Consumer-brand identification: A social identity based review and research directions

Consumer-brand identification (CBI) has gained increasing attention in the marketing literature over the past decade as a determinant of consumers' in-role and extra-role behaviour. Despite the growing interest, there are a number of problems with the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the construct in the marketing literature. In this paper, we explore this gap in the literature by presenting a critique of how consumer identification has been defined and highlight the distinction between CBI and other conceptually similar constructs ranging from self-brand connection to self-image congruence. We present a review of the current operationalisations of the consumer identification construct and raise some key problems with existing measurements. A review of the antecedents and consequences of consumer identification is also undertaken. The paper provides a valuable contribution to the marketing field by integrating a wide body of research on an important topic and by offering several insights and broad avenues for future research.