Me, my brand and I: consumer responses to luxury brand rejection

Integrating the social rejection and brand threat literatures, this research examines how consumers respond when the luxury brand they identify with is rejected by their social peers. Across two studies, it is observed that, consumers who identify with a brand, a threat to the brand elicit defensive behavioral response whether it's stemming from an in-group or an out-group. However, consumers who dis-identify with the brand only adopt defensive behaviour when the brand is rejected by an out-group. High brand identifiers report higher need for belonging and negative affect following threat while brand dis-identifiers are not affected. The findings further delineate consumer responses to luxury brand related rejection in reflexive and reflective stages of rejection. The study extends previous work on rejection and offers a number of managerial implications.