Can you represent me? The influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior

Purpose This study aimed to verify the impact of consumers' self-congruity on brand loyalty behavior when stock-out happens; the role of the psychological reactance theory as a mediator was assessed. Design/methodology/approach Data collection was carried out in the form of a questionnaire survey. Data from 417 respondents were analyzed, and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses. Findings The findings revealed the positive significant impact of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, and the mediating effect of psychological reactance between self-congruity and consumers' brand loyalty behavior. Practical implications This study offers retailers/brand owners a deeper understanding of the remedy strategy needed to reduce the sales loss in their firms when stock-out happens. Originality/value This study provides a theoretical and empirical test on the influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, bringing consumers' psychological reactance into the research as a mediating factor, thereby enriching the existing research on consumers' out-of-stock reactions.