Cuing Consumer Identity Salience: The Moderating Role of Consumer Boundaries

Consumer cues are everywhere. Given that situational cues can momentarily activate associated identities and that once salient, these identities can subsequently influence behavior (e.g., Oyserman 2009), it becomes imperative to understand how a salient consumer identity may influence behavior and how the salience of this identity is managed. For this investigation, we draw on identity theory and on boundary theory, a recent extension of identity theory (Ashforth et al. 2001, Clark 2000). Specifically, we propose that individuals erect and maintain consumer boundaries to manage when and where a consumer identity is situationally cued. When individuals have strong consumer boundaries, they should be less responsive to situational cues. In contrast, when boundaries are weak, even a subtle consumer cue may heighten the salience of a consumer identity. To test these predictions, we (a) develop a scale of consumer boundary strength, (b) propose that exchange orientation is at least one important indicator of consumer identity salience, and (c) demonstrate that the strength of an individual’s consumer boundaries moderates the effect of a consumer cue on consumer identity salience, as indicated by an increase in exchange orientation.