UNIVERSITY OF VAASA 

 

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS STUDIES 

 

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roman Kaczmarek 

 

The influence of cultural values and gender role attitudes on the perception and 

evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions 

 

An examination of Indian consumers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Master’s Thesis in International Business 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VAASA 2018 



 

 

  



 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS  

LIST OF FIGURES 5 

LIST OF TABLES 5 

ABSTRACT 7 

INTRODUCTION 9 

1.1. Relevance and justification of the study 10 

1.2. Research gap, research questions and objectives 12 

1.3. Structure of the Study 14 

2. CROSS-GENDER BRAND EXTENSIONS AND GENDER 16 

2.1. Brand extensions 16 

2.1.1. Effect of the parent brand on brand extensions 17 

2.1.2. Perceived fit of brand extensions 19 

2.1.3. Functional versus symbolic product categories 20 

2.2. Gender, gender role attitudes and identity in a consumer behavior context 21 

2.2.1. Gender-relevant empirical findings: shift from sex classification to 

gender-specific analysis 23 

2.3. Cross-gender brand extensions 27 

2.3.1. Jung and Lee’s research findings 27 

2.3.2. Ulrich’s research findings 28 

3. CULTURAL CONTEXT 30 

3.1. Culture and consumer behavior 30 

3.1.1. Definition of culture 31 

3.1.2. Consumer values and cultural values 31 

3.1.2.1. Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture 33 

3.1.2.2. The GLOBE Project 35 

3.1.2.3. Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture and the GLOBE Project: 

usability of the models for marketing strategies and deficits 37 

3.1.3. Gender roles as a social process and changeability 39 

3.1.3.1. Social Role Theory 39 



3 

 

3.1.3.2. Changeability of culture and social roles 40 

3.2. Indian culture 42 

3.2.1. Gender equality and gender role attitudes in India 42 

3.2.2. Indian’s scoring according to Hofstede’s dimension and the GLOBE 

Project 45 

3.3. Summary and conceptual framework 47 

3.3.1. Summary 47 

3.3.2. A conceptual framework for the effects of culture and gender role 

attitudes on cross-gender brand extensions 50 

4. METHODOLOGY 53 

4.1. Data collection technique and sample 54 

4.2. Procedure and data analysis 57 

4.3. Credibility of research 58 

5. EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 60 

5.1. Values and practices in India 60 

5.2. Gender roles in India 62 

5.3. Evaluation of Cross-Gender Brand Extensions for Indian consumers 66 

5.4. Perception of gendered products 70 

5.5. Depiction of men, women and gender roles in Indian advertisements 73 

6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 76 

6.1. Findings related to the evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions 77 

6.2. Managerial implications 79 

6.3. Limitations of the study 81 

7. REFERENCES 83 

APPENDIX 1 – INTERVIEW GUIDE 90 

APPENDIX 2 – IMAGES USED FOR CROSS-GENDER-BRAND-EXTENSIONS 

SCENARIOS 92 

APPENDIX 3 – IMAGES USED FOR GENDERED PRODUCTS 94 



 

 

 

  



5 

 

LIST OF FIGURES 

Figure 1. Simple model of the social role theory. ......................................................... 40 

Figure 3. Cultural Dimensions of India according to Hofstede's 6-D Model.. .............. 45 

Figure 4. Cultural Practices and Values in India according to GLOBE Project............ 47 

Figure 5. conceptual framework for the effect of gender role attitudes on the evaluation 

of cross-gender brand extensions. .................................................................................. 52 

 

LIST OF TABLES 

Table 1. Dimension of national cultures. Definitions taken from Hofstede (2011). ..... 33 

Table 2. Themes covered during the interview. ............................................................. 55 

Table 3. Sample. ............................................................................................................ 56 

Table 4. Evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions (summary). ............................... 69 

 

file:///C:/Users/Roman/Dropbox/Masterarbeit/Masterarbeit/Neu/Master's%20Thesis%20Summary.docx%23_Toc513912162
file:///C:/Users/Roman/Dropbox/Masterarbeit/Masterarbeit/Neu/Master's%20Thesis%20Summary.docx%23_Toc513912162


 

 

  



7 

 

_____________________________________________________________________ 

UNIVERSITY OF VAASA 

School of Business Studies 

Author:     Roman Kaczmarek 

Topic of the thesis:  The influence of cultural values and gender role 

attitudes on the perception and evaluation of cross-

gender brand extensions: An examination of Indian 

consumers 

Degree:  Master of Science in Economics and Business 

Administration 

Master’s Programme: Master’s Degree Programme in International 

Business 

Supervisor:    Liisa Mäkelä 

Year of entering the University: 2017  

Year of completing the thesis: 2018      

Number of pages:    95 

______________________________________________________________________ 

 

ABSTRACT 

 

In an increasingly globalized and connected world and therefore, in an increasing 

competitive market, establishing brands is becoming more challenging for companies. It 

is well-known that creating a new brand needs a lot of investment. Hence, one convenient 

and promising approach for many companies is the implementation of brand extension 

strategies to enter new markets. Brand extensions refer to the usage of a current brand 

name to enter a new market segment. One major advantage to use an established brand is 

that consumers are already familiar with the brand and thus, less marketing effort and 

expenses are necessary. Furthermore, an established brand increases the competitive 

advantage for a company when entering a new market. One specific approach during the 

last years has been the so called cross-gender brand extensions. Cross-gender brand 

extensions mean to use an established brand name and extend it to target the opposite sex. 

This master’s thesis aims to gain a better comprehension of the sociocultural context 

regarding cross-gender brand extensions in a fast growing and newly industrialized 

economy like India. Thereby, the master’s thesis takes up various research areas to adopt 

a holistic understanding of the research problem. The results are based on the analysis of 

ten semi-structured interviews with Indian consumers. The findings of the study suggest 

that cross-gender brand extensions are marketable in Indian despite the traditional values 

and gender role attitudes this country holds. However, those results refer mostly to urban 

areas. Moreover, regardless of the high gender inequality prevailing in India, gender role 

attitudes hardly seem to have any relevance among the interviewees on the evaluation of 

cross-gender brand extensions.  

______________________________________________________________________ 

KEY WORDS: Cross-gender brand extensions, culture, gender role attitudes, values, 

gendered products, Indian consumers 



 

 

 

 



9 

 

INTRODUCTION 

Particularly in Western societies, cultural change increasingly distorted gender categories 

in the last years. Women are much more present in prestigious jobs whereas men are 

increasingly responsible for the housework (Palan 2001). An increased assimilation of 

the responsibilities as well as the division of labor along the society results in more mutual 

experiences. This phenomenon is described through the social role theory. As a 

consequence, gender role attitudes among the society become more and more egalitarian 

(Schwartz & Rubel 2005). The increasing change from traditional norms and role 

distributions and hence, also traditional gender role attitudes, to more modern and 

egalitarian individualistic cultures, suggests that a gender-specific segmentation will 

become progressively significant for marketers. 

