Effect of need for cognition on the sequential processing of brand extension: Evidence from Korean women

The study aimed to investigate the effect of consumers’ need for cognition on their sequential processing of brand extension. An online experiment was thus conducted with a sample of Korean women aged 30–39 years. The results revealed that perceived product-feature fit between a parent brand and its extension product category enhanced perceived similarity between the parent brand and its brand extension among participants low and high in need for cognition. Next, for participants low in need for cognition, the perceived similarity increased brand extension attitude and brand extension buying intention. For participants high in need for cognition, the perceived similarity and an interaction of perceived product-feature fit and parent-brand image fit between the parent brand and its extension product category influenced the brand extension attitude. Lastly, the brand extension attitude enhanced the brand extension buying intention among participants low and high in need for cognition. The study is among the first to empirically examine (a) the perceived sequential relationships among a brand extension, its parent brand and its extension product category and (b) differential effects of the perceived sequential relationships among them on brand extension attitude and brand extension buying intention between consumers low and high in need for cognition.