Journal of Service Research OnlineFirst, published on August 28, 2008 as doi:10.

1177/1094670508322561

The Impact of Value Congruence on

Consumer-Service Brand Relationships

Journal of Service
Research
Volume XX Number X
Month XXXX xx-xx
2008 Sage Publications
10.1177/1094670508322561
http://jsr.sagepub.com
hosted at
http://online.sagepub.com

Jing Zhang
Jose M. M. Bloemer
Radboud University Nijmegen
By integrating results from literature pertaining to social psychology, organizational behavior, and relationship marketing, the
authors develop and test a model that explains how value congruence affects the key components of consumer-brand
relationship quality and outcomes, including satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty. Using structural equation
modeling, they test the model with data from a survey of 1,037 consumers of clothing stores and banks in the Netherlands. The
results show that value congruence has significant direct, positive effects on satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and
loyalty. Furthermore, value congruence indirectly influences loyalty through satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment. The
authors discuss the implications of these findings for marketing theory and practice.
Keywords: consumer-brand value congruence; affective commitment; loyalty; satisfaction; service brand; trust

he ability of service providers to establish, develop,

and maintain enduring relationships with their consumers represents a key capability according to both
marketing literature and marketing managers (Lam et al.
2004; Morgan and Hunt 1994). In the field of relationship marketing, considerable effort has been devoted to
identifying and examining the antecedents and consequences of relationship outcomes, though most of it
attempts to identify the interrelationships between relationship quality (e.g., satisfaction, trust, commitment)
and relationship marketing outcomes (e.g., switching
behavior, loyalty; e.g., Chiou and Droge 2006; Garbarino
and Johnson 1999; Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, and
Gremler 2002; Lam et al. 2004). Several researchers
have tried to improve the robustness of these interrelationships by adding moderators, such as general situational and personal characteristics (Cooil et al. 2007;
Nijssen et al. 2003; Seiders et al. 2005). Yet, value congruence (i.e., the similarity between a consumers own
personal values and perceptions of service brand values)
remains largely ignored as an antecedent of relationship
quality and relationship marketing outcomes. Very few
relationship marketing studies recognize the effects of
value congruence on trust and affective commitment
(e.g., MacMillan et al. 2005; Morgan and Hunt 1994),
which is surprising because value congruence represents
a powerful human motivator for developing and maintaining relationships, according to social psychology

literature (Gaunt 2006). Similarly, various organizational

studies demonstrate that value congruence represents
one of the most important antecedents of employee job
satisfaction, commitment, trust, intention to stay with the
organization, and employee performance (Arthur et al.
2006; Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005;
Piasentin and Chapman 2006).
The goal of this study, therefore, is to explore how
value congruence influences consumer-brand relationship
quality and outcomes, including satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty. Because of the unique
nature of the service industry, particularly with regard to
intangibility and heterogeneity (Lovelock and Wright
2002; Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler 2006), value congruence likely is especially important for service providers in
their efforts to build and sustain strong relationships with
consumers. Several researchers have suggested that identifying and sustaining the values of a service brand is
vitally important for brand success (De Chernatony,
Drury, and Segal-Horn 2004; Lages and Fernandes 2005).
By integrating conclusions from social psychology,
organizational behavior, and relationship marketing
Authors Note: The authors would like to acknowledge the methodology suggestions provided by Alain De Beuckelaer and thank the
Journal of Service Research (JSR) editor A. Parasuraman and
the three anonymous JSR reviewers for their valuable comments and
suggestions.

2 Journal of Service Research

research, we develop and test a model that explores the

direct and indirect effects of value congruence on
consumer-brand relationship quality and outcomes.
Moreover, we propose that value congruence affects satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty both
positively and directly. Value congruence also may influence loyalty indirectly through satisfaction, trust, and
affective commitment.
The findings of our study are relevant for both academics and practitioners. From a theoretical perspective,
we shed light on the concept of value congruence and its
effects on key components of consumer-brand relationships in the context of services, which has not been done
before. In terms of practical implications, our findings
should help brand managers create and sustain strong
relationships with their consumers if they use value congruence as a consumer loyalty enhancement strategy.
The remainder of this article is organized as follows.
First, we highlight the importance of value congruence
in the context of services by reviewing the research on
value congruence from the organizational, social psychology, and relationship marketing literatures. Second,
we provide an overview of the model and detailed development of the hypotheses. Third, we describe our empirical study and present the results. We then discuss our
findings and provide managerial implications. Finally,
we conclude with some limitations and suggestions for
further research.

Theoretical Background
Rokeach (1973, p. 5) provided a well-known social
scientific definition of value as criterion in which he
described a personal value as an enduring belief that a
specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse
mode of conduct or end-state of existence. Values therefore represent a motivational construct and form the psychological core of the self (Wade-Benzoni et al. 2002).
Furthermore, values can be useful for measuring product
choice, because they play central roles in consumers
cognitive structures (Brangule-Vlagsma, Pieters, and
Wedel 2002). Moreover, Gutman (1982) claimed that
consumers purchase products to attain their value-related
goals, and many research projects employ values as
antecedents of attitudes and behavior (Homer and Kahle
1988). For example, Durgee, OConnor, and Veryzer
(1996) argued that understanding consumers values provides one of the most powerful ways to understand and
reach consumers.

Value Congruence in Organizational Literature

Values, from a congruence perspective, often appear in
organizational behavior studies to predict employee and organizational attitudes and behavioral outcomes. Considerable
organizational value congruence research indicates that when
organizational values match employees values, those
employees are more satisfied and committed to the organization; moreover, employees perform better and have lesser
intentions to leave the organization (e.g., Cable and Judge
1997; Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005).
Cable and Edwards (2004) argued that value congruence affects employees attitudes and behaviors because
people are more attracted to and trusting toward those
who are similar to them. The similarity-attraction theory
in social psychology, which forms the basis for organizational value congruence research (Kristof-Brown,
Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005), indicates further that
people have greater intentions to create and retain their
relationships with those who are similar to themselves
(Byrne 1997; Gaunt 2006).