Frank et al. (2013) emphasizes that companies should use their marketing expenditures 

more efficient. Therefore, marketers should understand gender preferences and 

differences to utilize new market potentials. Adopting a gender-specific analysis might 

enables chances for innovative marketing strategies. For example, Ulrich (2013) 

exhibited in his study that individuals with more traditional gender role attitudes are more 

unenthusiastic toward cross-gender brand extensions. Cross-gender brand extensions 

refer to brands which usually possess either a strong masculine or feminine image and 

then extend to the opposite gender. Therefore, Ulrich (2013) derives that “the potential 

market for these extensions is primarily limited to consumers with egalitarian attitudes to 

gender”. 

Another advantage of a gender-specific analysis is, that it is considering culture. 

Likewise, Jung and Lee (2006) published a paper about cross-gender brand extensions. 

Thereby, they found that female participants were significantly more receptive for cross-

gender brand extensions than their male counterparts. In contrast to Ulrich’s (2013) study, 

their sample was based on South Korean students. A possible reason for the different 

results might be the dissimilar values, Western and Asian societies hold. The findings of 

Schwartz’s and Rubel’s (2005) study endorse these thoughts. Schwartz and Rubel (2005) 

investigated the value prioritization of men and women across nations and exposed that 

those value priorities varied significantly across different nations. Moreover, they could 



10 

 

exhibit that the value prioritization of men and women become increasingly alike the 

more individual and richer the country is (Schwartz & Rubel 2005).  

Consequently, understanding the sociocultural context of nations and societies seems be 

a major advantage in order to create or implement new gender-specific marketing 

strategies (Palan 2001). 

1.1. Relevance and justification of the study  

In an increasingly globalized and connected world and therefore, in an increasing 

competitive market, establishing brands becomes more and more challenging for 

companies (Aaker & Keller 1990). Moreover, consumers nowadays are more aware and 

immune toward marketing tactics and advertisement which is also referred as persuasion 

knowledge (Friestad & Wright 1994). It is well-known that creating a new brand needs a 

lot of investment. However, firms either do not always have the capital for such an 

investment or do not want to invest too much according to the optimization principle. 

According to Aaker (1990), the cost of introducing a new brand name can range from $50 

million to $100 million. Nowadays, the necessary amount will probably be even much 

higher. Hence, many firms have continuously increased the implementation of brand 

extensions strategies to enter new markets (Busacca et al. 2009; Doust & Esfahlan 2012). 

Brand extensions refer to the usage of a “current brand name […] to enter a new market 

segment in its product class (Aaker & Keller 1990). The advantage to use an established 

brand is that consumers are already familiar with the brand and thus, less marketing effort 

and costs are necessary. In addition, an established brand increases the competitive 

advantage for a company when entering a new market. Brand extensions offer 

opportunities for companies to directly influence the value creation of new products. 

According to Busacca et al. (2009) brand extensions have been intensively studied, 

however, merely little is known about the influence that the quality of the relation between 

brand and customer may have an effect on brand extension strategies. 

One specific approach during the last several years has been the so called cross-gender 

brand extensions (cf. Jung 2006; Jung & Lee 2006; Ulrich 2013). Such strategies have a 

growing trend on the marketplace lately, partly because of the unisex trend in consumer 



11 

 

goods (Jung 2006; Ulrich 2013), e.g. shower gels (Dove for Men); skincare (Nivea for 

Men); perfumes (Chanel Allure Homme) (Ulrich 2013). However, this can also be applied 

on brands which used originally a universal brand for all its consumers but extended their 

portfolio later to target a specific group, e.g. sports (Adidas Woman) or toys (LEGO® 

friends). For instance, LEGO®’s strategy to create a new product line, LEGO® friends, 

targeting explicitly girls, has been a huge success. Since launching LEGO® friends in 

2011, already the following year net sales for the first period of 2012 increased almost 

for 25% (Lego Annual Report 2012) as well tripled their amount of sales to girls in the 

US market (Wieners 2013). 

Even if brand extensions and more specifically cross-gender brand extensions seem to be 

a promising approach at first glance, those strategies have its drawbacks as well. On the 

one hand, the original brand name can fail such an extension by creating a subtle or even 

not subtle association which harms the new brand extension. On the other hand, the 

extension can be successful but harm the original brand by weakening existing 

associations or adding new, undesirable ones (Aaker 1990). 

That is why it is crucial for firms to estimate the possible effect of such a cross-gender 

brand extension on consumer perception before launching an investment in a certain 

region and thus, to understand the possible relationship between consumer group and 

brand. However, it is not surprising that practices and values differ strongly across the 

world due to cultural differences. Important and popular studies in that regard are 

Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as well as the GLOBE Project (Hofstede 2001; House et 

al. 2004). 

Therefore, it seems crucial to understand how gender role attitudes and with them 

associated values have an impact on the success of cross-gender brand extensions. 

Especially in regard of our current, global economic status, where firms must “think local, 

act global” and cope with resources and capital efficiently due to the high competitive 

global market. Marketers should understand gender preferences and differences to utilize 

new market potentials. 



12 

 

Another important key point is that consumption behavior is influenced by the culture 

and values the society shares. However, culture should not be understood as a static 

construct but rather a dynamic one. Culture is learned behavior that can change and 

develop over time and therefore, alter the consumption behavior (de Mooij 2011: 213 - 

217). Especially in Western societies, cultural change. Cultural change increasingly 

distorted gender categories in the last years. This trend of more egalitarian societies in 

Western countries will probably continue and implies to rethink simple male and female 

segmentation in future. However, this does not merely hold true for Western societies but 

can also affect traditional societies as well. For instance, Shukla (2015) investigated the 

extent of change in attitudes toward the role and status of women in India throughout 

three generations. Though India is a country which is relatively traditional toward gender 

role attitudes, she found that younger generations demonstrated greater gender role 

egalitarianism regarding employment and social roles than older ones.  

Gathering early knowledge about the relationship of cross-gender brand extensions and 

consumers of different cultures can help companies to understand better the quality of the 

relationship between brand and consumer and support the right management choices in 

future in a continually changing world. 

1.2. Research gap, research questions and objectives 

As already mentioned Busacca et al. (2009) argued that merely little is known about the 

influence that the quality of the relation between consumer and brand may have on the 

effectiveness of brand extension strategies. However, recently several studies were 

published which analyzed the effect of gender on cross-gender brand extensions showing 

the relevance of gender role attitudes and gender identity in a certain society have a crucial 

impact on the acceptance of such extension.  

Still, most studies which investigated the issue of brand extensions and cross-gender 

brand extensions chose a quantitative approach such as the above-mentioned papers of 

Jung & Lee (2006) and Ulrich (2013). In addition, it is not only important to observe the 

empirical relation between gender role attitudes and cross-gender brand extensions but 

also to understand the meanings the consumers attach to those extensions. Therefore, a 



13 

 

qualitative research method as counterbalance seems to be a logical consequence for the 

underrepresented qualitative methods in the field of cross-gender brand extensions in 

comparison to quantitative methods. That information could give firms and marketers 

insights whether consumers react more sensitive or even reluctant to cross-gender brand 

extensions for specific product categories. Moreover, Ulrich’s (2013) dataset is primarily 

based on French consumers, whereas the study of Jung and Lee (2006) was conducted in 

Korea and Singapore. Hence, another culture in this master’s thesis will be investigated 

to get a more versatile picture of the topic.  

