Consumer-brand congruence and conspicuousness: an international comparison Hector Bajac Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences, Universidad ORT Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay Miguel Palacios ESCP Europe Business School, Madrid, Spain, and Elizabeth A. Minton Department of Management and Marketing, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how congruence influences product evaluations in an international Latin culture context, as moderated by the public vs private nature of the product and user-image vs product-personality congruence. Design/methodology/approach – Participants were recruited from two universities in Spanish-speaking, Latin cultures: Spain – Latin Europe (n ¼ 340) and Uruguay – Latin America (n ¼ 400). All participants were asked to indicate product-personality congruence (i.e. congruence between one’s self and the product) and user-image congruence (i.e. congruence between a product’s typical user and the product) for two private and two public products. Findings – Two types of congruence (product-personality and user-image) positively influence brand evaluations more for publicly consumed than for privately consumed brands for consumers in both Latin cultures, with effect sizes being greater than prior research in other cultures. Research limitations/implications – This research supports congruence theory in showing that similarity between a consumer and a brand leads to more favorable attitudes. Limitations include the sole use of student subjects and examination in only two countries of Latin culture. Practical implications – Regardless of a brand’s personality, brands should seek consumers with similar personality traits, especially in Latin cultures. Originality/value – This research addresses several limitations in prior research by examining both publicly and privately consumed products in one study, exploring congruence across Latin cultures, and testing products not confounded by addictive properties. Keywords Spain, Brand image, Brand identity, Latin culture, Product-personality congruence, User-image congruence Paper type Research paper The relationship between a consumer and a brand is known to be multifaceted (cf. Fletcher et al., 2000; Fournier, 1998; Lin and Sung, 2014), including such components as trust, nostalgia/past experiences, perceived quality of interactions, and a consumer’s self-connection with a brand (Kim et al., 2014). In particular, a consumer’s self-connection with a brand (i.e. consumer-brand congruence) influences brand choice because consumers select brands based on functional/utilitarian characteristics as well as more symbolic meanings that contribute to a consumer’s self-concept (Elliott, 1997; Levy, 1959). This congruence has been shown to positively influence product evaluations (Dolich, 1969; Govers and Schoormans, 2005; Graeff, 1996b; Parker, 2009). However, further research is needed to examine the boundary conditions of such consumer-brand congruence, particularly in an international context. In other words, how does congruency between the self and a brand influence brand and product evaluations? Also, how do these effects International Marketing Review Vol. 35 No. 3, 2018 pp. 498-517 © Emerald Publishing Limited 0265-1335 DOI 10.1108/IMR-12-2016-0225 Received 15 December 2016 Revised 8 May 2017 10 July 2017 23 August 2017 Accepted 15 September 2017 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-1335.htm 498 IMR 35,3 Downloaded by Auraria Library At 07:59 15 August 2018 (PT)