The Role of Self-Construal and Competitiveness in Consumers' Self-Brand Connection with Domestic vs. Foreign Brands

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of self-construal (independence vs. interdependence) traits on consumer self and communal brand connection for domestic local and foreign global brands. The results showed that, while interdependent consumers report a higher self and communal brand connection for domestic local (and not for foreign global) brands, trait competitiveness has a favorable impact on self (and not communal) brand connection. The results also showed that independence did not have an impact on brand connection for either domestic local or foreign global brands. From our findings, we propose a new trait taxonomy of interaction-based traits including independence, interdependence, and competitiveness.