Considering that the sociocultural context has an influence on consumer behavior, this 

influence should be taken into account when global companies develop branding 

strategies for specific countries. This master’s thesis seizes to take up this issue from Jung 

and Lee’s (2006) and Ulrich’s (2013) papers to get a better understanding of the 

sociocultural context regarding cross-gender brand extensions. Specifically, the thesis 

intends to focus on the gender role attitudes and values which are associated with those 

to analyze their impact on the perception of cross-gender brand extensions. The country 

under investigation, chosen for this thesis, will be India. India is a country which holds 

relative traditional gender role attitudes. However, there is a positive trend that younger 

generations tend to be more nontraditional than older ones (Shukla 2015). Whereas there 

are countries which score much higher in ‘masculinity’ (Hofstede) and lower in gender 

egalitarianism, e.g. South Korea, empirical findings and investigations should not merely 

be based on extremes but be also derivable from research subjects which are less 

pronounced. Moreover, India is the world’s largest democracy with an enormous 

economic growth potential and thus, its market plays an increasingly important role on 

the global stage. 

Therefore, the research question to be answered in this thesis is: How does gender role 

attitudes and value priorities in India have an influence on the perception and evaluation 

of cross-gender brand extensions? 

 



14 

 

Following theoretical and empirical objectives have been couched so far to narrow the 

subject under analysis: 

• Reviewing existing literature about brand extensions and adapting relevant findings 

on the more specific type of cross-gender brand extensions. Moreover, introduce the 

advantages of a gender-related analysis along with gender role attitudes. 

• Examining the cultural context, especially values, as well as the influence of cultural 

change on consumer behavior along with the social theory.  

• Developing a conceptual framework which reflects the impact of culture and gender 

role attitudes on the evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions 

• Investigate and discuss relevant aspects based on the theoretical knowledge which 

possibly influence the effect of gender role attitudes in India when evaluating cross-

gender brand extensions 

1.3. Structure of the Study 

To support the thought process and to substantiate the arguments of this study, several 

studies and theories will be presented.  

In chapter 2, the thesis gives its attention to the phenomenon of brand extensions. 

behavior and decision-making process of consumers which will be applied on cross-

gender brand extensions. Furthermore, this chapter focuses on the characteristics of a 

gender-specific analysis, especially gender role attitudes. Combined, sufficient 

knowledge should be gathered to comprehend the peculiarities of cross-gender brand 

extensions and which factors may influence the evaluation of those. 

Chapter 3 focuses on the cultural context with its specifics. In the first half of the chapter, 

the importance of consumer values will be outlined. As values stimulate motivation for 

behavioral response, it is crucial for marketing purposes to understand the values of a 

specific society. Thereby, the GLOBE Project and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of 

national culture will play a central role in the analysis. In a next step, the Indian culture, 

especially in respect of gender equality, will be presented.  



15 

 

Chapter 4 encompasses the methodology applied in the thesis. First, the research design 

is presented, followed by methodological approaches and research method. The Sample 

and the data collection technique will also be presented. Lastly, the approaches to ensure 

the validity and reliability of this study will be described. 

Chapter 5 presents the collected interview data. Thereby, the empirical results will be 

discussed in this chapter. 

Chapter 6 presents the conclusions of the study. Thereby the results with regards to the 

theory will be reexamined. Moreover, managerial implications and limitations of the 

study will be stated.  



16 

 

2. CROSS-GENDER BRAND EXTENSIONS AND GENDER 

The topic of the master’s thesis takes up various research areas which need to be 

condensed. Because of the lack of research on cross-gender brand extensions it is not 

possible to acquire all necessary knowledge from studies which dealt explicitly with 

cross-gender brand extensions as main issue. Thus, study findings about brand extensions 

in general will be presented first. Afterwards, this knowledge will be applied on the 

peculiarities of cross-gender brand extensions (chapter 2.1). 

The second half of this chapter (2.2), addresses gender in the context of consumer 

behavior. First, gender and terminology connected with it, i.e. gender role attitudes will 

be defined as one of the core subjects of this paper. Especially, in this case it is necessary 

to frame unambiguous definitions due to the interchangeable use of the terms gender, sex 

and sexuality in the media and even research (Palan 2001).  

With the gathered knowledge of the previous subchapters, chapter 2.3 focuses on research 

which investigates cross-gender brand extensions. Thereby, study findings of Jung and 

Lee (2006) and Ulrich (2013) will be presented. 

2.1. Brand extensions 

An increasingly globalized and connected world makes the market more and more 

competitive. Consequently, the establishing of brands becomes increasingly challenging 

for companies (Aaker & Keller 1990). Moreover, consumers nowadays are more aware 

and immune toward marketing tactics and advertisement. This phenomenon is also 

referred as persuasion knowledge (Friestad & Wright 1994). It is well-known that 

creating a new brand needs a lot of investment. However, firms either do not always have 

the capital for such an investment or do not want to invest too much according to the 

optimization principle. Hence, one convenient and promising approach for many 

companies is the implementation of brand extension strategies to enter new markets. 

Brand extensions refer to the usage of a current brand name to enter a new market segment 

(Aaker & Keller 1990).  



17 

 

The advantage using an established brand is that consumers are already familiar with the 

brand, and thus less marketing efforts and expenses are necessary. Also, the use response 

tends to be quicker because of the familiarity of the brand. Hence, the introduction phase 

in the product life cycle, where costs still outweigh the profits, is decreased to a minimum 

(Saedi 2016: 50). In addition, an established brand increases the competitive advantage 

for a company when entering a new market. Brand extensions offer opportunities for 

companies to directly influence the value creation of new products. Also, the distribution 

of brand extensions is much easier, e.g. shelf space, whereas companies already have 

contracts with distributors. The value of a brand is not merely calculated by its current 

status but more by its future potential to thrive and to enter new unexploited markets. 

Thus, brand extensions represent a promising approach as a growth strategy (Saedi 2016: 

50). Especially, cross-gender brand extensions seem to be a very promising approach as 

the new potential market theoretically is theoretically doubled when the same sales 

figures for the opposite sex are achieved. 

The following subchapters will outline findings from different studies about brand 

extensions and specially, focus on the evaluation of brand extensions from the consumer’s 

viewpoint, the effect on the parent brand, the fit perception of the brand extension and the 

significance of the product category and type of extension.  

2.1.1. Effect of the parent brand on brand extensions 

When a company launches a new brand extension, consumers evaluate it based on their 

attitudes toward the parent brand as well as the extension category (Czellar 2003: 6). 

