ROLE OF NOSTALGIC IMAGE CONSUMPTION ON CONSUMPTION BEHAVIOR OF BRAND COMMUNITIES: A RESEARCH ON VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE USERS IN TURKEY

This study is prepared to understand the potential attitudes of the individuals in brand communities towards identification and belonging and to clarify the nostalgia proneness and nostalgic consumption of the community members through “image consumption”. The main question of the thesis is whether the nostalgic consumption in brand communities in Turkey are realized through nostalgic image and whether this is a self-expression method. The research of this study is designed to contain two phases. For the first phase of the research; among the qualitative research methods, a focus group discussion is realized with 8 people from the Volkswagen Beetle communities in Turkey and this is interpreted through explanatory repertory. In the second phase, in order to support the answers gathered from the focus group discussion; a quantitative research method, an online survey research is conducted with 410 people from the same community