Company Worth Keeping: Personal Control and Preferences for Brand Leaders

Abstract

Brand leaders possess tremendous agency, with the ability to shape a sweeping variety of outcomes. Does this fact confer psychological value to consumers? We posit that external conditions that undermine feelings of personal control cause consumers to affiliate more with brand leaders. This occurs because affiliating with such high-agency brands gives consumers a sense of personal agency and thereby restores feelings of control. An initial study using archival data from nearly 18,000 consumers reporting on over 1,200 brands documents real-world effects that are consistent with these propositions. Four follow-up experiments demonstrate the effect of low control on brand leader (vs. nonleader) purchase intentions using direct manipulations in controlled settings, capture the underlying process, and rule out alternative explanations. This research thus reveals that the psychology of personal control underlies a process that benefits brand leaders.