(Value) Congruence in Social

Psychology Literature
Social psychology researchers remain interested in the
effects of similarity as a construct to predict various relationship quality and its outcomes, such as partner liking,
marital satisfaction, relationship affective commitment,
relationship stability, and relationship-maintaining
behaviors (Aron et al. 2006; Arthur et al. 2006; Byrne
1997; Gaunt 2006). In this arena, the terms similarity,
congruence, fit, overlap, alignment, share, and match
often appear to be used interchangeably.
Aron and colleagues (2006) stated that support for the
similarity-attraction theory goes back at least to the pioneering field study by Newcomb (1956) and the extensive experiments of Byrne (1971). An overall consensus
holds that the similarity effect is well established; tests of
the idea that opposites attract generally have been unsuccessful (Aron et al. 2006; Byrne 1997).
Smith (1998) also argued that people are more
attracted to, prefer, and support relationships with similar others to reinforce their self-esteem and maintain balance in their self-identity. Cable and Judge (1997) stated
that similarity attraction results from the reduced cognitive dissonance, improved communication, and
increased predictability involved in social interactions.
People who hold similar values share common aspects of
cognitive processing and a common way of interpreting
events and therefore experience reduced uncertainty and
better interpersonal relationships (Cable and Edwards

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 3

2004; Kalliath, Bluedorn, and Strube 1999). Moreover,

several researchers (e.g., Arthur et al. 2006) have stated
that people find it desirable to interact with others who
have similar psychological characteristics, because the
interaction verifies and reinforces their own beliefs,
expressed behaviors, and affect. Thus, a high level of
similarity provides people with opportunities to interact
with similar others, which results in favorable attitudes.

Value Congruence Research in Relationship

Marketing Literature
Given the importance of value congruence in organizational and social psychology contexts, it stands to reason that value congruence should also play an important
role in exploring the key components of relationship marketing, such as satisfaction, trust, affective commitment,
and loyalty. Yet, surprisingly, our review of the marketing
literature shows that very few researchers study value
congruence empirically, focusing on the relationships
between the firm and supplier (MacMillan et al. 2005;
Morgan and Hunt 1994), salesperson and manager
(Brashear et al. 2003), or buyer and seller (Nicholson,
Compeau, and Sethi 2001). To the best of our knowledge,
no value congruence research explores the relationships
between consumers and brandsand certainly not in the
services context.

Value Congruence in the Service Brand Context

In addition to the aforementioned role of value congruence in organizational and social psychology literature and the growing interest in marketing literature,
several reasons make us believe that value congruence
has important implications for services as well.
First, existing consumer behavior literature states that
consumer purchase behavior is influenced not only by
functional (or utilitarian) attributes of physical goods or
services but also by symbolic meanings such as values
(Johar and Sirgy 1991; Sirgy et al. 1997; Sirgy, Grewal,
and Mangleburg 2000). In a services context, with its
less tangible measures (i.e., functional attributes), values
become especially important because by default they fill
the evaluation void created by the absence of more tangible functional attributes (Berry 1995; Bitner 1995;
Haytko 2004).
Second, because services are performances, the heterogeneity associated with them results largely from the
human interaction between employees and consumers
(Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler 2006). In line with organizational behavior studies (Kalliath, Bluedorn, and
Strube 1999), we argue that when consumers and

employees of a service brand hold similar values, they

share common aspects of cognitive processing, which
should lead to similar expectations about performance
and common methods of interpreting events. Common
interpretations reduce uncertainty and information
overload and thus can improve interpersonal relationships between consumers and service providers (Cable
and Judge 1997).
Third, De Chernatony and colleagues (De Chernatony,
Drury, and Segal-Horn 2004) recently have tried to find
factors critical to the success of a service brand. Their
exploratory study features a review of the services management and services branding literature, as well as indepth interviews with leading consultants, and shows
that values represent the third most apparent theme for
successful service brands (behind a focused position and
consistency).
We define service brand values as personal values relevant and applicable to a service brand. Consumer-brand
value congruence (or value congruence for short) thus
refers to the similarity between a consumers own personal values and his or her perceptions of the service
brands values. Taking these various aspects into consideration, we argue that understanding the effects of value
congruence on consumer-brand relationship quality and
outcomes is particularly important in the services context.

Conceptual Framework and

Research Hypotheses
The theoretical model in Figure 1 reflects the influences of value congruence on relationship quality (i.e.,
satisfaction, trust, affective commitment) and relationship outcomes (i.e., loyalty). To provide a better understanding of the model, we first explain the direct effects
of value congruence on satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty on the basis of conclusions from
social psychology, organizational, and relationship marketing studies (Hypotheses 1-4). Next, we discuss the
indirect effects of value congruence on loyalty by integrating conclusions from relationship marketing and
organizational studies (Hypotheses 5-10).

Direct Effects of Value Congruence

(Hypotheses 1-4)
We define consumer satisfaction with a service brand
as an overall evaluation based on the consumers total
purchase and consumption experience with the offerings
of the service brand over time (Anderson, Fornell, and
Mazvancheryl 2004; Luo and Bhattacharya 2006).

4 Journal of Service Research

Figure 1
A Conceptual Framework of the Impact of Value Congruence
Relationship quality & outcomes

Value
Congruence

H1
Satisfaction

H5
H2

Trust

H8

H3
H9

H6

H4

Affective
Commitment

H10

H7

Loyalty
a. WOM
b. WPM
c. RPIN

Note: WOM = positive word of mouth; WPM = willingness to pay more; RPIN = repurchase intention.

In social psychology literature, value congruence has

been frequently used to predict satisfaction in a relationship
between two individuals (Byrne 1997; Gaunt 2006). For
example, Gaunt (2006) concluded that greater congruence
between partners values leads to higher levels of marital
satisfaction and lower levels of negative affect. In organizational literature, considerable research indicates that value
congruence leads to satisfaction, as demonstrated in studies
covering, among others, job satisfaction (Arthur et al. 2006;
Ostroff, Shin, and Kinicki 2005) and supervisor and
coworker satisfaction (Beehr et al. 2006; Kristof-Brown,
Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005). Finally, several
researchers in the marketing literature highlighted the
importance of values by arguing that consumers purchase
and use physical goods and services to achieve their personal values (means-end chain; Gutman 1982; Homer and
Kahle 1988; Lages and Fernandes 2005; Zeithaml 1988).
Westbrook and Reilly (1983) further argued that satisfaction arises when service values fulfill consumers personal

values. However, most satisfaction research confirms congruence based on functional attributes or desires rather
than on values (Spreng, MacKenzie, and Olshavsky 1996).
Consistent with the suggestions from existing literature, we
propose:
Hypothesis 1: Value congruence has a positive influence on consumer satisfaction.
We define service brand trust as the willingness of the
consumer to rely on a service brand because he or she has
confidence in the reliability and integrity of that brand
(Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Morgan and Hunt 1994).
Various existing studies suggest a positive relationship
between value congruence and trust; according to social
psychology, higher value congruence within groups
causes people to associate positive beliefs and feelings
with the groups to which they belong, which contributes
to their own self-esteem (Williams 2001). People within

