Some Like It Warm: How Social Exclusion Affects Consumer Preference for Warm Brands

• Author / Creator

  Kim, Soyoung

• Social exclusion—defined as the deficiency of social connection and acceptance—is a painful yet common life experience. When socially excluded, consumers are motivated to restore social connection and display a wide range of coping behaviors. Although prior research has examined various consumption behaviors as a coping mechanism of social exclusion, little is known about how social exclusion affects the nature of consumer-brand relationships, and how the formation of such relationships affects consumer preference. In this research, I examine how social exclusion and brand warmth affect consumer-brand relationships and consumer preference. Across four studies, I find that when socially excluded, consumers prefer a warm brand and that this preference is due to an increased perception of the brand’s relationship partner quality. I also find that a warm brand reduces perceived loneliness among excluded consumers. This preference persists even when the brand is incompetent and even when consumers are equipped with high self-acceptance. The research opens the door to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of social exclusion, consumer-brand relationships, brand preference, and loneliness alleviation.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • social exclusion
  • brand warmth
  • consumer-brand relationships
  • consumer preference

• Graduation date

  Fall 2018

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3PR7N944

• License

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