When access creates threat: Core customers’ responses to in-house rental services

Abstract

Access-based consumption is rapidly expanding as firms adopt circular business models, with many brands now offering in-house rental services. Yet research on brand-managed access remains limited, with most work emphasizing the functional case for access such as economic and sustainability benefits. Shifting the lens to the core customer, the present research investigates how in-house rental services reshape identity-relevant emotions and brand evaluations. Drawing on identity signaling and brand community perspectives, we examine the symbolic and affective consequences of brand-managed access for core customers. Across three experiments spanning fashion and technology, offering an in-house rental option lowered core customers’ brand image evaluation. This effect was driven by stronger perceived symbolic threat from non-core customers and reduced brand-related pride. Moreover, the mechanism varied across non-core customer types—brand immigrants (who claim in-group membership) versus brand tourists (who use the brand without asserting membership). While prior work suggests immigrants are more threatening in ownership-based contexts, we find a departure from under brand-managed access: in rental settings, tourists elicited stronger symbolic threat among core customers than immigrants. Overall, this research extends access-based consumption research to brand-managed access and clarifies how access modality shapes identity-based brand evaluations. The findings also offer actionable guidance for brands considering in-house rental programs by identifying conditions under which core-customer backlash is likely to emerge.