However, when consumers are not familiar with the parent brand at all, they will evaluate 

the new brand extension solely based on their experience with the product (Czellar 2003: 

6) which in turn would correspond to a conventional product launch. Consequently, if the 

product category of the extension is unfamiliar to consumers but the parent brand is 

familiar, their attitude toward the novel product will merely be based on the attitudes 

toward the parent brand. If both, the parent brand and the product category of the 

extension, are familiar, the fit perception plays another crucial role for evaluating the 

brand extension. The fit perception between parent brand and the extension is according 

to researchers one the most significant factors for the evaluating process of an extension, 



18 

 

(Czellar 2003; Doust & Esfahlan 2012; Saedi 2016) and thus will be discussed later 

separately.  

Researchers found out that consumers’ attitudes toward brand extensions are mostly 

founded on the perceived quality of the parent brand. Hence, perception of quality 

associated with the core brand is a critical factor for a successful extension. The reason is 

that the consumers’ quality assumptions of the extensions are mostly driven by the 

perceived quality of the core brand (Aaker & Keller 1990). This also implies that an 

extension benefits from a strong brand equity of the parent brand because the existing 

brand will trigger a recall of already familiar feelings, beliefs and experiences associated 

with the core brand. Hence, a special feature of brand extensions compared to 

conventional product launches are that the attitudes and beliefs of the core brand are 

transmitted to the extension, and thus consumers already hold attitudes of a currently 

released extension or even for an extension which just have been announced but still is 

not on the market (Roedder-John et al. 1998; Saedi 2016: 50-53). 

Considering the peculiarities of cross-gender brand extensions, some features seem to be 

more specific. As above mentioned, consumers can be either familiar with a parent brand 

or not. Familiarity with a brand does not mean that consumers necessarily have real 

consumer experience with a brand’s product. An individual can know of the existence or 

be familiar with advertisements of a specific product, however, he/she never consumed it 

because the product was originally designed for the opposite sex. Most cross-gender 

brand extensions are line extensions and not category extensions. Hence, it is necessary 

to consider that the consumer experience toward the parent brand which launches a cross-

gender brand extension can be very limited. Therefore, the attitudes and beliefs toward a 

cross-gender brand extension prior the first consumption is often limited to the brand 

image itself (which in turn has built up its reputation by promoting solely for the opposite 

gender) rather than with consumer experience of the original product. Instead, the 

perception of fit between the parent brand and the cross-gender brand extension plays an 

increasing role for the evaluation of the brand extension. 



19 

 

2.1.2. Perceived fit of brand extensions 

Like above mentioned, the perceived quality of the parent brand has a great influence on 

the evaluation of the brand extensions. However, a precondition for a positive 

interrelation between the quality of parent brand and brand extension exists only if there 

is a fit between those two product classes (Aaker & Keller 1990). Fit variables are 

substantial factors in attitude formation. The significance of perceived fit between two 

product classes while evaluating brand extensions has been highlighted by many 

researchers (Saedi 2016:51). Perceived fit can be described as the accumulation of shared 

associations between the brand extension and the brand. Thereby, the perceived fit can be 

categorized either as product category fit or brand-level fit. Product category fit refers to 

the similarity between the extension category and the product category of the parent 

brand. Brand-level fit in contrast, refers to the similarity between the parent brand image 

and the brand image of the extension product (Czellar 2003: 9). The most positive 

evaluations of brand extensions are given to those brand extensions which exhibit a high 

extent of fit on product category fit and brand-level fit (Saedi 2016:51). 

Nevertheless, the perceived fit or similarity between a parent brand and its extension is 

not always apparent. For instance, even if the product category fit between the motorcycle 

product category, e.g. motorcycles from Harley-Davidson, and the tobacco product 

category seems to be far-fetched at first glance, both product categories can represent a 

relative appropriate brand-level fit (rough, freedom, masculinity). However, there are 

many examples where companies failed to extend their brands because of a poor 

perceived fit. A famous example was Colgate’s attempt to extend their portfolio to food 

products called Colgate’s Kitchen Entrees. The idea was to make a vertical product 

diversification by offering consumers a Colgate meal and let them afterwards use the 

Colgate toothpaste to brush their teeth (Haig 2005: 97). Clearly the original brand name 

which consumers associated with oral hygiene did not work favorably for many people 

to think about a “delightful” Colgate meal and thus, Colgate withdraw that brand.  

In contrast, an extension with good fit is anticipated to lead to associations similar to those 

of the parent brand, which in turn not only may strengthen the parent brand’s existing 

image but also lead to more favorable parent brand attitudes. To sum up, consumers 



20 

 

highly consider the extent of perceived fit between the parent brand and its extension. 

Thereby, the consistency of the extensions with the original brand concept is also a crucial 

factor (Saedi 2016: 51).  

When it comes to cross-gender brand extensions, brand-level fit seems to be the crucial 

factor. Cross-gender brand extensions are in general extensions to the same product 

category. Hence, associations which are triggered on the original brand image and brand 

concept play a more significant role than the product category fit. It seems logical that 

extending the offer to the opposite gender may be challenging in terms of perceived fit. 

Throughout history, companies gendered their brands and consumers have built upon 

gendered products as a possibility to express their gender identities (Avery 2012: 3-4). 

Nowadays, gendered brands are present in a plethora of product categories as, for 

instance, razors, chocolate, drinks or even pens etc.  

Therefore, consumers will associate a cross-gender brand extension with the attitudes and 

beliefs they shared about the parent brand. As gender is still a focal point in many brand 

narratives (Avery 2012: 3-4), companies offering gendered brands, spent their marketing 

strategy and efforts explicitly on attracting the original target group. However, this may 

be a critical factor for cross-gender brand extensions because this implies that the brand 

image of the parent brand may rather be unattractive for the opposite gender.  

2.1.3. Functional versus symbolic product categories 

Another crucial factor which has an impact on the evaluation of brand extensions is the 

type of product category, or respectively types of brand positioning. Park et al. (1986) 

also refers to the brand concept. Brand concept refers to the meaning of the brand toward 

the consumer and can be either functional, symbolic or experimental1 (Park et al. 1986: 

136). Functional needs arise from the motivation to solve consumption-related problems 

of any kind. That is why brands, which display a functional product type, offer solutions 

to these problems, e.g. tooth paste for oral hygiene. Symbolic needs in contrast, represent 

                                                 
1 Park et al. (1986: 136) defines experimental needs as “desires for products that provide sensory pleasure, 

variety and/or cognitive stimulation”. However, this brand concept will not be specified any further because 

the subsequent studies cross-gender brand extensions only concentrate on functional any symbolic product 

categories as well 



21 

 

an individual’s desire for products that fulfill needs for self-enhancement, role position 

or ego-identification (Park et al. 1986: 136). Hence, symbolic product types allow 

consumers to be associated with a desired group, role or self-concept of their choice 

(Czellar 2003: 12). 

