Consumer attitude towards brand extension A comparative study of fast moving consumer goods, durable goods and services

Purpose - The present study aims to investigate the impact of perceived quality, brand extension incongruity, involvement and perceived risk on consumer attitude towards brand extension across three product types, namely, FMCG, durable goods and service (FDS) sectors. More importantly, the study seeks to explore the importance of involvement profile comprising relevance, pleasure, sign-value, risk importance and risk probability and perceived risk facets (financial, psychological and performance) in acceptance of brand extension across FDS. Design/methodology/approach - Three questionnaire-based surveys were conducted to collect the data for FMCG, durable and service brand extensions. Regression analyses and Chow test were computed to investigate differences in consumer evaluation across FDS. Findings - Results revealed significant different effects of variables across the three product types. The impact of perceived quality was greater in the case of services than FMCG and durables. On the other hand, perceived risk and involvement had stronger influence on evaluation of durables and service than FMCG brand extensions. Research limitations/implications - The present study gives a comprehensive view of how consumers evaluate the service and non-service brand extensions. Originality/value - The major contributions of this study are: generalization of the findings related to brand extension incongruity in the service area; examination of themultidimensional role of involvement in terms of relevance, pleasure, sign value, risk importance and risk probability in brand extension context across FMCG, durables and service product types; and exploration of the role of risk facets, namely, financial, performance and psychological in determining consumers' attitude towards brand extension.