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 5

their group (in-group) seem more trustworthy, honest,

and cooperative compared with members of dissimilar
groups (out-groups; Williams 2001). Likewise, empirical
evidence in the organizational context suggests that value
congruence between employees and the organization positively influence employees trust in managers (Brashear
et al. 2003; Cable and Edwards 2004). Finally, in marketing research, Smith (1998) found that sellers perceived as
similar to consumers are more likely to succeed and be
viewed as trustworthy. Research by Nicholson, Compeau,
and Sethi (2001) also showed that when values of the
individual buyer and seller are similar, it becomes easier
to understand behavior and make attributions, so the
buyer exhibits higher levels of trust. Furthermore,
Brashear and colleagues (2003) indicated that value congruence relates positively to trust, such that trust emerges
in relationships in which one party identifies with the
other partys desires and intention. Moreover, several
other researchers noted value congruence as an important
determinant of trust in marketing relationships
(MacMillan et al. 2005; Morgan and Hunt 1994). In line
with these findings, we propose:
Hypothesis 2: Value congruence has a positive influence on trust.
Similar to trust, affective commitment represents an
essential ingredient for successful long-term relationships (Fullerton 2003; Morgan and Hunt 1994). We
define affective commitment toward a service brand as
consumers enduring desire to maintain a valued relationship with a service brand, based on psychological
attachment to that brand (Bansal, Irving, and Taylor
2004; Fullerton 2003; Morgan and Hunt 1994).
Despite that affective commitment is partly rooted in
value congruence, both value congruence and affective
commitment are distinct constructs, and are conceptualized and operationationalized in different ways. More
specifically, contrary to affective commitment, the value
congruence gives no indication about whether a consumer
desires to maintain a relationship with a service brand, or
whether a consumer feels attachment to a service brand. In
the current literature, value congruence has been considered as one of the important antecedences of affective
commitment. Several extant studies demonstrate the clear
positive effect of value congruence on affective commitment. For example, social psychology studies state that if
two persons are similar, they will become strongly
attached and more likely be committed to, invest in, and
make sacrifices for the other (Aron et al. 2006; Amodio
and Showers 2005; Byrne 1997). In an organizational
context, considerable research demonstrates the positive

effect of congruence between employees and organizational values on organizational commitment (Arthur et al.
2006; Cable and Edwards 2004; Ostroff, Shin, and Kinicki
2005). Porter and colleagues (1974) highlighted the
importance of value congruence for commitment, arguing
that commitment represents a strong belief in and acceptance of the organizations goals and values. Furthermore,
Kalliath, Bluedorn, and Strube (1999) stated that congruence among members values generates clearer role
expectations because of their greater ability to predict one
anothers behavior, which leads to less role ambiguity and
conflict and therefore more commitment. Finally,
MacMillan and colleagues (2005) extended the work of
Morgan and Hunt (1994) on relationship marketing to
provide empirical evidence of the positive effect of value
congruence on affective commitment. Because value congruence plays such an important role in exploring commitment in the various disciplines, we propose:
Hypothesis 3: Value congruence has a positive influence on affective commitment.
Similar to Evanschitzky and Wunderlich (2006), we
define service brand loyalty as a consumers behavioral
intention to continue buying or using a service brand in
the future, accompanied by a deep commitment to that
service brand. However, though loyalty is a central construct in relationship marketing, little agreement exists
regarding its conceptualization and operationalization. In
line with Bell, Auh, and Smalley (2005), we take a
behavioral intention perspective of loyalty rather than a
behavioral loyalty perspective. Specifically, similar to
Fullerton (2003), we conceptualized and operationalized
the behavioral intention loyalty construct with three frequently used dimensions: positive word-of-mouth communication (WOM), willingness to pay more (WPM),
and repurchase intention (RPIN).
Previous research in both social psychology and organizational literature confirms the positive relationship
between value congruence and peoples intention to stay
with their partner (Aron et al. 2006) or the firm (Arthur et
al. 2006; Cable and Edwards 2004; Kristof-Brown,
Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005; Ostroff, Shin, and
Kinicki 2005). Although no research in relationship marketing examines the effect of value congruence on loyalty
intentions, we argue that value congruence likely plays as
a critical role in encouraging consumers to maintain relationships with a brand. For example, using data obtained
from consumers of a retailer that offers both services and
physical goods, Brown and colleagues (2005) revealed
that when people perceive greater congruence between
dealership identity and their own identity, their positive

6 Journal of Service Research

WOM behaviors increase. We further argue that the

greater the degree of congruence between the service
brand and the consumer in terms of values, the more
likely the consumer is to say positive things about the service brand to others; furthermore, this consumer should
have a higher WPM and purchase the given service brand
again. Thus, consistent with the suggestions from existing
literature, we propose the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4: Value congruence has a positive influence on loyalty in the form of (a) WOM, (b) WPM,
and (c) RPIN.

Indirect Effect of Value Congruence

(Hypotheses 5-10)
The relationship marketing literature contains a significant debate regarding the relationship among key
components of relationship marketing, such as satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty (Chiou and Droge
2006; Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Hennig-Thurau,
Gwinner, and Gremler 2002; Lam et al. 2004). Some
researchers argue that trust and affective commitment
mediate the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty
(e.g., Bansal, Irving, and Taylor 2004; Fullerton 2003;
Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Morgan and Hunt 1994),
whereas others consider satisfaction a direct antecedent
of affective commitment (Garbarino and Johnson 1999)
or loyalty (Chiou and Droge 2006; Lam et al. 2004).
Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001) argued that brand trust
relates directly and positively to loyalty without commitment as a mediator. We do not discuss the details of these
relationships, because our goal instead is to address the
effects of value congruence on satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty rather than the interrelationships among those factors. Therefore, in accordance
with several researchers (e.g., Chaudhuri and Holbrook
2001; Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Lam et al. 2004;
Morgan and Hunt 1994), we use the interrelationships
between satisfaction, trust, commitment, and loyalty as
proposed by Nijssen et al. (2003) as starting points to
describe the relationships of these key components in
relationship marketing, and propose the following
hypotheses:1
Hypothesis 5: Satisfaction has a positive influence on
trust.
Hypothesis 6: Trust has a positive influence on affective commitment.
Hypothesis 7: Affective commitment has a positive
influence on loyalty in the form of (a) WOM, (b)
WPM, and (c) RPIN.

