Introduction
Consumers utilize brands to create, enhance, and communicate with others (Aaker, 1997; Escalas, 2004). They often enhance or reinforce the self with the brands whose symbolic associations are pivotal to themselves (Dolich, 1969). Thus, brands that are highly associated with consumers' self-concepts have developed strong connections over time, in turn, culminating in favorable attitudes and behavioral intentions (Escalas, 2004). In this context, many researchers have investigated self-brand connections (SBCs), that is, the extent to which consumers integrate a brand into their self-concepts (Escalas & Bettman, 2003), as a critical driver to construct consumer- brand relationships. Extant studies have consistently...