Park’s et al. (1986) classification of brand types is especially valuable for the examination 

of cross-gender brand extensions. Symbolic products evoke more extrinsic motivation for 

consumers as social approval and personal expression. Hence, consumers fear that wrong 

symbolic products may lead to a social and psychological risk. Functional products, 

however, are linked to basic motivations and their value is mostly determined by how 

well they succeed in solving consumption-related problems. Hence, the desired benefits 

from such products are more intrinsic in nature. The social and psychological risk of 

functional products is much lower compared to symbolic products.  

Because of the self-expressive and emotional attributes, a symbolic product offers, it is 

more likely that such products evoke more rejection than functional ones when evaluating 

cross-gender brand extensions (Jung & Lee 2006: 68-69).  

2.2. Gender, gender role attitudes and identity in the context of consumer 

behavior  

Throughout history, investigating behavioral differences between men and women, both 

in psychology and consumer behavior, were primarily based on sex. However, gender 

analysis has taken an increasing role in consumer behavior research regarding sex and 

gender differences (Fischer & Arnold 1994: 164-166). 

The term sex refers to an individual’s biological sex, i.e. whether an individual is male or 

female. Sexuality refers to the sexual orientation of an individual, so whether an individual 

is heterosexual, homosexual, transsexual etc. In contrast, gender encompasses traits and 

behavioral characteristics derived from society and culture, i.e. a set of cultural roles 

(Palan 2001). Deaux (1985: 51) refers to gender as “the psychological features frequently 

associated with these biological states”. However, a clear distinguishability between sex 

and gender is not always easy and there are still many differences of opinion when it 



22 

 

comes to the definition of those terms. For instance, the Oxford English Dictionary (2017) 

defines gender as:  

“either of the two sexes (male and female), especially when considered 

with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological 

ones. The term is also used more broadly to denote a range of identities 

that do not correspond to established ideas of male and female.”  

The American Heritage Dictionary (2018) adds to their definition of gender in its Usage 

Notes:  

“Some people maintain that the word sex should be reserved for 

reference to the biological aspects of being male or female or to sexual 

activity, and that the word gender should be used only to refer to 

sociocultural roles […] In some situations, this distinction avoids 

ambiguity, as in gender research, which is clear in a way that sex 

research is not. The distinction can be problematic, however.” 

So, what does referring to sociocultural roles mean in particular when denoting the term 

gender? Determining whether an individual is male or female, by biological means, is 

unambiguous. However, its role, traits and behavioral characteristics can strongly vary 

across societies and cultures. The biological sex itself does not explain those ultimately. 

For instance, women from the small Chinese ethnic group Mosou are the heads of 

household, whereas men play a subordinate role in society (Genova 2017). In contrast, 

women’s rights in Saudi Arabia is very limited compared to other countries (rank 138 out 

of 144 according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2017 (Johnson 2017). The allocation 

of men and women to occupational and family roles leads to different experiences which 

in turn determine to a great extent how skill, behaviors and attitudes as well as gender 

stereo types are developed and fostered (Schwartz & Rubel 2005). Hence, the 

surroundings and culture influence how the roles between men and women (gender role 

attitudes) are perceived in a particular society as well as individuals are identifying 

(gender identity) themselves with those traits and roles. 



23 

 

Gender identity and gender role attitudes are important features of gender and have been 

increasingly studied in consumer behavior research (Palan 2001). More explicitly, gender 

role attitudes refer to beliefs which roles are appropriate for men and women. Gender role 

attitudes are individual for each person, however, they are strongly influenced by culture 

and society. Those attitudes can vary from egalitarian (tendency to believe that the same 

roles are acceptable for men and women) to traditional ones (tendency to believe that 

different role men and women are appropriate) (Fischer & Arnold 1994: 166-167). 

Gender identity is an individual’s perception of his or her gender or the degree an 

individual identifies with specific traits. Those traits can be classified as masculine traits, 

e.g. dominant, competitive, aggressive, and feminine traits, e.g. sensitive, expressive, 

tender. However, men and women have characteristics of both traits to differing degrees 

(Fischer & Arnold 1994). Bem (1974) claims that there are also neutral traits (e.g. truthful, 

conventional, adaptable) next to masculine and feminine traits. Thus, gender identity can 

correlate with the biological sex or can differ from it, i.e. men identifying primarily with 

female traits and vice versa. In other words, gender identity can also be defined as an 

individual’s psychological sex (Spence 1984: 83). 

2.2.1. Gender-relevant empirical findings: shift from sex classification to gender-

specific analysis 

One of the main objectives of this master’s thesis is trying to point out the possible impact 

of gender role attitudes on the perception and evaluation on cross-gender brand 

extensions. Because of lack of research on cross-gender brand extensions it is not possible 

to acquire all necessary knowledge from studies which dealt with cross-gender brand 

extensions as main issue. Hence, the reader firstly gets to know what scholars could distill 

for consumer behavior research in the past by focusing on a gender-related analysis in 

general before the newly topic of cross-gender brand extension is pursued. Moreover, the 

approach of the researches and their findings should be very useful for conceptualizing 

the theoretical framework as well as for formulating adequate interview questions. 

Therefore, this subchapter aims to outline several findings in consumer behavior research 

which focused on a gender-related analysis. 



24 

 

Since the 1960s, the attention in consumer behavior research changed increasingly from 

simple sex classification (male - female) to a focus on gender-specific variables like 

gender identity and gender role attitudes (Palan 2001; Ye & Robertson 2012). Research 

has shown that focusing simply on biological differences between men and women is not 

sufficient. Researchers who tried to analyze consumer and psychological differences 

between men and women have focused especially on cognitive differences in abilities and 

processing because these are relevant for the consumption process (Fischer & Arnold 

1994). Researchers believe that differences in consumer behavior could be explained by 

the different physical make-up of men and women and are mostly explained by 

chromosomes, hormones and brain lateralization (Fischer & Arnold 1994; Putrevu 2001). 

For instance, testosterone is the central hormone which evokes a different development 

of men and women and thus, impacts the behavior to a large extent. Brain lateralization 

is also considered to explain sex differences. The diverse brain structures of men and 

women trigger disparate cognitive processing. In particular mathematical, visual and 

verbal abilities appear to differ between men and women (Fischer & Arnold 1994: 164-

166; Putrevu 2001: 3-5). 

However, research found early that observations based on biological differences by itself 

are not enough to explain all differences in behavior between men and women. First, it is 

acknowledged the fact that men and women hold characteristics of masculine and 

feminine traits. In the mid-1970s, this approach dominated the gender identity research 

and the rise of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) and the Personal Attributes 

Questionnaire (PAQ) (Palan 2001). Both measures are self-report questionnaires where 

participants state to which extent they identity to certain traits (masculine, feminine and 

neutral in the BSRI) and are popular until today to measure someone’s gender identity 

for research purposes. 

Moreover, social explanations for differences between men and women have been 

extensively investigated and there is reasonable support for several claims. Putrevu (2001: 

11) expressed succinctly the interaction between physical sex differences and the 

socioeconomic system of a society, “while it is undoubtedly true that significant 

biological differences exist between men and women, it is also true that the socialization 



25 

 

process is likely to enhance rather than diminish these differences”. In addition, social 

approaches and theories can also explain behavior differences between cultures whereas 

biological explanations fail at this point. The above-mentioned aspects will be revisited 

in detail during the next chapter.  

