Abstract
This thesis is the first to explore the effect of social identity boost on affective social identity and marketing outcomes, namely consumers' attitudes, perceptions and purchase intention for products associated with the social group and those that are not. Social identity boost refers to a stimulus - such as an advert - which communicates positive information about the socialgroup the consumer is a member of. The main contribution of this thesis lies in proposing and testing the social identity boost paradox, wherein the effect of social identity boost on affective social identity depends on consumers' level of cognitive social identity. The proposed effects are tested across 5 studies (2 surveys and 3 experiments). Paper 1 reported in this thesis assesses the relationship between (cognitive and affective) social identity and marketing outcomes. Paper 2 tests the causal effect of social identity boost on affective social identity and the indirect effect of social identity boost on marketing outcomes. Further, Paper 2 explores the conditions under which the social identity boost paradox occurs.
The thesis reads as a traditional PhD, with a substantial literature review ( chapter 2), a methods chapter (chapter 3) and a general discussion (chapter 6). However, the results are reported as extended paper versions in chapters 4 and 5. These extended papers have supplementary infonnation and an amount of detail that would not be included if these papers were submitted to an academic journal. Additionally, chapters 4 and 5 link back to previous chapters to avoid repetition, which would also not be done were the papers submitted to an academic journal. Finally, chapter 6 draws together the findings of the previous chapters to offer a general discussion and outline theoretical contributions with suggestions for further research.
| Date of Award | Oct 2015 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Edward Shiu (Supervisor) |
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