Investigating the antecedents and consequences of perceived connectedness to brand users: Brand communities versus brand collectivities

Brands can often be highly capable of linking individuals to one another. Many brand admirers feel a psychological connection with one another, a feeling referred to in this dissertation as perceived connectedness to brand users (PCBU). Though this connection has been almost wholly studied among brand consumer engaged in recurrent brand-oriented social interaction (i.e., brand communities), brand consumers need not be engaged in social interaction in order to feel an implicit connection with one another. In this dissertation, a collection of individuals who feel a connection with a brand's consumers, while engaging in minimal to no recurrent brand-oriented social interaction, is referred to as a brand collectivity.;This dissertation provides insight as to how PCBU affects members of brand communities and brand collectivities and has six objectives: (1) to demonstrate the distinctiveness of PCBU as a construct; (2) to examine the consequences of perceived connectedness to brand users; (3) to examine antecedents of perceived connectedness to brand users; (4) to examine antecedents of self-brand connection; (5) to examine antecedents of brand user identification; (6) to investigate the moderating effect of enduring involvement on the relationships between perceived connectedness to brand users and its antecedents; and (7) to compare the hypothesized model of PCBU among members of brand collectivities and brand communities. Data were gathered from owners of the iPod, a subsidiary brand of MP3 players from Apple. Cluster analyses were used to classify respondents as members of either a brand community or a brand collectivity.;An empirical examination of PCBU revealed that PCBU influences the perceived influence that their members' feel they have over the meaning of a brand to others and that self-brand connection and brand user identification are antecedents of PCBU. Self-brand connection is significantly influenced by consumers' perceived similarity to the brand and their opposition of competing brands; brand user identification is affected only by the latter. Neither group membership nor enduring involvement was found to have a moderating influence on the hypothesized model of PCBU. Overall, PCBU and significant differences between brand communities and brand collectivities are shown to affect consumer behavior.