Subsequently, an overview over important empirical findings concerning gender in 

consumer behavior will be presented. On the one hand, a better understanding is created 

by the potential extraction of gender-specific analysis for research and marketing 

purposes. On the other hand, the findings will generate the requisite know-how to 

conceive the theoretical framework within the scope of the master’s thesis. 

A research conducted by Coughlin and O’Connor (1985) investigated the reactions of 

individuals to different women portrayals in advertisements. The results exhibited that 

the purchase intention of women differed significantly based on their personality traits 

and role attitudes. Women which held more feminine traits than other participants were 

much more favorable toward advertisement which portrayed non-traditional female roles. 

Hence, they also showed greater purchase intentions than their counterparts with 

relatively more masculine traits (Coughlin & O’Connor 1985). In conclusion, their 

research showed that masculine gender identity and gender role attitudes describe more 

differences in purchase intention as a reaction to female role portrayals in advertisements 

than biological sex (Coughlin & O’Connor 1985; Palan 2001: 8). On the other hand, as 

Coughlin & O’Connor (1985) expected, androgynous2 males and females reacted 

similarly to the advertisement. Jaffe and Berger (1988 & 1994) also linked gender role 

attitudes to gender role portrayals in advertisement in their studies and found that gender 

identity and gender role attitudes are significantly associated to preferences for gender 

role positioning in advertising. However, the relationship and effectiveness vary from 

product category to product category. Consequently, they concluded that it is important 

for marketers to identify the overall preferences and cultural changes of a society to 

enhance advertising effectiveness. Therefore, regarding this master’s thesis, it is 

important to understand the cultural situation in India in respect of gender role attitudes 

in detail. Though India is still seen as a relatively traditional country in respect of gender 

                                                 
2 having characteristics of both sexes 



26 

 

role attitudes compared to the Western societies, India is witnessing substantial changes 

in the social as well as economic status of women (Shukla 2015; Venkatesh 1994: 53-

54). Therefore, possible differences between the generations should be identified and 

integrated in the analysis. Furthermore, several product categories should be considered 

during the interviews because of the varying relationship between gender role attitudes 

and specific products. 

The results derived from Coughlin’s and O’Connor’s (1985) study also show the possible 

drawbacks which can occur if marketing strategies address explicitly specific gender 

portrayals. Moreover, it shows the dangers of extending the original brand to the opposite 

gender because it may not be accepted by the new customer group.  

Another popular study concerning gender role attitudes and gender identity was 

undertaken by Fischer and Arnold (1994). They conducted a field study on Christmas 

shopping behaviors. They could show that sex, gender identity and gender role attitudes 

are unique independent constructs as well as that gender identity and gender role attitudes 

have a greater impact on shopping behavior than biological sex. Those individuals in the 

field study which held more or stronger feminine traits (independently from the biological 

sex) showed not only greater involvement in Christmas shopping but also a greater 

enjoyment. Furthermore, individuals who had more egalitarian role attitudes, in particular 

regarding female roles, enjoyed the task more as well. Moreover, men identifying 

themselves more with egalitarian gender role attitudes, for instance, participating more in 

housework, were physically more active in the task and spent more time for shopping as 

well. While during this field research relatively more women enjoyed the task than men, 

the study could nonetheless reveal the great impact of gender role attitudes and gender 

identity regarding shopping behavior carried out by the individuals. Fischer and Arnold 

(1994) also concluded that gender role attitudes are better predictors of behavior than 

gender identity, due to its demonstrated relevance to consumption (Fischer & Arnold 

1994: 178-179). The latter is very important for the investigation of this master’s thesis 

as India is assumed to be a country with relatively traditional gender role attitudes. Hence, 

the inverse conclusion of the previous presented study is that more traditional gender role 

attitudes should result into greater discrepancies between men and women concerning 

shopping behavior or the evaluation and perception of cross-gender brand extensions. 



27 

 

2.3. Cross-gender brand extensions 

Cross-gender brand extension means to use an already established brand name and extend 

it to target the opposite sex. The term cross-gender brand extension is a relatively new 

one and was first introduced by Jung and Lee in 20063. However, cross-gender brand 

extensions are not a new phenomenon. In history already several masculine brands like 

Levi’s and Gillette, extended their portfolio to female customers. However, there is an 

increasing trend of cross-gender brand extensions to target male customers (Jung & Lee 

2006: 67).  

2.3.1. Jung and Lee’s research findings 

In their quantitative study Jung and Lee (2006) examined the consumers’ evaluations of 

cross-gender extensions to identify possible conditions for successful cross-gender brand 

extensions. Gender of the brand, gender of consumers, and product type were considered 

as main factors that may influence the evaluation of cross-gender extensions. The 

experimental design of their study contained two functional (hair gel/spray) and a 

symbolic (high-end fashion) product category. The reason for this was that Jung and Lee 

(2006) anticipated differences in the evaluation because symbolic products exhibit a 

higher level of social and psychological risk than functional ones. In order to measure the 

manipulation of gender crossing extensions for both product categories, a masculine and 

a feminine brand were chosen4. During the experiment, it was announced that those 

brands would launch new product lines to target the opposite gender group, e.g. Hugo 

Boss Ladies. 233 undergraduate students took part in this study. As a result, Jung and Lee 

(2006) showed that all three key conditional factors (gender of the brand, gender of 

consumers, product category) had an influence on the evaluation of cross-gender brand 

extensions. An interesting finding was that an extension which was made from a 

masculine brand to target women were more accepted than the other way around. 

Moreover, the gender of the consumer as well as the product category showed significant 

                                                 
3 A custom Google Web Search for “cross-gender brand extension” until the time range 2006 leads to no 

results 
4 Hugo Boss and Chanel were chosen for masculine and feminine brand for high-end fashion whereas 

Gatzyby and Sifone were chosen for hair gel/spray 



28 

 

effects on the evaluation of the simulated cross-gender brand extensions. However, 

female students were more open-minded toward cross gender extensions than men. Also 

as expected, the acceptance of cross-gender brand extensions for the symbolic product 

category was minor than for the functional product category (Jung & Lee 2006). The 

results also exhibited a pattern that the brand extension effected the attitude of the 

participants toward the original brand itself. This explanation supports previous research 

findings about brand extensions which may also influence the original brand (Aaker 1990; 

Jung & Lee 2006: 73). 

