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1. Introduction
The use of line extensions to grow is widely used by global brands (Kim and Wingate, 2017; Milberg and Sinn, 2008; Veg-Sala and Roux, 2014). Line extensions focus on using an existing brand name to introduce a new product so that the product introduction can benefit from the brand's long-term equity and associations (Sichtmann and Diamantopoulos, 2013; Baek and King, 2015). Studies about line extensions suggest that brands can be viewed as categories (Aaker and Keller, 1990; Boush and Loken, 1991). Such categorizations can influence a series of subsequent information processes underlying inferences and memory processes (Bless and Greifeneder, 2009). When faced with a line extension, consumers are likely to accept it as part of the parent brand category because over time, brands as categories have come to be associated with a series of product-related attributes (Baek and King, 2015).
Several drivers of favorable consumer responses to line extensions are identified in the mainstream branding literature including quality of the parent brand (O'Reilly et al., 2017; Sichtmann and Diamantopoulos, 2013), familiarity of the parent brand (Völckner and Sattler, 2006) and the perceived fit between the extension and the parent brand (Sichtmann and Diamantopoulos, 2013; Carter and Curry, 2013; Verhellen et al., 2016). However, while line extensions are widespread within the mass-market and fast moving goods sector, an understanding of the strategic antecedents and drivers of consumer responses to line extensions in the luxury sector is more fragmented (Veg-Sala and Roux, 2014; Eren-Erdogmus et al., 2018; Kim and Wingate, 2017; Margariti et al., 2019). Luxury researchers have compared the drivers of line extensions success with the nonluxury sector (Albrecht et al., 2013) and examined extension attitudes in various industry settings including services (Ahn et al., 2018), travel Reddy et al. (2009) and fashion (Stankeviciute and Hoffmann, 2010). However, there is little understanding of how consumers evaluate luxury line extensions in different country markets (Boisvert and Ashill, 2018a, b). This is somewhat surprising given that many luxury brands are global and use international line extension strategies to grow.
In the current study, we introduce luxury PB status signaling and luxury line extension authenticity as constructs that may potentially shape consumer reactions to luxury line extensions. Psychological research shows...