESTIONS ON
ETHICS
How does relationship type impact ethical obligations?
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Ethics & relationships
Ethical responsibilities vary with the nature
and closeness of the relationship
Where do customers belong?
Family Friends Community Strangers Competitors Enemies
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Are (some) marketers the devil
incarnate?
The devil we know
– Charming
– Keeps the letter of agreements
– Deceives while speaking the literal truth
– Leads us into temptation
Sound like anyone you know?
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Are (some) marketers the devil
incarnate?
“Opportunism – “self-interest seeking with
guile” – is the global norm governing
commercial exchange relations (Williamson
1975); relational norms supersede
opportunism to enhance interdependent
relationships (MacNeil 1980).”
– Fournier 2009
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CBRs & SWB?
How do CBRs relate to materialism and
SWB?
– The Meaning of Things
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Questions?
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RESEARCH IDEAS POT LUCK