Rational Consumption Choice Based On Brand Identity

Brand Identity is the most specific and important expression of brand value all along. It’s a perception to brand value from consumers’side and also their significant reference when they make decisions on consumption. With the development of consumption ability and the change of consumption view, consumers’ abilities on brand identity are improving continually and the degree of identity is still deepening. At the same time, companies really need some breakthroughs to make efforts on shaping brand identity. Traditional research methods of brand identity focus more on corporate perspective and consider less on consumers’reception. The study of brand identity and its effects on rational consumption choice from consumers’perspective is central to our effective understanding of propensity, habit, attitude and pattern of consumption.This thesis is based on the relevant professional studies of brand identity. Considering the study of rational consumer behavior and consumer psychology, it introduces the theory of consumers’perceptive value and analyzes the dimensions and factors of brand identity from the angle of rational consumers’attitudes and measures. After that, a model of rational consumption choice based on brand identity is built. The model includes four dimensions, namely product experience, service experience, corporate influence and psychological experience. The study establishes relationships between brand identity degree, brand consumption intention and seven factors from the four dimensions, namely product function, product quality, consumer relationship, consumption fluency, corporate influence, emotional benefit and social benefit. Then total14hypotheses are proposed in the thesis.The study collects survey data of consumers’brand identity and choices by questionnaire. After filtering the data, we use the statistical software SPSS20.0to complete the reliability analysis, validity analysis, factor analysis and correlation analysis of the data. In the end, we test all the hypotheses using multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression.The results of data analysis show that both product experience dimension and psychological experience dimension have strong positive effects on brand identity and consumption intention. The effect corporate influence has on brand identity is significant. But it’s less significant on consumption intention. The hypotheses of consumer relationship to brand identity and consumption fluency to consumption intention are not supported, others are positive and significant. The conclusions confirm the "product as core" brand strategy and reveal the importance of psychological experience to consumption choice. They also have revelations on the contents, impacts and directions that corporate can improve while shaping the brand identity. The results challenge the traditional thoughts on service experience and it needs an in-depth study. The study of this thesis can be reference in the further research and it provides encouraging meanings and innovative values at the same time.