The Loss of Social Identity and its impact on Consumer Brand Choices

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_16How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Social identity; Brand hierarchy; Brand choice

Abstract

Possessions/brands give definition to our identity. The meaning of things become even more nuanced during identity transition. In this study we examine, the impact on brand choices when consumers are at the threshold of social identity loss. This paper studies this issue using the theoretical framework of compensatory consumption using Straussian grounded theory methodology. Our findings indicate the formation of a brand hierarchy with four distinct levels of brand consumption. The purpose of brand consumption is primarily for securing the identity loss.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Pranati Paheli
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/03/10
TI  - The Loss of Social Identity and its impact on Consumer Brand Choices
BT  - Proceedings of the 12th AIM-AMA Sheth Foundation Doctoral Consortium & International Marketing Conference 2025 (IMCDC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 274
EP  - 281
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_16
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-608-1_16
ID  - Paheli2026
ER  -