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In the eye of the beholder: The role of cognitive style and similarity in the evaluation of brand extensions
Author(s) -
Groote Julia K.,
Mendini Monica,
Gibbert Michael
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of consumer behaviour
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.811
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1479-1838
pISSN - 1472-0817
DOI - 10.1002/cb.1741
Subject(s) - moderation , similarity (geometry) , antecedent (behavioral psychology) , cognition , psychology , cognitive dimensions of notations , style (visual arts) , field (mathematics) , affect (linguistics) , cognitive psychology , social psychology , computer science , mathematics , communication , image (mathematics) , artificial intelligence , geography , archaeology , neuroscience , pure mathematics
Fit has been identified as an antecedent of the success of brand extensions. Recently, a new stream of literature has distinguished two different types of fit: feature‐based taxonomic similarity and relation‐based thematic similarity. Although researchers in this field have investigated how thematic and taxonomic brand extensions are evaluated, they have not accounted for interindividual differences in these evaluations. To address this gap, we investigate how cognitive styles are related to the evaluation of brand extensions that are based on different types of similarity. We show that a systematic cognitive style is related to the evaluation of taxonomic brand extensions. Moreover, we take the first steps to disentangle the relationship between intuitive cognitive style and the evaluation of thematic brand extensions, and we show that positive affect might play an important role as a moderator in these cases. The results provide us with a better understanding of how interindividual differences in information processing might account for differences in preferences for different types of brand extensions and, hence, consumer behavior.