Associative personalities: investigating the impact of gender personality congruence between sport brands and individuals on life satisfaction

Purpose: The research investigates the concept of sport brand gender personality and its effects on life satisfaction through the lens of self-congruence theory and the transformative sport research paradigm. Particularly, the research examines the impact of congruence between an individual’s perceived gender personality and the gender personality of athleisure brands on life satisfaction and whether brand loyalty mediates this relationship. Design/methodology/approach: The research employs a case-based approach, focusing on athleisure brands to analyze how the alignment between an individual’s perceptions of gender personality and sport brand gender personality affects life satisfaction. The research leverages polynomial regression with response surface analysis and a mediated value congruence structural regression analysis to test the proposed relationships. Findings: The findings indicate that gender personality congruence between athleisure sport brands and individuals enhances evaluations of life satisfaction. However, the strength of the congruence effects varied across the different gender personality values, and its impact on life satisfaction was contingent upon individuals’ salience to a particular value. Additionally, brand loyalty, including both attitudinal and purchase loyalty, mediates the relationship between gender personality congruence and life satisfaction. Originality/value: The research contributes to the sport marketing literature by demonstrating how gender personality congruence influences consumer behavior by emphasizing the need for branding strategies that align with consumers’ self-concepts.