Hypothesis 8: Satisfaction has a positive influence on

affective commitment.
Hypothesis 9: Satisfaction has a positive influence on
loyalty in the form of (a) WOM, (b) WPM, and (c)
RPIN.
Hypothesis 10: Trust has a positive influence on loyalty
in the form of (a) WOM, (b) WPM, and (c) RPIN.
Note that Hypotheses 5 through 10 in combination state
that value congruence has an indirect effect on loyalty,
mediated by satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment. To date, relationship marketing research indicates
that the effect of satisfaction on loyalty is positively
mediated by trust and affective commitment (Morgan
and Hunt 1994), which implies that the influence of
value congruence on loyalty should be at least partially
mediated by satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment. That is, we must also examine the extent to which
satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment mediate the
effect of value congruence on loyalty.

Research Design and Method

To generalize our results across services contexts, we
adopted eight service brands, including four well-known
clothing store brands and four major bank brands in the
Netherlands. The clothing stores differ from the banks on
several dimensions. First, financial services are considered pure services, in the sense that transactions
involve very few tangibles; in contrast, clothing stores
offer tangible components (e.g., clothing, shoes, accessories; Lovelock and Wright 2002). Second, banks target
people and are characterized by more consumer contact
with individually customized service solutions, whereas
clothing stores are directed toward a persons property
with moderate to minimal consumer contact as the norm
(Lovelock and Wright 2002). Third, when a consumer is
a client of a particular bank, he or she generally needs
time and effort to switch to another bank (higher switching costs), but consumers can switch easily among different clothing stores (Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler
2006). Therefore, we believe that testing our hypotheses
with both samples provides a strong test of the generalizability of our results.
To ensure the clothing stores in our study represent
service brands, not just physical goods brands, we took
several actions. First, we formulated the survey questions
to force respondents to evaluate simultaneously the
physical goods and the services delivered by the clothing
stores. Second, we included clothing stores that sell their
own brands exclusively, which increases the likelihood

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 7

that they possess clear, more consistent values compared

with clothing stores that sell various brands or clothing
brands offered in various clothing and department stores.

Sampling and Data Collection

We collected data from a sample offered by one of the
largest panel providers in the Netherlands. An invitation
sent via e-mail to 1,618 panel members randomly
selected by that panel provider described the general
research information and invited each member to participate in the survey. Panel members who wanted to participate clicked on a URL address that led them to our
Web-based survey. A total of 1,360 panel members
returned their questionnaires.
As Yoo, Donthu, and Lee (2000) indicated, only if
respondents know about and have experienced particular
services can they provide reliable and valid responses
about the services in the questionnaire. Therefore, we
used primary screening questions to ensure the respondents were familiar with at least one of the eight mentioned brands. For clothing stores, the respondents
needed to have bought something from at least one of the
featured stores in the past 6 months; for the banks, they
had to be customers of one or more given banks at the
time of the survey.
Furthermore, to minimize the possibility that respondents might fill out the questionnaire just to receive the
regular fee paid by the panel provider, we added more
brands to the list without disclosing the actual brands used
in the study. Thus, we could exclude those respondents
who were consumers of brands not included in our study.
This screening was performed automatically by computer
and eliminated 323 respondents from further participation.
Respondents that met these selection criteria were
then randomly linked to one of the questionnaires pertaining to a brand of which they were customers. The
questionnaire required that the respondents fully answer
each section of the questionnaire before they could proceed to the next section.
The final number of usable samples was 1,037,
including 529 responses pertaining to clothing stores and
508 for banks. Sixty percent of the respondents were
women. The age of all respondents ranged from 18 to 65
years, with an average age of 38 years.

brand values. Similar to a recent study by Gaunt (2006),

we used the Schwartz Value Survey for its validity and
reliability. We measured personal values by asking respondents to indicate how important a given value is to them as
a guiding principle in their life on a 7-point scale, from 1
(not important) to 7 (most important). For their perceptions of the service brand values, we asked respondents to
indicate to what extent this value characterizes a given
clothing store or bank brand on a 7-point scale (1 = not at
all to 7 = extremely).
To obtain a measure of value congruence, we calculated absolute discrepancy scores2 between the consumers perceptions of service brand values and their
personal values, and then averaged all values for each
respondent (Sirgy et al. 1997; Sirgy, Grewal, and
Mangleburg 2000). Therefore, the lower the absolute discrepancy score, the higher is the value congruence.
Our measures of satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty relied on existing scales that have been
proven valid and reliable in previous research. In Table 1,
we provide the details of these measurements. For all
items, the 7-point Likert-type scales were anchored by 1
(strongly disagree) and 7 (strongly agree).
Satisfaction was measured with four items adapted
from the overall satisfaction scale used by Bettencourt
(1997). Similarly, we adapted the five-item scale of trust
(Bansal, Irving, and Taylor 2004; Bansal, Taylor, and
James 2005; Morgan and Hunt 1994) to the current context. We measured affective commitment with four items
adopted from Bansal, Taylor, and James (2005) and
Fullerton (2003). Guided by prior studies, we assessed
loyalty intentions with measures of positive WOM
(Fullerton 2003; Zeithmal, Berry, and Parsuraman 1996),
WPM (Fullerton 2003; Zeithmal, Berry, and Parsuraman
1996), and RPIN (Lam et al. 2004; Zeithmal, Berry, and
Parsuraman 1996).
Table 2 provides summary descriptive statistics for
and correlations among the measured constructs.

Analysis and Results

We employed the two-step procedure proposed by
Anderson and Gerbing (1988) to ensure an adequate
measurement and structural model.

