Investigating the Effect of Income in the context of
Economic Inequality on Consumers’ Preference for
Partner or Servant Brand Relationships.
Master Thesis MSc Marketing Management
Stylianos (Stelios) Matsagkos
Contents
1. Literature Review
2. Conceptual Model and Hypotheses
3. Experimental Design
Literature Review
Inequality elicits economic consequences, increases homicide rates (Daly & Wilson, 2001)
,
lowers the expectancy oflife (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009) and evokes different reactions from people within different social groups (Jetten et al., 2017)
.
Literature Review
The potential negative implications that come from inequality force people to seek status and generate status anxiety (Paskov et al., 2013).
Inequality can bring higher levels of stress and anxiety due to economic instabilities to those that occupy the top of the hierarchical levels (Jetten et al., 2017).
Literature Review
Inequality alienates people (Lancee & Werfhorst 2012) and affects the interpersonal relationships (Wilkinson & Pickett, 2010)
→ reduction in cooperation among people (Nishi, Shirado, Rand & Christakis, 2015). Insecurity creates the desire for
dominance and power in human relationships (Bartholomew & Horowitz, 1991).
People at the top of the hierarchy are expected to give directions on how to complete an assignment to those at the bottom, forming servant-like relations (Yukl & Fu, 1999).
The servant roles depict better the characteristics that people who possess status are searching for, because those roles indicate that they are the ones receiving the service (Aggarwal & McGill, 2012).
Conceptual Model and Hypotheses
H1:
High income individuals (vs.
low-income) when exposed in
the context of high inequality (vs.
low inequality) they prefer
servant-like (vs. partner-like)
relationships with their brands.
H2:
High income individuals (vs.
low-income) when exposed to
the context of high inequality (vs.
low inequality) they try to protect
their status and thus they prefer
servant-like (vs. partner-like)
brand relationships.
Income
Inequality
Desire to Maintain
Status Brand Relationships
H1
50% of participants were randomly
assigned to the low inequality condition.
Experimental Design
Manipulation of Inequality
50% of participants were randomly
50% of participants were randomly assigned to the
Servant Brand Relationships
condition.
50% of participants were randomly assigned to the
Partner Brand Relationships
condition.
Experimental Design
Measurement of participant’s attitude toward the advertised brand
Seven items with a seven-point likert scale (Unfavorable – Favorable, Negative – Positive, Bad – Good,
Unappealing – Appealing, Do not like at all - Like very much, Unpleasant – Pleasant, Not Likeable – Likeable)
Measurement of Status (mediator)
1. “Obtaining the portable charger from Enka enables me to express my social status.”
2. “Obtaining the portable charger from Enka enables me to differentiate myself from others.”
Experimental Design
Measurement of Mood (Control Variable)
1 (1) 2 (2) 3 (3) 4 (4) 5 (5) 6 (6) 7 (7)
Sad
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
HappyStressed
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
RelaxedAngry
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
CalmResults
3-way interaction (Income – Inequality – Brand relationships)
No significant results in 3-way interaction found
No significant results between Income and Inequality found
No significant results between Income and Brand relationships found
But
Significant 2-way interaction between Inequality and Brand relationships
Results
in low inequality condition participants
evaluated the Partner-like brand
relationships more favorably than the
Servant-like brand relationships.
Decomposing the 2-way interaction
in high inequality condition participants
evaluated the Servant-like brand
relationships more favorably than the
Partner-like brand relationships.
Results
Mediation Analysis (Inequality – Status (mediator) – Brand relationships)
The interaction between inequality and brand relationships mediated by the sense of status is not significant.
H2:
Not supported
, status does not play a role in the relationship.
Mood – Control Variable
Discussion
Income does not play an actual role in people’s attitude towards the brand relationships
the only driving force in the formation of attitude toward the brand relationships seems to be the inequality.
Controversial findings between income and consumption behavior in the context of inequality.
income may play an important role in in the context of inequality but it is not always the factor that will drive people to consume or to form relationships with their brands.
Discussion
Future Research
Different brand relationships, except partner and servant roles in the context of inequality (relationships related to trust and performance).
Seek for potential mechanisms (mediators) that drive consumer-brand relationships different from status (e.g. sense of Control).
Limitations
limited sample size (200 participants)
