Thirty Years of Conflicting Studies on the Influence of Congruence as perceived by the Consumer: Overview, Limitations and Avenues for Research

This article proposes a critical review of the concept of congruence and its effects. The literature is rich but contradictory, due sometimes to arguments over the concept of congruence and to a lack of attention to possible moderators. Future research should identify in which conditions moderate incongruence is more effective than congruence.