Asking alternative identity for help: how and why the multiple-identity perspective impacts compensatory consumption behavior

Experiences of negative self-discrepancies can give rise to threats to one’s identity, thus increasing or decreasing approach behaviors directed toward the primed identity. Although previous researchers have investigated how consumers cope with such discrepancies through identity-relevant compensatory consumption, such research has usually focused on individual identities in isolation. That is, scholars have often overlooked the facts that consumers exhibit more than one identity and that these multiple identities can interact. The current research investigates how and why consumers seek help from alternative identities when attempting to overcome self-discrepancies by focusing on two aspects of the multiple-identity perspective: identity importance and identity complexity. The results of three empirical studies reveal that consumers are more likely to seek assistance from another identity (i.e., to employ an across-domain compensatory strategy) when they perceive the threatened identity as being of low importance. Self-avoidance motivation mediates this effect. Furthermore, perceiving one’s identity structure as complex (i.e., a high level of identity complexity) can enhance avoidance motivation, especially with regard to less important identities, and subsequently cause people to become more likely to focus on across-domain compensation. This research introduces a multiple-identity perspective into the literature on compensatory consumption, illustrates the interaction effect of identity importance and identity complexity on consumer behavior, and emphasizes the significance of interactions among various identities in this context; the implications of this research for marketing research and practice are also discussed.