Brand Management Strategy for Korean ... - Brunel University

individual who is not a member of a group could identify with that group, if he or she
felt that this would improve his or her social identity.
Identification with an organisation is basically derived from the characteristics or
identity of the organisation (Dutton, Dukerich, and Harquail 1994). Numerous studies
on identification within an organisation have proven the significance of relationships
between a corporation‟s employees (Ashforth and Mael, 1989; Bergami and Bagozzi,
2000; Bhattacharya and Elsbach, 2002; Dutton, Dukerich, and Harquail, 1994) and their
consumers (Ambler et al., 2002; Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003).
It is significant for managers to develop strong and lasting relationships with consumers,
and therefore researchers have studied to suggest efficient methods for it. One of the
conceptual frameworks provided by Bhattacharya and Sen (2003) is to examine
identification within consumer-company relationships. Identification within such
relationships originated from high levels of attractiveness of a company results in
positive consequences for the company such as high levels of loyalty of the consumer
(Bergami and Bagozzi, 2000; Ashforth and Mael, 1989). Ultimately, people who
identify with an organisation, company or brand are able to contribute added value to
the consumer-company relationship.
Moreover, Bhattacharya and Sen (2003) maintain that customers consider their
relationships with firms to develop identification with an attractive firm which can
improve their self-definitional needs. What is more, they stress that a company has a
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