Measurements of Constructs

Measurement Model Testing and Results

We adopted the 46 value items (see the appendix) from

the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz 1992; Schwartz and
Boehnke 2004) in the questionnaire to measure both consumers personal values and their perceptions of service

The joint confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; with all

constructs included simultaneously) reveals that the
chi-square for the overall model is 1538.21 (df = 174,
p < .01). Other fit indices, including the comparative fit

8 Journal of Service Research

Table 1
Construct Measures and Confirmatory Factor Analysis Results
Construct and Scale Item

Factor Loading

Satisfaction (SAT)
SAT1 Compared to other banks, I am very satisfied with X.
SAT2 Based on all my experience with X, I am very satisfied.
SAT3 My experiences at X have always been pleasant.
SAT4 Overall, I am satisfied with X.
Trust (TST)
TST1 I feel that I can trust X.
TST2 X is truly sincere in its promises.
TST3 X is honest and truthful with me.
TST4 X treats me fairly and justly.
TST5 I feel that X can be counted on when I need their help.
Affective commitment (COM)
COM1 I feel emotionally attached to X.
COM2 I feel like part of the family of X.
COM3 I feel a strong sense of belonging with X.
COM4 X has a great personal meaning for me.
Positive word-of-mouth (WOM)
WOM1 I say positive things about X to other people.
WOM2 I recommend X to people who seek my advice.
WOM3 I encourage friends and relatives to do business with X.
Willingness to pay more (WPM)
WPM1 I am willing to continue
to do business with X, even if its prices increase.
WPM2 I am willing to pay a higher price than other
banks charge for the benefits I currently receive from X.
(Re)purchase intention (RPIN)
RPIN1 I consider X as my first choice for banks.
RPIN2 I will do more business with X in
the next few years.
RPIN3 If I had to do it over again, I would
make the same choice.

CR

AVE

.95

.82

.95

.94

.76

.94

.96

.84

.96

.91

.76

.90

.85

.74

.85

.80

.57

.79

.83
.93
.92
.95
.89
.91
.92
.88
.73
.89
.94
.94
.90
.87
.92
.83

.83
.89
.81
.74
.71

Note: CR = composite reliability; AVE = average variance extracted; = Cronbachs alpha. X substitutes for the real service brand.

Table 2
Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlation Matrix of Latent Constructs
Variable/Construct

Mean

Standard Deviation

1
2
3
4
5
6

5.26
5.07
2.98
4.15
3.22
4.15

1.18
1.19
1.62
1.46
1.47
1.38

Satisfaction
Trust
Affective commitment
Word-of-mouth intention
Willingness to pay more
Repurchase intention

index (CFI = .939), root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA = .087), and standardized root mean
square residual (SRMR = .070), are satisfactory because
they are equal to or better than recommended values.
Thus, the proposed model provides a reasonable explanation of the observed covariance among the constructs.

1
.80
.29
.58
.31
.61

1
.38
.57
.35
.60

1
.64
.64
.62

1
.60
.74

1
.59

In addition, we assessed the validity, reliability, and discriminant validity of the measures. As we show in Table 1,
the CFA results lend strong support to the convergent validity of all measures, because all estimated loadings of the
indicators for the underlying constructs are greater than the
recommended .6 cutoff and are statistically significant at

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 9

the .05 level (Bagozzi and Yi 1988). The Cronbachs alpha

() values of all constructs are higher than the .7 threshold
(Nunnally and Bernstein 1994), and the minimum reliability () of the measures is .79.
To examine the internal validity of the measurement
model, we calculated the composite reliability (CR) and
average variance extracted (AVE; Fornell and Larcker
1981). All the CRs are above the recommended .7 level
(Nunnally and Bernstein 1994). The AVEs of all constructs, which represent the amount of variance captured
by the constructs measures relative to measurement
error and the correlations among the latent variables, are
higher than the .5 cutoff recommended by Fornell and
Larcker (1981; see also Bagozzi and Yi 1988) for each
construct. The internal validity of the measurement
model appears adequate.
Furthermore, we conducted Fornell and Larckers
(1981) test for discriminant validity by comparing the
AVE estimate for each construct with the squared correlation between any two constructs. The AVEs are higher
than the squared correlations, confirming the discriminant validity of the constructs (see Tables 1 and 2).
Therefore, the measurement model meets all psychometric property requirements.

Finally, the results of our study further show that value

congruence has a greater effect on affective commitment
(beta = .30) than on satisfaction (beta = .13), trust (beta
= .08), or loyalty (beta < .10). This finding is consistent
with the results of Arthur and colleagues (2006), who
reported that congruence has only a small direct effect on
job performance compared with its effects on commitment and trust. Another recent study by Ostroff, Shin,
and Kinicki (2005) provided similar results. Moreover,
in extending the work of Morgan and Hunt (1994),
MacMillan and colleagues (2005) offered empirical evidence of the positive and direct effect of value congruence on affective commitment in the contexts of the
relationships between buyers and suppliers. An explanation for the strong effect of value congruence on commitment might note that we measure commitment from
an affective perspective rather on the basis of calculative
commitment. Following Allen and Meyer (1990), affective commitment refers to the consumers emotional
attachment to the brand based on his or her identification
with that brand; therefore, value congruence plays an
important role for affective commitment.

Overall Structural Model:

Tests of the Hypotheses

Competing Model With Full Mediation

We tested the hypothesized relationships in the model

using structural equation modeling (SEM). In particular,
we estimated the structural model depicted in Figure 1
using Mplus Version 4.2.
In Table 3, we summarize the results obtained by estimating the hypothesized model in Figure 1. The global
goodness-of-fit statistics indicate that the structural model
represents the data structure well (2 = 1,580.58, df = 189,
p < .01, CFI = .939, RMSEA = .084, SRMR = .068).
We tested each hypothesis by examining path significance, and as expected, all direct paths from value congruence to satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and
loyalty are positive and statistically significant, in support of Hypotheses 1 through 4.
In addition, most paths describing the interrelationships
among satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty are significant, in support of Hypotheses 5, 6, 7 (a, b,
and c), Hypothesis 9 (a, b, and c), and Hypothesis 10c. That
is, satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment partially
mediate the direct impact of value congruence on loyalty
intention. However, three paths are not statistically significant (p > .1): the effects of satisfaction on affective commitment (Hypothesis 8), trust on WOM communication
(Hypothesis 10a), and trust on WPM (Hypothesis 10b).

