The Interaction Roles of Chinese Consumers’ Social System Confidence and Their Achievement Values on Brand Attitudes

Since brand symbolism reflect various societal values and ideologies(Holt 2004, 2006; Mc-Cracken, 1986), it could play same roles as those of other cultural product symbols such as actors and politicians, society-iconic brands could gain power when they perform symbolic ‘work’ in society. Various social beliefs and issues are increasingly aligned in brands, and consumers appear to desire the work of brands( Johnson, 2012). The influences of brand on attracting or alienating consumers depends on consumers’ ideological or value lens through which the brand is viewed(Shepherd et al., 2015), as well as the brand’s message developed by marketers. In order to figure out the relationships between brands and society, a combination of how brands reflect contemporary social institutions and how brands are viewed through human values should be understood. This research approaches the lens in the respects of both human value and system justification theory(Jost and Banaji, 1994). Human values are defined as desirable, trans-situational goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles in people’s lives(Schwartz and Bardi, 2001). The values help indicate what is important in their lives. Each person holds his or her own values(e.g., achievement, benevolence) with varying degrees of importance. The values become motivational constructs that are represented as broad goals that become guides to overt behaviors across contexts and time(Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz, 1997). Consumers may act according to their values because they have a need for consistency between their values and actions(Rokeach, 1973), and value-consistent action is rewarding because of its function of helping them go to the place of achieving what they want(Feather, 1995; Sagiv and Schwartz, 1995). The natural way to pursue important values is to behave in ways that express them or promote their attainment. Consumers could express their values through their brand consumption, because brands have the ability to embody and communicate their desirable identities(Escalas, 2004).