A REVIEW OF IMAGE CONGRUITY THEORY IN TOURISM CONTEXT
PAN Li1, LV Xing-yang1, LI Hui-fan2
1. School of Business Administration, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, Chengdu 610074, China;
2. School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
Abstract Image congruity theory consists of two perspectives of how consumers evaluate products/brands:self-congruity and functional congruity. Self-congruity describes a psychological process that customers tend to choose products or brands whose image closely matches their self-concept. As the development of destination branding marketing, image congruity theory is used to explain destination preference and choice, as well as destination satisfaction and loyalty. However, there is a sparse research summarizing the specific sequential development of image congruity theory in tourism context. This study first reviews the definitions, dimensions and measurements of self-congruity and functional congruity, and then summarizes related empirical studies from their outcome variables, mediators and moderators. Thus, we could clearly see the status quo of image congruity theory in tourism context. To be specific, self-congruity has four dimensions such as actual, ideal, social and ideal social self-congruity, while functional congruity includes varying attributes for different tourism products. Both indirect and direct ways could be used to measure self-congruity, and functional congruity is usually measured through an indirect way. The main conclusions of the present study are as follows:①different dimensions of self-congruity have different impacts on travel behaviors including destination choice and preference before traveling, destination satisfaction and loyalty, revisit intention, as well as brand attachment after traveling; ②functional congruity directly influences self-congruity, which needs to be paid more attention because of its importance in influencing travel behaviors; ③self-congruity could indirectly affect travel behaviors through self-motives, emotions, experience and attitude; ④ Multiple categories of moderators including individual, product, cultural and cognitive differences could affect the relationship between image congruity and travel behaviors.
2016, Vol. 31 
