Self-discrepancy between the actual and ought self-concept is harmful to individuals, causing them to experience psychological discomfort. Previous consumer research has repeatedly demonstrated that self-discrepancies motivate consumers to cope with their negative psychological consequences. However, despite the potential of marketing tools to influence consumers' affective reactions, consumer research remains silent on how firms can help consumers cope with psychological discomfort caused by self-discrepancies. We apply the “approach–avoidance” coping classification to the firm context and suggest two marketing tools—cause-related marketing (CRM) and a spacious store layout—as moderators of the relationships between experienced self-discrepancy and a threat to a consumer's social identity and between social identity threat and store loyalty/store attitude. In a scenario-based experimental study, we collect data and apply structural equation modeling for data analysis. The results confirm that both suggested marketing tools can effectively mitigate the negative effects of social identity threat on store loyalty and attitude. Furthermore, a spacious store layout exerts a stronger moderating effect than CRM.

中文翻译：

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战或逃：营销工具能否帮助消费者应对自我差异和社会身份威胁？

实际和应该自我概念之间的自我差异对个人有害，导致他们感到心理不适。先前的消费者研究一再表明，自我差异会促使消费者应对他们的负面心理后果。然而，尽管营销工具具有影响消费者情感反应的潜力，但消费者研究对于公司如何帮助消费者应对由自我差异引起的心理不适仍然保持沉默。我们将“方法-回避”应对分类应用于公司环境，并建议使用两种营销工具——原因相关营销 (CRM) 和宽敞的商店布局——作为体验自我差异与对消费者的威胁之间关系的调节器 s 社会身份以及社会身份威胁与商店忠诚度/商店态度之间的关系。在基于场景的实验研究中，我们收集数据并应用结构方程模型进行数据分析。结果证实，这两种建议的营销工具都可以有效减轻社会身份威胁对商店忠诚度和态度的负面影响。此外，宽敞的店面布局比CRM具有更强的调节作用。