ScholarWorks@UNO

The Effect of Identity Salience on Consumers’ Purchase Intention

Marketers have paid a great deal of attention to social identity of consumers to position a particular product. According to Reed II (2004), identity salience is a temporary state during which the consumer’s identity is activated and it will lead to differences in how consumers behave or respond to marketing stimuli. This research aims to measure how identity salience influences purchase intention of a product. We ran an experiment and recruited 80 people, 40 UNO students and 40 Non-UNO students. The target area was the Wendy’s restaurant on Elysian Fields, New Orleans, which was the most recent opened fast food restaurant near campus. We distributed two copies of the Wendy’s advertisement, one addressing UNO students (e.g., “UNO STUDENTS purchase any combo with UNO I.D. and upgrade your fries to Biggie Fries!”) and the other not (e.g., “Purchase any combo and upgrade your fries to Biggie Fries!”). We analyzed our data using a two-way ANOVA. Our major finding was that consumers were more likely to take advantage of the promotion only if they were addressed in the ad (UNO students) and if they were heavy fast food consumers. Our results were consistent with Reed II’s (2004) theory on identity salience; if the consumer felt identified with the advertisement he will be more likely to positively respond to the promotion. We will discuss how the notion of a consumer social identity relates to his consumption and choice and how marketers should focus on this approach to create brand loyalty. / /