Presentation given at the 2nd International Consumer Brand Relationships Conference, www.consumer-brand-relationships.org Copyright by Marina Carnevale Lauren Block

1. Marina Carnevale and Lauren Block
Baruch College, City University of New York

2. Introduction
Current Research
Do social, external (to consumer-brand) relationships
impact consumer brand relationships? What are the
mechanisms underlying these effects?

3. Current research
Social External
Relationships
Consumer-Brand
Relationships
(e.g., Fournier 1998; Johnson
Matear, Thompson 2011)
(e.g., Sherry 1983; Ruthet al. 1999)

4. Theoretical Model
Self-Brand
Connection
c
Study 1
Study 2
External
Relationship
Episode
Affect towards the
external party
Brand-related
Behaviors

5. Study 1: Method
Three sessions, 3 weeks apart
Pretest: brand stimulus selection
Part 1: prior SBC
Part II:
Relationship episode (Reinforcement vs. Dissolution)
N=39
• Relationship story development; manipulation
• Affect towards the external party
• Filler tasks
• Dependent Variable (SBC)
• Manipulation checks

6. Study 1- Results
Affect towards the external
party
Negative
(F (1, 38) = 41.12; p < .001)
***
Positive
(F (1, 38) = 137.9; p < .001)
***
Participants in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition
experienced significantly higher levels of negative (positive) affect
towards the external party

7. Study 1-Results
•Participants in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition
displayed significantly lower (higher) levels of SBC (F (1, 37) =
5.25; p <.05)
•Bootstrapping method, cross sectional mediation (Preacher and
Hayes 2004, 2008; Zhao, Lynch, and Chen 2010):
•Negative affect mediates the effects of relationship episode on SBC
(a x b = -.80; CI: -1.89 to -.01 ) while positive affect does not (CI: -1.73 to 2.11)
•Stronger impact of negative (vs. positive) information on
consumer’s evaluations (e.g., Ito, Larsen, Smith, and Cacioppo 1998) ->
significant difference of SBC largely explained by negative affect in
the dissolution condition
Self-Brand
Connection
External
Relationship
Episode

8. Study 2- Method
Objective
Replicate and build on study 1 (brand-related behaviors)
Design
• Relationship episode (Reinforcement vs. Dissolution)
Procedure (study 1-part II)
• N= 117
• Manipulation: same as study 1, except for pdt category
(cell phone) and brand (fictitious)
• Process measures (affect towards external party,
association with the external party and pdt/brand)
• DVs (SBC, Attitude, PI, Avoidance pdt/brand)

9. Study 2- Results
Desire of avoidance: significantly higher (lower) for
those in the dissolution (reinforcement) condition
Product (MD = 4.11 vs. MR = 2.04; F (1, 113) =99.94; p < .001)
Brand (MD = 3.52 vs. MR = 1.95; F (1, 113) =23.97; p < .001)
Changes in external relationships go beyond those on
the gifted product; rather, they spill over to the brand
Participants in the dissolution (vs. reinforcement)
condition displayed significantly lower:
Self-Brand Connections (MD = 3.51 vs. MR = 5.00)
Attitude towards the Brand (MD = 3.98 vs. MR = 5.25)
(All Fs (1,116) > 10, p ≤ .001)

10. Study 2- Results
Purchase Intentions
(F (1, 116) = 14. 68; p < .001)
•Participants in the dissolution (vs. reinforcement) condition displayed
significantly lower (higher) purchase intentions
•However, this only happened for relatively more fitting product categories
***
(F (1, 116) =.02; p > .1)
High Fit Low Fit

11. Study 2- Results
Process measures
As in study 1, participants in the dissolution (vs.
reinforcement) condition experienced significantly
higher levels of negative affect (F (1, 115) = 347.48; p < .001 ) and
lower levels of positive affect towards the external party
(F (1, 116) = 588.84; p < .001)
Associations of the external party with both the product and
the brand did not vary significantly across conditions (p>. 10)
-> High association of the external party with the
product/brand, regardless of relationship episode

12. Study 2- Mediation Analysis
Self-Brand
Connection
cExternal
Relationship
Episode
Affect towards
the external party
a x b = -1.59; CI: -2.99 to -.04
Bootstrapping method; 5,000 bootstrap resamples, 95%
bias-corrected and accelerated CI (Preacher and Hayes 2004,
2008; Zhao et al. 2010)
a x b = -1.59; CI: -2.99 to -.04
a x b = -0.07; CI: -.17 to -.01
All a x bs >o and significant

13. Discussion
Study 1 and 2
Changes in an external relationship impact feelings of
SBC, because of the negative affect associated with the
external party
Study 2
Lower (higher) SBC that follow explain less (more)
favorable brand-related behaviors, such as attitude
towards the brand, purchase intentions (PI), desires of
product and brand avoidance
The effects of relationship episode on PI are limited to
product categories more strictly related to the product
that symbolizes the external relationship

14. Contribution
Social, external relationships impact consumer-brand Relationships
The effects go beyond those on the gifted product; rather, they spill over
to the brand and to brand-related responses
Relationship Theory: not only consumer-brand relationships mirror
interpersonal ones; they also are affected by them
Consumer-brand relationships-> new avenue for future research
New perspectives on gift experience
Influence of SBC
Practical implications: brands as means to reinforce desirable
external social relationships (communication/brand positioning)

15. Future Research
Short-term plan:
Enhance external validity
“Non-student” participants
Field experiment
Rule out incidental mood as an alternative
explanation
Other future research:
Persistence of the effects across time
Explore different types of relationships and of
reinforcements/dissolution