2.3.2. Ulrich’s research findings 

The more recent study by Ulrich (2013) continued the approach of Jung and Lee (2006), 

however, it integrated the effect of gender identity and gender role attitudes additional to 

the biological sex of the participants. Thereby, Ulrich (2013) tackled some limitations of 

Jung and Lee’s (2006) study. First, they expanded the experimental design to three 

product categories instead of two. Second, Ulrich criticized that the product categories in 

the above-mentioned study hold respectively a moderate masculine or feminine image 

because those product categories are used by both sexes in general. Thus, Ulrich chose 

product categories which are attributed as highly masculine or feminine5. Finally, the 

research of Jung and Lee (2006) was conducted in Korea and Singapore, both countries 

which exhibit a relatively high level of masculinity (Ulrich 2013: 796). Ulrich (2013) 

points out that it is necessary to investigate western cultures which pursue more 

egalitarian role models. Hence, gender identity and gender role attitudes were also 

integrated as measures as it was assumed that those will have a major effect next to 

biological sex of the participants. Gender identity and gender role attitudes were measured 

through self-report questionnaires. Considering the above-mentioned aspects, Ulrich 

(2013) collected a sample of 420 French consumers. The aim of the study was to examine 

how the independent measures influenced the evaluation of cross-gender brand 

extensions6. In contrast to Jung and Lee’s (2006) findings, the biological sex of the 

participants had no significant effect on any of the dependent variables, meaning that 

                                                 
5 the chosen categories were face skincare, shampoo and soda drinks 
6 The dependent variables in detail were: 1) attitude toward the extension, 2) purchase intent of the 

extension, 3) attitude toward the mother brand, 4) and perception of overall fit. 



29 

 

male and female participants were similarly receptive to cross-gender brand extensions 

(Ulrich 2013: 802-803). Ulrich (2013: 805) explains the disparity of results with the 

different values which are distinctive in Western and Asian societies. France displays 

higher femininity compared to Korea and Singapore which score high on masculinity. A 

high degree of masculinity in turn equals traditional gender role attitudes. In contrast, 

gender role attitudes showed a significant impact (as assumed) on the attitude toward 

cross-gender brand extensions as well as on the purchase intended. Participants which 

held more traditional gender role attitudes were more reluctant to cross-gender brand 

extensions than those with more egalitarian ones. Unexpectedly, the gender identity of 

the participants had no significant effect on the evaluation of cross-gender brand 

extensions. Only a slight tendency of consumers which could be classified as highly 

masculine could be detected as they showed a lower attitude toward the extensions 

compared to their counterparts (Ulrich 2013: 803-804). These findings are consistent with 

the results of Fischer and Arnold (1994) who also concluded that gender role attitudes are 

better predictors of behavior than gender identity.  

The studies of Jung and Lee (2006) as well as of Ulrich (2013) give crucial insights and 

starting points for the topic of this master’s thesis. First, the study of Ulrich (2013) shows 

that gender role attitudes have a significant impact on the evaluation on cross-gender 

brand extensions. Whereas, Jung and Lee (2006) could show that the biological sex 

significantly influenced the perception of cross-gender brand extensions, Ulrich (2013) 

contested those results. However, both samples were quite different and it is very possible 

that the biological sex in Jung and Lee’s (2006) study indirectly represented traditional 

gender role attitudes because of the relative high masculinity which prevails in Korea and 

Singapore. Hence, this implies the importance of integrating cultural aspects into the 

analysis of this thesis. Moreover, both studies prove that a simple sex classification is not 

sufficient but rather sociocultural aspects of gender must be considered to get a better 

comprehension of consumer behavior and in specific the arising differences between men 

and women.  



30 

 

3. CULTURAL CONTEXT 

While brand extensions and the possible effects of gender have been reviewed in the 

previous chapter, this chapter will concentrate on the cultural context with its specifics. 

Though, gender itself is already a culture related term, reviewing consumer behavior in a 

cultural context gives a more holistic understanding of consumerism and integrates 

important factors like cultural changeability. In the first half of the chapter, the importance 

of consumer values will be outlined. As values stimulate motivation for behavioral 

response, it is crucial for marketing purposes to understand the values of a specific 

society. Thereby, the GLOBE Project and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of national 

culture represent popular models which measure cultural values across the globe through 

an enormous collective effort. Moreover, both models integrate a value dimension which 

explicitly refers to gender issues and thus, both contain valuable information for gender 

related marketing strategies like cross-gender brand extensions. 

In a next step, the Indian culture, especially in respect of gender equality, will be 

presented. The aim is to get a better understanding of Indian gender issues and attitudes 

about gender roles which in turn may affect the evaluation of cross-gender brand 

extension. Furthermore, a fundamental understanding of the culture is a requisite for 

preparing purposeful interview questions as it is for companies to implement effective 

marketing strategies. Lastly, India’s cultural value scores according to GLOBE Project 

and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions of national culture will be introduced and evaluated 

based on the prior presented study findings about Indian gender issues.  

3.1. Culture and consumer behavior 

The constant challenge of consumer behavior is its variability. First, consumer needs are 

heterogeneous around the world. Each culture desires and values goods differently which 

makes it for global companies highly important to adapt to the local circumstances. 

Second, several different factors like technology, environment or culture continuously 

change consumer needs and desires, and thus also consumer behavior changes (De Mooij 

2011: 67 - 108). Moreover, culture is learned behavior that can change and develop over 

time and therefore, alter the consumption behavior, i.e. the social process. Hence, the 



31 

 

changeability of consumer behavior as well as the factors which influence the consumer 

behavior is crucial for firms and marketers to understand how to successfully launch 

brands. 

Consumer behavior in a cultural context is a vast research field. Hence, this master’s 

thesis will only focus on few areas. Thereby, topics have been chosen which are crucial 

for the research topic of this master’s thesis.  

3.1.1. Definition of culture 

An often cited description of culture is Hofstede’s definition in which he refers to culture: 

“as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group 

or category of people from another” (Hofstede 2001: 9). Culture is an organized system 

of patterns which does not only bind people together but also helps them in interacting 

and living together. Individuals are outcomes of their culture and social groupings, 

meaning they are molded and influenced by their environment. Moreover, culture 

includes shared beliefs, roles and values which are passed on to the following generations 

(De Mooij 2011: 26).  

Basically, culture can be applied to any collectivity as an organization, profession or an 

entire gender (Hofstede 2001: 10). Cultural groups are often delineated by national 

borders. Even though there is much diversity within national borders, nations should not 

be equated to societies. A dominant first language, mass media as well as a national 

education system lead to further integration of the people living within these national 

borders. Moreover, nations are political units for which vast statistics exist such as, for 

instance, GDP per capita, demographics etc. Such statistics help companies to estimate 

the potential market in a given nation (De Mooij 2011: 30).  

3.1.2. Consumer values and cultural values  

Values are centrally held cognitive elements which stimulate motivation for behavioral 

response. Values are not only held by individuals but also by collectives for which culture 

is a necessity (Hofstede 2001: 5). Different value orientations cause disparities in 



32 

 

preferences for brands as well as products (Vinson et al. 1977). Values in turn, are mold 

by culture. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehend how culture functions (de Mooij 

2011: 23).  

Values refer according to Rokeach (1973: 5) to a belief that one end-state of existence is 

desirable to an opposing end-state of existence. In other words, values can be defined as 

a belief about things we consider to be worth and are often measures along a continuum 

between those to end-states, e.g. modern vs traditional. Thereby, value refers to a single 

belief whereas attitudes are a belief system about a specific object (De Mooij 2011: 24). 

