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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Conformity to Sex-Typed Design in Modern Society

subject

description

Considerable attention has been paid to the meaning of product-design gender cues regarding product and brand evaluations. According to self-congruity theory, the gender schema theory, as well as the product-schema congruity theory, traditional consumers react favorably toward sex- or gender-specific product attributes. On the contrary, a twist in gender roles, evolving by emancipation and continual social change, has been identified, which call these congruity assumptions firmly into question. Hence, our study concentrates on the following research question: Is stereotypic sex-typed design still a key principle generating favorable product attitudes and moreover enhancing consumer’s actual and ideal congruence with the brand and brand loyalty? Reexamining the validity of previous findings for modern compared to traditional consumers, we verified regarding the effect of sex-product-design-congruity on product evaluations and brand loyalty (a) the role of modern sex-role perceptions. Thus, this study contributes to self-congruity theory and to the field of product-schema congruity. Due to the change in gender identities, we explore the boundaries of congruency and gender schema theory with special focus on androgynous and not sex-typed consumers’ response toward sex-typed design. Thus, this study adds to state of research by proving (b) the differences in gender identities regarding sex-typed design evaluations.