Exploring the Effect of Digital Brand Engagement in Self-Concept (BESC) on the Continued Usage of Branded Digital Possessions

Digital technology is rapidly changing consumer behaviour and continues to have significant implications on the formation of the extended self. Yet, self-extension through digital possessions is significantly under-researched. This research focused specifically on consumer brand engagement with branded Smartphone Applications to study the effect of users’ self-concept on the continued usage of digital possessions. The exploratory research approach involved two studies, taking a multi-phase mixed methods approach, involving quantitative data collection, connective ethnographic research and qualitative data analysis. The first study applied Aaker’s brand personality inventory (1997) and Sprott, Czellar and Spangenberg’s (2009) Brand Engagement in Self-Concept (BESC) scale to the extended Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM) (Bhattacherjee, 2001) as part of a quantitative self-report questionnaire. The results from hierarchical regression confirmed that BESC and self-brand congruence had a significant effect on branded app usage continuance intention. Situated within a constructivist paradigm, the second study involved connective ethnographic research and semi-structured interviews, enhanced by projective techniques, to take an abductive approach to understanding how technology is used by Smartphone users to extend the self. Triangulation of all data sets resulted in the original contribution of five anticipated outcomes of branded app usage. The implications of this include substantial contribution to the academic literature in the area of digital brand engagement and disengagement with branded digital possessions. Managerial recommendations are additionally provided which highlight the importance of hedonic and functional self-congruity with digital possessions to extend the self.