Activating the Self-Importance of Consumer Selves: Exploring Identity Salience Effects on Judgments

Abstract

Two studies examine the identity salience construct in a judgment formation context. Study 1 manipulates identity salience by heightening the self-importance of a consumer social identity, resulting in systematic changes in purchase intent of an identity relevant product. Study 2 shows that judgments of identity relevant stimuli are a function of exposure to an identity cue and the consumer's measured self-importance associated with the identity, particularly when the identity is diagnostic to the judgment. These results are discussed in terms of how they extend prior work on social identity, product preference formation, and attitude change.