Brand Management Strategy for Korean ... - Brunel University

esearch on organisations indicates that constructing a social identity from identification
with an organisation is related to the need for self-continuity (Heider, 1958). That is, the
attractiveness of a sports team is increased when the team‟s identity aligns with a fan‟s
sense of who he or she is.
Belk (1988)‟s identity consumption theory and the C-C identification model
(Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003) focus on the role of identity similarity in constructing
strong customer relationships and loyalty. The theory of identity similarity derived from
the similarity-attraction paradigm, which proposes that people‟s preference for
individuals or groups depends on the degree of similarity between themselves and that
person or group (Berscheid and Walster, 1969).
The basis for the connection between identity similarity and identity attractiveness
(Dutton, Dukerich, and Harquail 1994) is two fold: First, consumers find information
concerning brands whose identity is closely aligned with their own easier to focus on
and absorb (Markus and Wurf 1987). Second, constructing a relationship with a brand
with whom they identify allows the consumer to express their sense of who they are
(Pratt 1998). Building and supporting relationships with similar people and
organisations enables individuals to improve their self-esteem, and maintain consistency
in their self-identity. (Tesser et al., 1988; Byrne, 1971).
In the team sports context, the term of similarity has been frequently regarded as one of
the crucial variables for identification in studies on sport sponsorship and advertising
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