The Influences of the Consumer-Brand Relationship on the Evaluations of Extended Brands

EXTENDED ABSTRACT - In this study, we investigated what influences the consumer-brand relationships have on effects on the extended brand and the moderating role of moderate incongruity of the evaluation process on extended brands.

Citation:

Yung-Shin Sung, Eun-A Park, and Tae-Hyung Kim (2005) ,"The Influences of the Consumer-Brand Relationship on the Evaluations of Extended Brands", in AP - Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, eds. Yong-Uon Ha and Youjae Yi, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 103.

Asia Pacific Advances in Consumer Research Volume 6, 2005      Page 103

THE INFLUENCES OF THE CONSUMER-BRAND RELATIONSHIP ON THE EVALUATIONS OF EXTENDED BRANDS

Yung-Shin Sung, Korea University, Korea

Eun-A Park, Korea Broadcasting Advertising Corporation, Korea

Tae-Hyung Kim, CJ Corporation., Korea

EXTENDED ABSTRACT -

In this study, we investigated what influences the consumer-brand relationships have on effects on the extended brand and the moderating role of moderate incongruity of the evaluation process on extended brands.

Consumer-brand relationships (BRQ) affect the evaluation of extended brand (Park, 2001). That is, strong BRQ consumers are more positive attitudes toward extended product than weak BRQ consumers. Moderate incongruity effect (MIE) in brand extensions means consumers prefer the extended brands whose attributes are moderately incongruent with their expectations over the brands extremely incongruent or very congruent (Meyers-Levy, Louis & Curren 1994). However, more recent research by Maoz & Tybout (2002) suggested that the moderating role of involvement and differentiation in moderate incongruity effects (MIE) of the brand extension. So we tried to examine that moderate incongruity effects in brand with relation to consumer-brand relationship quality.

It was hypothesized that the MIE would happen to strong brand relationship consumers and that the effect of attribute similarity, which means people have more positive attitudes toward extended brands whose attributes are similar with those of an existing brand (parent brand) than toward extended brands less similar, would happen to weak brand relationship consumers.

Three preliminary researches were executed prior to the main research. Throughout the first preliminary research and the second, the sub-dimensions regarding the measurement of Fournier(1994)’s brand relationship quality (BRQ) and the question items of each sub-dimension were decided. Also, the Korean famous clothes brand,"Bean Pole", and the brand "Sony" of impact electric home appliances were selected as the brands to be used in the main research. In the third preliminary research, as the extended products whose similarities in the product concepts are high and those in the product attributes are high, medium, and low, we selected full-dress shoes, perfume, and a fountain pen for the Bean Pole brand and a MP3 player, a wrist watch, and a pen for the Sony brand.

The main research showed that as consumers’ brand relationships with an existing brand become strong, they come to have more positive attitudes and higher purchase intensions toward extended brands. This is correspondent with the results of previous researches. Also, we have investigated whether the mechanism in the evaluations of extended brands appear differently in brand extensions depending on the degree of the brand relationship quality strength (High/Low). First, in order to study the MIE in brand extensions, ANOVA was executed to verify the MIE in the high BRQ group. As results of the analyses, there did not appear any differences in the attitudes and the purchase intentions toward extended brands among the three groups classified by the degree of product attribute similarities with each parent brand. This indicates that as for the groups of which the consumer-brand relationships are strong, it appears that they evaluate positively regardless of the degree of the product attribute similarities. Hence, it was shown that the MIE doesn=t appear in brand extensions. In contrast, from the result of the analyses regarding the groups of which the consumer-brand relationships are weak, we could see the significant differences among the groups appeared with regard to the attitudes toward extended brands according to the degree of product attribute similarity with each mother brand. Additional analyses showed that the evaluations of the extended brands are significantly higher in the cases of extending toward the products of which the product attribute similarities are the highest than when extending to the products whose product attribute similarities are medium. And, it was shown that the evaluations of the extended brands are significantly higher in the cases of extending to the products of which the product attribute similarities are medium than when extending toward the products whose similarities are low. Accordingly, the above results lead to the conclusion that for low BRQ group, the more similar the attributes of the products are with the mother brand, the more positive attitudes and the higher purchase intension toward the extended brands they have.

In summary, the results showed that as consumers’ brand relationships with an existing brand become strong, they come to have more positive attitudes and higher purchase intensions toward extended brands regardless of the degree of the product attribute similarities. As for strong consumer-brand relationship groups, the MIE didn=t appear and for weak consumer-brand relationship groups, the product attribute similarities affect their attitudes and purchase intensions of extended brands. This study confirmed that strong BRQ is key important factor to the favorable evaluations of the brand extensions.

REFERENCES

Fournier, S. (1994), "A Consumer-Brand Relationship Framework for Strategic Brand Management," unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Florida.

Maoz, E. & Tybut, A. M. (2002), The Moderating Role of Involvement and Differentiation in the Evaluation of Brand Extensions. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 12(2), 119-131.

Meyers-Levy, J., Louis, T. A. & Curren, M. T. (1994), How Does the Congruity of Brand Names Affect Evaluations of Brand Name Extensions? Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(1), 46-53.

Park, J. W. & Kim, K. H. (2001) Role of Consumer-Brand Relationships with a Brand in Brand Extensions: Some Exploratory Findings. Advances in Consumer Research, 28, 179-185.

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