Marketing, get ready to rumble — How rivalry promotes distinctiveness for brands and consumers
- Scholars typically advise brands to stay away from public conflict with competitors as research has focused on negative consequences - e.g., price wars, escalating hostilities, and derogation. This research distinguishes between rivalry between firms (inter-firm brand rivalry) and rivalry between consumers (inter-consumer brand rivalry). Four studies and six samples show both types of rivalry can have positive consequences for both firms and consumers. Inter-firm brand rivalry boosts perceived distinctiveness of competing brands independent of consumption, attitude, familiarity, and involvement. Inter-consumer brand rivalry increases consumer group distinctiveness, an effect mediated by brand identification and rival brand disidentification. We extend social identity theory by demonstrating that: 1) outside actors like firms can promote inter-consumer rivalry through inter-firm rivalry and 2) promoting such conflict can actually provide benefits to consumers as well as firms. The paper challenges the axiom “never knock the competition,” deriving a counter-intuitive way to accomplish one of marketing's premier objectives.
Author: | Johannes BerendtORCiD, Sebastian UhrichORCiD, Scott A. Thompson |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:bsz:960-opus4-25047 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.25968/opus-2504 |
DOI original: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.03.015 |
ISSN: | 1873-7978 |
Parent Title (English): | Journal of Business Research |
Publisher: | Elsevier |
Document Type: | Article |
Language: | English |
Year of Completion: | 2018 |
Publishing Institution: | Hochschule Hannover |
Release Date: | 2023/03/27 |
Tag: | brand distinctiveness; brand rivalry; conflict; consumer distinctiveness |
GND Keyword: | Marke; Rivalität; Konflikt; Verbraucher; Unterscheidungskraft |
Volume: | 88 |
First Page: | 161 |
Last Page: | 172 |
Link to catalogue: | 1848511744 |
Institutes: | Fakultät III - Medien, Information und Design |
DDC classes: | 650 Management |
Licence (German): | Creative Commons - CC BY-NC-ND - Namensnennung - Nicht kommerziell - Keine Bearbeitungen 4.0 International |