When self-congruence backfires: how Dark Triad consumers react to Dark Triad brand personalities

This research investigates how Dark Triad brand personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) affect consumers’ unethical punishment intentions and how these effects are moderated by consumers’ own Dark Triad traits. Across three studies, results show that consumers high in Dark Triad traits are more likely to punish “dark” brands. Reactive moral outrage mediates this relationship: although high Dark Triad consumers experience less moral outrage, they are more likely to act on it when it arises. These findings identify a critical boundary condition of self-congruence theory: when consumers and brands align on socially aversive traits, congruence amplifies rather than attenuates punitive responses, a pattern we term dark self-congruence. This challenges the prevailing assumption that self-congruence reliably produces favorable outcomes and shows that its effects depend on the valence of shared traits.