The study aims to shed light on cross-country comparisons of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC) among consumers from European countries and to link presumed differences with country-level economic growth and materialism. This study contributes to the literature on the customer–brand relationship and provides implications for international branding strategies.,This observation study explored levels of BESC in three European countries. Questionnaire data were collected from consumers of Austria (N = 302), Italy (N = 431) and Poland (N = 410) with the purpose to make cross-country comparisons of BESC among consumers.,The results provide evidence for partial scalar invariance of the BESC scale. Cross-country comparisons of latent means reveal that Polish consumers score higher on BESC than consumers from Austria and Italy. Moreover, Austrian consumers score higher on BESC than Italian consumers.,Culture as a contextual factor of BESC should be studied further. The findings should be replicated with non-convenience samples in additional cultural contexts to improve the generalizability of data. Structural equation modeling could be used to investigate psychological drivers of BESC differences.,The findings coming from the cross-country comparisons of BESC are of practical relevance to marketing managers: they should tailor their branding and communication strategies accordingly.,So far, the understanding of cross-cultural and cross-country differences in consumer–brand relationships has remained limited. This study adopts a rigorous approach to cross-cultural research enriching the literature on BESC from a cross-country perspective.

中文翻译：

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品牌参与自我概念：在奥地利，意大利和波兰进行的比较研究

这项研究旨在阐明欧洲国家消费者之间品牌在自我概念（BESC）中的参与度的跨国比较，并将假定的差异与国家层面的经济增长和唯物主义联系起来。这项研究为有关客户与品牌关系的文献做出了贡献，并为国际品牌战略提供了启示。该观察性研究探讨了欧洲三个国家的BESC水平。问卷调查数据来自奥地利（N = 302），意大利（N = 431）和波兰（N = 410）的消费者，目的是对消费者之间的BESC进行跨国比较。结果为部分标量不变提供了证据BESC规模。跨国比较潜在潜能表明，波兰消费者在BESC上的得分高于奥地利和意大利的消费者。而且，奥地利消费者对BESC的评分高于意大利消费者。文化作为BESC的背景因素应进一步研究。研究结果应在其他文化背景下与不便样本重复使用，以提高数据的通用性。结构方程模型可用于调查BESC差异的心理驱动因素。BESC的跨国比较得出的结论对市场营销经理具有实际意义：他们应该相应地调整其品牌和传播策略。消费者与品牌关系的跨文化和跨国差异仍然有限。本研究采用严格的方法进行跨文化研究，从跨国角度丰富了BESC的文献。