Dyads, Triads and Consumer Treachery: When Interpersonal Connections Guard Against Brand Cheating

Abstract

Consumers develop committed and meaningful relationships with brands, yet still sometimes buy or use options that compete directly with these ‘relationship partners’, an activity that might be understood as a form of cheating or infidelity. Using data from three studies, we assess whether so-called triadic brand relationships – those that implicate an interpersonal third party (i.e., some form of interpersonal bond) – safeguard against cheating. We find compared to dyadic brand relationships that implicate only the consumer and the brand, triadic brand relationships protect against emotional and behavioral cheating by virtue of reinforcing expectations of consumer’s exclusive behavior and monogamy within the relationship.

Keywords: consumer-brand relationships, branding, interpersonal relationships, relationship marketing, brand cheating, infidelity

JEL Classification: M31, M39, M30, M00