We Do What We Are: Representation of the Self-Concept and Identity-Based Choice
研究提出基于身份选择的新视角，关注消费者自我概念中特征间的因果联系，发现身份因果中心性（身份影响或被其他特征影响的程度）决定身份重要性，进而影响身份相关消费行为。
Abstract The current research proposes a novel approach to identity-based choice that focuses on consumers’ representations of the self-concept, as captured by the perceived cause–effect relationships among features of an individual consumer’s self-concept. More specifically, the studies reported here test the proposal that the causal centrality of an identity—the number of other features of a consumer’s self-concept that the consumer believes influenced or were influenced by the identity—underlies identity importance and is a determinant of identity-based consumer behaviors. Across seven studies, using both measured and manipulated causal centrality, the current research provides evidence for the role of causal centrality in identity-based choice. Among consumers who share an identity (belong to the same social category), those who believe that the identity is more causally central perceive the identity as more important and are more likely to engage in behaviors consistent with the norms of the social category.