Additional Analysis

To test the improvements in model fit when we

include both direct and indirect effects of value congruence on trust, affective commitment, and loyalty, we estimated a competing model in which the effect of value
congruence on loyalty is mediated fully by satisfaction,
trust, and affective commitment (see Figure 2).
The chi-square difference test, with which we compare the hypothesized model (partial mediation model)
with the competing model (full mediation model),
reveals that the overall model fit for the full mediation
model achieves inferior fit statistics (see Table 3). The
difference in 2 is significant (2 = 144.784, df = 5,
p < .01), which indicates that value congruence has both
direct and indirect effects on trust, affective commitment, and loyalty. This result expands the findings from
most previous value congruence research in social psychology, organizational, and relationship marketing literature, which measures only the direct effects of value
congruence on relationship quality and outcomes. The
results of our study and existing research on the interrelationships among satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty highlight the need to examine both the
direct and indirect effects of value congruence on loyalty. In addition, using meta-analytic procedures, Arthur
and colleagues (2006) recently showed that the effect of

10

VC Satisfaction
VC Trust
VC COM
VC WOM
VC WPM
VC RPIN
Satisfaction Trust
Trust COM
COM WOM
COM WPM
COM RPIN
Satisfaction COM
Satisfaction WOM
atisfaction WPM
Satisfaction RPIN
Trust WOM
Trust WPM
Trust RPIN
Trust Satisfaction
COM Satisfaction

Path
.13
.08
.30
.05
.10
.04
.84
.37
.52
.63
.54
.07
.42
.13
.42
.04
.01
.10

1,580.58
189
.94
.08
.07

4.24***
3.98***
10.42***
2.00**
3.80***
1.60*
29.43***
5.99***
18.85***
18.68***
18.57***
1.21
8.97***
2.31**
8.43***
0.91
0.12
2.03**

t Value
.14
.19
.36
.05
.10
.04
.85
.45
.53
.67
.56
.09
.43
.12
.42
.05
.00
.11

1,725.36
194
.93
.09
.09

4.54***
5.90***
12.08***
1.78**
3.65***
1.40*
29.65***
6.85***
20.14***
20.10***
19.73***
1.46
8.93***
2.22**
8.41***
0.98
0.05
2.08**

t Value

Competing Model 1
Full Mediation

19.59***
19.43***
19.07***
16.35***
4.42***
15.51***
4.01***
0.68
6.00***

.56
.65
.61
.44
.12
.46
.10
.02
.16

2,761.52
192
.89
.11
.26

4.24***
5.94***
12.08***
1.93**
3.71***
1.53*

t Value

.13
.19
.36
.05
.11
.04

Competing
Model 2

.45
.13
.45
.06
.01
.12
.86
.01

.54
.65
.58

.02
.19
.36

1,684.80
190
.93
.09
.14

8.96***
2.30**
8.41***
1.15
0.10
2.28**
29.43***
0.47

19.65***
19.44***
19.25***

1.12
5.92***
12.08***

t Value

Competing
Model 3

.44
.12
.46
.10
.03
.17

2,776.41
195
.89
.11
.26

16.38***
4.28***
15.56***
4.26***
1.07
6.23***

21.11***
21.07***
20.39***

12.26***

.37

.58
.69
.63

4.29***

t Value
.14

Competing
Model 4

Note: VC = value congruence; COM = affective commitment; WOM = positive word of mouth; WPM = willingness to pay more; RPIN = repurchase intention; CFI = Bentlers normed
Comparative Fit Index; RMSEA = root mean squared error of approximation; SRMR = standardized root mean square residual.
*p < .1. **p < .05. ***p < .01.

1
2
3
4a
4b
4c
5
6
7a
7b
7c
8
9a
9b
9c
10a
10b
10c
11
12
Fit Indices
2
df
CFI
RMSEA
SRMR

Hypothesis No.

Hypothesized Model
Partial Mediation

Table 3
Structural Equation Modeling Results for Full and Partial Mediation Models

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 11

Figure 2
Competing Model
Relationship quality & outcomes

Value
Congruence

Satisfaction

Trust

Affective
Commitment

Loyalty
a. WOM
b. WPM
c. RPIN

Note: WOM = positive word of mouth; WPM = willingness to pay more; RPIN = repurchase intention.

congruence on job performance is mediated mainly by

job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
Interrelationships Between the Key Components of
Relationship Marketing
As mentioned earlier, we originally used the interrelationships between satisfaction, trust, commitment, and
loyalty as proposed by Nijssen et al. (2003) as starting
points to describe the interrelationships between these key
components in relationship marketing. However, the marketing literature suggests other possible interrelationships.
For example, Chiou and Droge (2006) provided theoretical and empirical evidence for the relationship between
trust and satisfaction. Other researchers proposed that
commitment, trust, and satisfaction concurrently influence
loyalty (e.g., Bansal, Taylor, and James 2005; Chiou and
Droge, 2006; Garbarino and Johnson 1999). We therefore

conducted additional analyses to test several competing

models and to compare these possible interrelationships.
The following models are used as competing models to
our model (see Table 3): (a) competing Model 2 in which
commitment, trust, and satisfaction concurrently influence
loyalty (Bansal, Taylor, and James 2005; Chiou and Droge
2006; Garbarino and Johnson 1999), and value congruence is a potential antecedent of all these four variables
(2 = 1180.84, df = 3, p < .01); (b) competing Model 3
in which satisfaction is a result of trust and commitment
(Chiou and Droge 2006; 2 = 104.22, df = 1, p < .01);
and (c) competing Model 43 in which satisfaction, trust,
and commitment directly influence loyalty, and value congruence is a potential antecedent of these three factors
(2 = 1,195.83, df = 6, p < .01). A chi-square difference
test reveals that our model has a significantly better fit
than the competing models, suggesting again that our
model provides a parsimonious explanation of the data.

12 Journal of Service Research

Moderating Effects of Value Congruence

Furthermore, following the congruence research tradition, we have used value congruence as antecedence of
key components of consumer-brand relationship quality
and outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, there is no
direct conceptual or empirical evidence for moderating
effects of value congruence in the literature. However,
we do believe there is indirect evidence for these moderating effects that can account for some of the equivocal
findings about the impact of satisfaction on loyalty in the
literature. For example, imagine a person who uses a
given service brand once. This consumer can become
satisfied with that service brand in part due to a relatively
high quality or low price. The question is, will this consumer intend to continue buying or using the given service brand in the future, even if the price increases? We
argue that consumers with a low perceived value congruence may use the service brand once, but they will
less likely maintain and enhance their relationship with
the service brand to achieve their personal values, as
compared to consumers with a high value congruence.
We therefore argue that value congruence enhances the
impact of consumer satisfaction on loyalty. Accordingly,
we suggest that a higher value congruence will lead to
stronger positive relationships between trust and loyalty,
and between affective commitment and loyalty. A lower
value congruence, on the other hand, is expected to
diminish these positive interrelationships. To examine
the moderating effects of value congruence on the relationships between satisfaction and loyalty, between trust
and loyalty, and between affective commitment and loyalty,4 we employed the well-established multigroup SEM
analysis method. The analysis follows the procedures of
multigroup SEM that Palmatier, Scheer, and Steenkamp
(2007) used. A median split was first used to split the
sample into high and low value congruence groups. We
then used a chi-square difference test to compare a
model in which all hypothesized paths were constrained
to be equal across both groups with an unconstrained
model in which we permitted the path hypothesized to be
moderated to vary freely across the high and the low
groups. If the unconstrained model has a significantly
lower chi-square than the constrained model and if the
effect is in the hypothesized direction, the moderating
hypothesis is supported. Contrary to our expectation, we
did not find any moderating effects for value congruence
on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty,
between trust and loyalty, and between affective commitment and loyalty.5

