基于目标追逐理论和社会心理学理论,研究探讨了消费者独特性需求和目标追逐阶段对其选择渴望群体（即拥有其理想身份的群体）品牌的影响。两项实验结果表明,在目标追逐初期,消费者更倾向于选择该群体所用主流品牌;而在后期,低独特性需求者依然偏好主流品牌,高独特性需求者则开始转向选择小众品牌。此外,与渴望群体关联意愿和人际影响敏感性在不同阶段发挥了中介作用。该研究成果推进了目标追逐、独特性需求及人际影响敏感性的研究进展,并为企业的营销策略提供了重要见解。
Abstract
In contemporary society, consumers frequently pursue identity goals, which are ideal self-concepts that they aspire to embody. Examples include becoming a fitness expert or a corporate elite. These pursuits significantly shape consumer behavior, as individuals often emulate the brand preferences of aspirational groups, defined as external groups that consumers wish to join, reflecting their ideal self-image. While prior research has extensively examined specific, tangible goals (e.g., losing weight or passing an exam) and their effects on consumer behavior, the role of abstract identity goals in driving brand choices remains underexplored. This is a critical gap, given that aspirational groups exhibit diverse brand preferences, ranging from widely adopted mainstream brands to less common niche brands. This study investigates how consumers’ need for uniqueness and the stage of their identity goal pursuit jointly influence their preference for mainstream versus niche brands associated with aspirational groups. This study addresses the following questions: Do consumers with different levels of need for uniqueness exhibit varying brand preferences between mainstream and niche brands across goal pursuit stages? If so, what psychological mechanisms underlie these shifts?
Grounded in goal pursuit theory, individuals’ reference points evolve across goal pursuit stages. In the initial stage, individuals use their initial state as a reference point, focusing on the gap between their current state (membership group) and their ideal state (aspirational group), fostering a desire to associate with the latter’s image. In the advanced stage, the reference point shifts to the ideal state, emphasizing alignment with their goal. Consequently, this research hypothesizes that in the initial stage, consumers, regardless of their need for uniqueness, favor mainstream brands due to a higher desire to associate with the aspirational group. In the advanced stage, low-uniqueness-need consumers, sensitive to interpersonal influence, prefer mainstream brands to secure group acceptance, while high-uniqueness-need consumers, less influenced by others, opt for niche brands to express individuality.
With 152 participants, Experiment 1 employed a 2 (goal pursuit stage: initial vs. advanced) × 2 (need for uniqueness: high vs. low) between-subjects design and examined the interaction between the need for uniqueness and goal pursuit stage on brand preference. The results showed that in the initial stage, both high- and low-uniqueness consumers preferred mainstream brands. However, in the advanced stage, low-uniqueness consumers continued to prefer mainstream brands, whereas high-uniqueness consumers shifted toward niche brands. This experiment also confirmed that sensitivity to interpersonal influence mediated the effect in the advanced stage, but the need for belonging did not serve as an alternative explanation. Experiment 2 replicated these findings with 164 participants and further explored why the need for uniqueness did not influence brand choice in the initial stage. It confirmed that consumers’ desire to be associated with the aspirational group significantly masked the effect of the need for uniqueness on brand choice in the initial stage.
This research holds significant theoretical and practical implications. First, unlike previous studies that focus on individuals’ motivation and behavior in specific goal pursuit processes, this study examines identity goals’ impact on consumer brand choice, providing new insights into goal pursuit research. Second, while prior studies on goal pursuit stages have primarily focused on reference point shifts and regulatory focus, this study expands the application scope of goal pursuit theory by exploring changes in consumers’ psychological states and their preferences for aspirational group brands at different stages of identity goal pursuit. Furthermore, while existing literature generally posits that consumers with a high need for uniqueness tend to prefer niche brands, this study suggests that this preference does not apply in the initial stage of goal pursuit, challenging traditional uniqueness need theory. Lastly, this study deepens the understanding of reference group influence and sensitivity to interpersonal influence in consumer brand choice, providing insights for marketers seeking to target consumers at different goal pursuit stages. These findings can help businesses to develop more effective branding strategies that align with consumers’ evolving psychological needs.
关键词
身份目标 /
独特性需求 /
目标追逐阶段 /
与渴望群体关联意愿 /
人际影响敏感性
Key words
identity goal /
goal pursuit stage /
need for uniqueness /
desire to be associated with aspirational group /
sensitivity to interpersonal influence
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基金
*本研究得到国家自然科学基金面上项目（72372076,72372057,71972107）、暨南大学科研培育与创新基金项目暨南领航计划（23JNLH06）和南开大学文科发展基金科学研究类项目（ZB22BZ0106）的资助
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