Research pick: Just a jealous buy - "Examining the effects of brand authenticity and brand identification on consumers’ willingness to pay premium"

The emotion of brand jealousy can allow consumers to ignore higher prices for goods they covet.

A study in the International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, has investigated brand authenticity and the willingness of consumers to pay a premium price for goods to which they have a loyalty. The researchers have defined a comprehensive framework that reveals the interconnections between brand loyalty and brand jealousy and how that sits with premium pricing. The team’s concept of “brand jealousy” could, the work suggests, be a potent driver of consumer decision-making.

Brand jealousy might better be referred to as brand envy, it is that emotional response a consumer might have when seeing someone else with a product they would themselves cherish. The work by Richa Joshi and Shampy Kamboj of the National Institute of Technology in Hamirpur, and Prerna Garg Jaipuria of the Institute of Management in Ghaziabad, India, suggests that brand authenticity and identification are intertwined with this notion of brand jealousy. Ultimately, it drives brand loyalty devotion and nudges consumers to make a purchase of a coveted item with the right label regardless of the premium price the supplier might place on such goods

The work has implications not only for the sportswear industry discussed in detail in the paper but for many other industries. Marketing departments might exploit brand loyalty and brand jealousy in their advertising campaigns and their work with so-called influencers to persuade otherwise hesitant consumers to part with their money.

Fundamentally, the work also reveals a symbiotic link between brand authenticity and customer loyalty. Consumers will commonly ignore a premium price if their reverence for a particular brand and their envy of those who have already purchased those coveted products is underpinned by authenticity.

Future work might consider how willing consumers are to pay a premium for classes of products other than big-label sportswear and the like, such as those with “green” credentials or offering social benefits.

Joshi, R., Garg, P. and Kamboj, S. (2023) ‘Examining the effects of brand authenticity and brand identification on consumers’ willingness to pay premium’, Int. J. Internet Marketing and Advertising, Vol. 19, Nos. 1/2, pp.1–19.