Discussion
A key goal of relationship marketing theory is to identify and understand how managerially controllable
antecedent variables influence important relationship marketing outcomes, such as loyalty intentions (HennigThurau, Gwinner, and Gremler 2002). Existing literature
frequently uses satisfaction as the key driver of loyalty
intentions and considers trust and commitment mediators
in that relationship (Bansal, Irving, and Taylor 2004;
Fullerton 2003; Garbarino and Johnson 1999; Morgan and
Hunt 1994). Less attention focuses on the role of value
congruence and its effects on these key components of
relationship marketing. Drawing on conclusions from multidisciplinary literature, the conceptual model we develop
challenges current thinking about the antecedents of consumerbrand relationship outcomes by introducing value
congruence as an important direct and indirect antecedent
of the key components of relationship quality and outcome.
Our results demonstrate that value congruence has
significant, direct, positive effects on the key components of relationship quality and outcome (i.e., satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty). That is, in
terms of direct positive effects, a consumers trust, commitment, and loyalty toward a service brand might be
enhanced by value congruence, in the absence of satisfaction. In other words, consumers who are not satisfied
with a given service brand or who have never used it can
still trust, be committed to, and have loyalty intentions
toward this brand if its values are similar to their own.
This result indicates that relationship marketing
researchers should pay more attention to value congruence. If they fail to consider its existence, they will likely
fail to understand why consumers build, maintain, or end
a relationship with a certain brand, regardless of their
satisfaction levels.
Our model and findings further suggest that value
congruence has an indirect effect on loyalty intentions,
mediated through satisfaction, trust, and affective commitment, which supports a recent study by Arthur and
colleagues (2006).
Moreover, our findings show that value congruence
has more impact on affective commitment, compared
with the effects of value congruence on satisfaction, trust
and loyalty. Fullerton (2003) noted in his study, it is less
clear how affective commitment is developed and nurtured (p. 342). To fill this gap, our study identifies value
congruence as an important means of developing and
maintaining affective commitment, besides ensuring satisfaction and trust.

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 13

Managerial Implications

Limitations and Further Research

Developing brand values that match consumers values might have important consequences for the relationship between consumers and service brands. In
particular, service managers should recognize that
value congruence helps ensure a long-term relationship between consumers and service brands, so they
should make an effort to improve not only consumers
satisfaction but also the level of value congruence
before and during the time that consumers have relationships with the service provider. Such efforts can
enhance the level of consumer-brand relationship quality and outcomes, including trust, affective commitment, and loyalty.
This study shows the prominent and positive effect of
value congruence on affective commitment, and significant influences of affective commitment on loyalty
intention. Brand managers, especially in service industries, should therefore first identify which values are
important to their target consumers, by using, for
example, the Schwartz Value Survey (Schwartz 1992;
Schwartz and Boehnke 2004). Next, they should try to
build clear brand values through promotions or WOM
communication. For example, with the promotional slogan It starts with ambition, the ABN AMRO bank targets young professional consumers by emphasizing a
matching value between young professional consumers
and the bank. Moreover, to ensure existing consumers
continue to be willing to purchase their brands, even with
negative influences such as increased pricing, brand
managers should invest to sustain and enhance their
brand values to keep them congruent with the values of
their consumers.
Additionally, the intangibility and heterogeneity of
service brands makes it increasingly important for service brand managers to create and maintain distinct
brand values, which at the same time can be used to differentiate themselves from competitors in the marketplace. Our results clearly show that the four clothing
store brands and the four bank brands used in our study
have different values, which, according to their consumers, are representative for their market segments,
besides a few common values for the selected clothing
and bank brands. We therefore suggest that a value list as
described in our study can easily be used by service
brand managers to differentiate brands with unique values that are relevant to consumers of the brands target
group.

This article explores the important role of value congruence in establishing, building, and maintaining consumer-brand relationships by developing and testing a
model that considers both direct and indirect effects on
satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty. As
the first study of its kind, and although with some limitations, this article provides a good starting point for further research on the linkage between value congruence
and relationship quality and outcomes.
First, following the congruence research tradition, we
consider value congruence an antecedent of consumerbrand relationship outcomes instead of a consequence.
Therefore, we measure value congruence and the consumers relationship with the service brand simultaneously. However, a reverse process may occur as well,
such that once a consumer likes a brand and is satisfied
with it, he or she may adopt values relevant to that brand,
and those values may become more similar with the
given brands. Value congruence therefore might develop
during the time the consumer gradually becomes loyal to
a service brand. In a similar vein, Gaunt (2006) stated
that satisfied couples might become increasingly similar
through time, so that couple similarity is the result, not
the cause, of marital satisfaction. Support for the current
rationale regarding the causal direction comes from
studies that use congruence as an antecedent of attitude
or behavior (Arthur et al. 2006; Kristof-Brown,
Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005; Piasentin and Chapman
2006). However, additional research could replicate the
present findings using a longitudinal design to determine
the directionality of causal relationships between value
congruence and consumer-brand relationship quality or
outcomes. This longitudinal study might include a measure of similarity at the beginning of the relationship and
a measure of relationship outcomes several years later,
which would address the issue of causal directions in the
relationships.
Second, service type might moderate the relationships
of value congruence with relationship quality and outcomes. For example, the impact of value congruence on
relationship quality and outcomes might be stronger for
intangible than for tangible brands. In line with Haytko
(2004), we argue that in a pure service environment,
without tangible measures of performance (i.e., no
physical goods to evaluate), value congruence may
become more important than it would be in a physical
goods environment. By default, value congruence fills

