Abstract

This Independent Study asked the question: does consumer self-concept and personality relate to consumer product personality preference? This study addressed this question by exploring the concept of product-personality congruence, or the suggestion that the consumer compares himself or herself to the personality that he or she ascribes to a product (Govers and Schoormans, 2004, p. 191). Two surveys were used in this study: the NEO-PI-R Domains of the International Personality Item Pool to determine the respondent's personality and Aaker's 42-Point Brand Personality Scale to determine product personality. This study examined how respondents ranked eight different chairs in terms of product personality and sought to determine if the product personality of the respondent's favorite chair was congruent with his or her human personality. Overall, it was found that human personality is not a contributing factor to determining the product personality of a product. However, certain chairs were found to represent particular product personalities and naturalness and unity were found to be the most appealing design principles of the chairs used in this study. In addition, it was found that human personalities follow predictable trends in regards to the domains a person embodies most and the domains a person embodies least.

Advisor

Johnson, Michelle

Department

Communication Studies

Disciplines

Graphic Communications | Public Relations and Advertising

Keywords

consumer, marketing, design, product-personality congruence, traits

Publication Date

2012

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2012 Ashley Nicole Stockwell