The effect of performance brands and group identification on consumers’ expected performance and psychological well-being

Abstract

Brands play an important role in consumers’ daily lives. When consumers struggle with a difficult task they use certain brands to help them perform better. Several studies have shown that brand use can enhance feelings of self-efficacy, which can lead to better task performance. In this dissertation we propose that consumption of a brand that carries performance-enhancing expectations results in psychological changes for consumers (self-signalling and perceptions of self-efficacy) that in turn improve an individual’s perceptions of performance outcomes. Besides, we test the same effects with brands associated with reference groups (in-group and out-group). We propose that brands associated with reference groups will have similar or higher effects in self-efficacy expectations of performance and well-being factors than performance brands. We test these effects in the context of practice of physical activity and use sport equipment from various brands to assess the differences. We introduce football teams as reference groups and research in team identification shows that this group membership can bring psychological benefits in well-being for fans. In both studies (Study 1 and Study 2) results show no significant effects of performance brands in performance expectations when compared to unbranded conditions; however, Study 1 shows that brands associated with reference groups lead to higher athletic performance expectations, levels of pleasure, satisfaction and sense of belongingness.

Date of Award	25 May 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	João Niza Braga (Supervisor)