These phenomena can be well explained in relation to image congruity that customers
attempt to match the image of a customer and the image of a given store (Sirgy & Samli, 1985).
Self-congruity is defined as a comparison between customers’ own image and a product image;
whereas, functional congruity is a discrepency between customer perception toward product
attributes and their evaluation (Sirgy, Grewal, & Mangleburg, 2000). However, studying both
congruity concepts in a coffee shop setting is important since customers are likely to pay the
premium cost not only for high quality coffee, but also for other values that the coffee shop
provides. For these customers, brand coffee shops may be perceived as a place to socialize with
friends and experience an unusual atmosphere that brand coffee shops create for their customers.
Thus, the research effort that investigates the impact of customers’ image congruity is important
to understand coffee drinkers’ attitude toward brand coffee shops and their purchase behavior