Identity‐based motivation: Constraints and opportunities in consumer research

Abstract

This commentary underscores the integrative nature of the identity-based motivation model (Oyserman, 2009). We situate the model within existing literatures in psychology and consumer behavior, and illustrate its novel elements with research examples. Special attention is devoted to, 1) how product-and brand-based affordances constrain identity-based motivation processes and, 2) the mindsets and action tendencies that can be triggered by specific cultural identities in pursuit of consumer goals. Future opportunities are suggested for researching the antecedents of product meanings and relevant identities.Daphna Oyserman (2009) provides an integrative review of how identity-based motivations activate both contents and processes for making sense of the world. Psychologically salient identities serve as organizing schemas for integrating new information and experiences into the self-concept. These elaborated self-schemas, or salient identities, function as meaningmaking interpretive structures that can be activated by environmental cues and operate below consciousness to influence perception, judgment, and self-regulation.

Culture and consumer behavior: the role of horizontal and vertical cultural factors

“…Furthermore, injunctive norms applied to power holders vary by cultural orientation, and the application of these norms predict consumer judgments in a range of business and service settings [40, 18]. European-Americans (i.e., people high in VI) tend to conceptualize power in personalized terms [16].…”

“…This experience can therefore trigger negative affective responses as well as efforts to restore one's power through status consumption. However, receiving disrespectful service from a high-ranking person (e.g., hotel vice-president) does not necessarily implicate one's personal status and could instead trigger deferential responses from people high in VI [40]. …”

Procedural Justice and Employee Engagement: Roles of Organizational Identification and Moral Identity Centrality

“…MI-based motivation of employee engagement can be informed by the basic notion of identity-based motivation (e.g., Alvesson and Willmott 2002;Das et al 2008;Shavitt et al 2009), which posits that a salient identity (e.g., central to a personal overall self-concept) ''triggers action tendencies and mindsets that facilitate meeting identity goals,'' (Shavitt et al 2009, p. 263). The mindset associated with an identity filters information processing and encourages attitudes that are consistent with the expectation arising from the focal identity (Das et al 2008), as people have the inherent desire to preserve and stabilize their self-view by ''thinking and behaving in ways that perpetuate their conceptions of self'' (Swann et al 1987, p. 881).…”

Identity‐based motivation and consumer behavior

“…White and black youth, but not Latino youth exposed to the national 'truth' anti-smoking campaign featuring white, black and Latino teens challenging tobacco companies' veracity were equally likely to report negative beliefs about tobacco companies. Presumably this was because the ads targeted a nonhierarchical 'wise' identity that was equally relevant to both white and black youth but not Latinos (for details of the study, see Cowell et al (2009), for further discussion of cultural differences in response to power cues, see Shavitt et al (2009)). …”