14 Journal of Service Research

the evaluation void created by the absence of more

objective measures (Berry 1995; Bitner 1995; Haytko
2004). However, we do not find different results for two
different services, despite Lovelock and Wrights (2002)
claim that clothing brands are more tangible and banks
less tangible. An explanation here might be that the
clothing stores may have more emotional, hedonistic, or
symbolic meanings for consumers (whereas banks have
more utilitarian or functional meanings), and consequently, value congruence may be just as important in
clothing stores.
Third, we believe personal characteristics, such as a
preference for consistency, product involvement, and
subjective brand knowledge, could influence the effects
of value congruence on key components of relationship
marketing. For example, the effect of value congruence
on satisfaction might be stronger if consumers have a
greater preference for consistency (Cialdini, Trost, and
Newsom 1995). Research into the moderating effects of
personal characteristics would give more insight into the
question of when and how the influences of value congruence on consumer-brand relationship quality and outcomes differ.
Fourth, several concepts that are conceptually similar
to value congruence appear in marketing and consumer
behavior literature, such as self-image congruence
(Kressmann et al. 2006; Sirgy et al. 1997), consumer
identification (Brown et al. 2005; Sen and Bhattacharya
2001), and personality congruence (Aaker 1999). Each
of these concepts has been associated both theoretically
and empirically with positive consumer outcomes,
including satisfaction and loyalty (Brown et al. 2005;
Kressmann et al. 2006; Sirgy et al. 1997). Although we
do not measure these concepts, we argue that value congruence may have a related but differential effect on
consumer-brand relationship outcomes compared with
self-image congruence, identification, and personality

congruence. More research is needed to investigate these

relationships and their effects on consumer-brand relationship outcomes. However, given the relative importance of
congruence in terms of value rather than personality traits
(Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005), and
because values represent the core consumer self-concept
(Hitlin and Piliavin, 2004; Verplanken and Holland,
2002), we argue that studying the effects of value congruence on the key components of relationship marketing is
crucial. Several organizational congruence researchers
noted that value congruence is the most common source of
fit, with the most consistent and effective impact on a variety of employee attitudes and behavior (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover) compared
with other types of congruence, such as personality
(Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005;
Piasentin and Chapman 2006).
Finally, our framework can be expanded with an
investigation of the moderating effects of value congruence on the interrelationships between the key components of the relationship marketing. Although we could
not find any significant moderating effect of value congruence on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, between trust and loyalty, and between affective
commitment and loyalty, further investigation is needed
to assess the reasonableness of our assumptions about
these effects.
Despite these limitations, our research demonstrates that adding value congruence clarifies the
relationships among satisfaction, trust, affective commitment, and loyalty compared with previous studies.
More specifically, the results of our study show that
value congruence has significant, direct, positive
effects on satisfaction, trust, affective commitment,
and loyalty. Furthermore, value congruence indirectly
influences loyalty through satisfaction, trust, and
affective commitment.

Zhang, Bloemer / Impact of Value Congruence 15

Appendix
The Schwartz Value Scale
Universalism

Equality (equal opportunity for all)

World at peace (free of war and conflict)
Unity with nature (fitting into nature)
Wisdom (a mature understanding of life)
World of beauty (beauty of nature and the arts)
Social justice (correcting injustice, care for the weak)
Broadminded (tolerant of different ideas and beliefs)

Benevolence

Protecting the environment (preserving nature)

Loyal (faithful to my friends, group)
Honest (genuine, sincere)
Helpful (working for the welfare of others)
Responsible

Tradition

Forgiving (willing to pardon others)

Respect for tradition (preservation of time-honored customs)
Moderate (avoiding extremes of feeling and action)
Humble (modest, self-effacing)
Accepting ones portion in life (submitting to life's circumstances)

Conformity

Devout (holding to religious faith and belief)

Politeness (courtesy, good manners)
Self-discipline (self-restraint, resistance to temptation)
Honouring parents and elders (showing respect)

Security

Obedience (dutiful, meeting obligations)

Social order (stability of society)
National security (protection of my nation from my enemies)
Reciprocation of favours (avoidance of indebtedness)
Family security (safety for loved ones)

Power

Clean (neat, tidy)

Social power (control over others, dominance)
Wealth (material possessions, money)
Authority (the right to lead or command)

Achievement

Preserving public image (preserving my "face")

Ambitious (hard working, aspiring)
Influential (having an impact on people and events)
Capable (competent, effective, efficient)

Hedonism

Successful (achieving goals)

Pleasure (gratification of desires)
Enjoying life (enjoying food, sex, leisure, etc.)

Stimulation

Self-indulgent (enjoying)
Exciting life (stimulating experiences)
Varied life (life filled with challenge, novelty and change)

Self-direction

Daring (seeking adventure, risk)

Freedom (freedom of action and thought)
Creativity (uniqueness, imagination)
Independent (self-reliant, self-sufficient)
Choosing own goals (selecting own purposes)
Curious (interested in everything, exploring)

Sources: Schwartz 1992, Schwartz and Boehnke 2004.

16 Journal of Service Research

Notes
1. A reviewer and the editor suggested that a comparison of our
model with several alternative models could lead to a more accurate
and stronger conceptual model. However, the results of our analysis
show that the data fit our proposed conceptual model best. More details
on this issue are provided in the section Additional Analysis.
2. In line with several recent studies (e.g., Kressmann et al. 2006;
Sirgy et al. 1997), we employed one of the most used difference scores,
namely, the absolute discrepancy scores, to measure value congruence
since this method allows us to better understand the underlying value
structure (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, and Johnson 2005).
3. This interrelationship was suggested by a reviewer and the
editor.
4. These moderating effects of value congruence were also suggested by a reviewer and the editor.
5. Details are available on request.

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Jing Zhang received her PhD from the Radboud University

Nijmegen in the Netherlands. This article was written during her position as a PhD candidate at the Radboud University Nijmegen. Her
research focuses on the relationships between brands and consumers
in services marketing.
Jose M. M. Bloemer is a professor of business administration,
focusing on market analysis and relationship management, and Head
of the Strategy and Marketing Department at Radboud University
Nijmegen. Her main research interests include consumer behavior,
services marketing, international marketing, advertising management, and market research. Her many national and international publications appear in, for example, International Journal of Research in
Marketing, Journal of Economic Psychology, Advances in Consumer
Research, European Journal of Marketing, and International Journal
of Service Industry Management.