Licensing or Not Licensing? An Empirical Study of Consumer Acceptance of a Massmarket Auto Brand's Fashion Apparel Extension

This research attempts to understand and empirically examine consumer acceptance of licensed fashion apparel extension under a mass-market auto brand name. A conceptual model and research hypotheses were proposed based on a review of the literature on fashion apparel consumption and brand extension. An online survey was designed and conducted to collect data from a convenience sample with 391 valid responses. Structural equation modeling was applied to test the proposed conceptual model and hypotheses. Results show that consumer acceptance of the mass-market auto brand's fashion apparel extension is affected by attitudes toward the fashion apparel extension, perceived fit, attitudes toward the parent brand, parent brand image, and parent brand quality. Implications were provided.