Moreover, attitudes as gender role attitudes are a lasting evaluation of people, objects or 

issues. However, “consumers’” attitudes are guided by their values which in turn make 

them culture-bond (de Mooij 2011: 113).  

Important characteristic about values are their stability and endurance across generations. 

Moreover, children already develop stable value systems at a young age. Value systems 

are a set of beliefs about desirable end-states of existence. However, values are invisible 

unless they become visible in behavior (Hofstede 2001: 10). While several studies proved 

the stability of values, other socioeconomic researches state that values are converging 

over time because of modernization (Inglehart & Baker 2000: 20).  

Cultures can also be categorized into value categories or so-called dimensions of national 

culture. Labeling nations through cultural dimensions enables to compare countries and 

working on an empirical base. Dimensions can be divided into individual-level 

dimensions and into culture-level dimensions. Individual-level dimensions focus on the 

exploration of individuals whereas culture-level dimensions mirror how individuals are 

molded by the society in which they live. Especially national cultures, i.e. culture-level 

dimensions, are relevant for marketing strategies. Advertising is mostly equated to mass 

marketing because companies want to reach as many consumers as possible. Hence, 

marketers need to know what most people want. Thereby, the individual’s personality is 

merely of secondary importance (Anholt 1999: 66).  

Subsequently, two models will be presented in greater detail which will also be used later 

to determine Indian’s national culture: Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture and the 



33 

 

GLOBE study. Those models were chosen for one main reason. Besides the popularity of 

those models, both include a dimension which exclusively refer to gender.  

3.1.2.1. Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture 

Hofstede’s five dimensions of national culture are one of the most popular cultural 

models. Each dimension for a specific country is measured along a scale from 0 to 100. 

This does not only allow to comprehend basic value differences quickly but also to 

compare different countries with each other. Originally Hofstede integrated four 

dimensions into the model: Power Distance (PDI), Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI), 

Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) and Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS). 

Based on the results of other researchers, two additional dimensions were added: Long-

term versus Short-term orientation (LTO) and Indulgence versus Restraint (IND) with the 

result that nowadays the model contains in total six dimensions of national cultures. The 

model is based on quantitative research and assesses 76 national cultures (Hofstede 2011: 

5-10). Table 1 summarizes the content of each dimension. 

Table 1. Dimension of national cultures. Definitions taken from Hofstede (2011). 

Dimension Characteristics 

Power Distance the extent to which the less powerful members of 

organizations and institutions accept and expect that 

power is distributed unequally 

Uncertainty Avoidance extent to which a culture programs its members to feel 

either uncomfortable or comfortable in unstructured 

situations 

Individualism versus Collectivism degree to which people in a society are integrated into 

groups 

Masculinity versus Femininity distribution of values between the genders which is 

another fundamental issue for any society 

Long-term versus Short-term 

orientation 

extent to which a society exhibits future oriented 

perspective rather than short term perspective 



34 

 

Indulgence versus Restraint • society that allows relatively free gratification of basic 

and natural human desires related to enjoying life and 

having fun 

• society that controls gratification of needs and 

regulates it by means of strict social norms 

 

Though each dimension has surely its influence on consumer behavior, the dimension of 

Masculinity versus Femininity is of primary importance for this study. However, the 

dimension of Individualism versus Collectivism seems to be also of great importance for 

the topic of gender role attitudes and gender identity. Hence, both dimensions will be 

analyzed in greater detail. 

The Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS) dimension refers to the “distribution of values 

between the genders which is another fundamental issue for any society” (Hofstede 2011: 

11). Masculine societies appreciate achievement, success and competitiveness. There is 

also a greater difference between men’s and women’s values. Masculine societies are also 

characterized by great social role differentiations between genders. Moreover, countries 

which score high on masculinity tend to hold moralistic attitudes about sexuality. 

Feminine societies in contrast, put much greater value on the quality of life than 

competition. Women as well as men tend to be more modest and caring. The gap between 

men’s and women’s values are much smaller as well as the social role differentiation 

(Hofstede 2011: 12-13). Those differences also affect consumer behavior. In masculine 

cultures people tend to consume to show off whereas in feminine cultures, where status 

is not so important, people consume more for use (de Mooij 2011: 35). 

The Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV) dimension refers to the “degree to which 

people in a society are integrated into groups” (Hofstede 2011: 11). The ties between 

people are relatively loose in individual cultures. Moreover, people strive for 

individualism and uniqueness, i.e. they want to be different from others. Self-expression 

plays a greater role than conformity to public roles. Individuals have the possibility to 

join many different groups and express various social roles (Carducci 2012: 414). This 

implies that individual needs and the expression of them are more accepted among 



35 

 

countries with high individualism. A logical consequence should be that those societies 

are also more receptive to cross-gender brand extensions. In contrast, in collectivistic 

countries people are integrated into strong and cohesive groups, e.g. strong family 

bindings (Hofstede 2011: 11). People in such societies found their identity on the social 

environment (De Mooij 2011: 34). Uniqueness of the individual needs is less emphasized. 

Hence, standing out in collectivistic cultures is often seen as something negative. 

Moreover, expatriations, duties and roles are highly related with being a member of a 

group. For instance, even though a young Japanese student does not like to study 

economics, nevertheless, he/she may choose this career path to avoid conflicts with 

his/her parents (Carducci 2012: 414). This implies that consumer decisions are stronger 

influenced by subjective norms than in individualist societies. For example, though there 

might be a behavioral intention for an individual to perform a certain action (i.e. buying 

a specific product), he/she may refuse not to get in conflict with the social norms and 

attitudes in her environment. The issue that the behavioral intent of an individual is only 

a part of the actual behavior function, was conceptualized by Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1967) 

in their popular Theory of Reasoned Action. Thereby, social norms play a crucial role in 

consuming behavior (Ajzen 2012).  

Hence, it should be expected that collectivistic countries, especially in combination with 

masculine cultures, are more reluctant to cross-gender brand extensions. In collectivistic 

countries individuals learn from the beginning specific values and social norms which 

they rather will not question and hence, dislike products which are not aligned with them. 

Moreover, even if some consumers have the behavioral intention to try out cross-gendered 

products, they may refuse to buy the product in order not to “lose their face” by 

consuming products which were originally designed for the opposite sex.  

3.1.2.2. The GLOBE Project 

Based on Hofstede’s dimension of national culture, the GLOBE (Global Leadership and 

Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Research) Project arose which was conceived by 

Robert J. House in 1991. The aim of the GLOBE Project was to investigate cross-cultural 

interactions. Based on a questioning of over 17.000 managers from 62 different societies, 

cultural competencies were grouped into nine major dimensions of culture and leadership. 



36 

 

However, not only values relevant to the nine dimensions were scored but also practices 

(House 2004: 3). Practices are acts or the “way things are done in this culture” whereas 

values can be also understood as beliefs how “things should be done” (House 2004: XV). 

Values and practices were measured at industrial, organizational and societal level. 

Compared to Hofstede, additional dimensions were added and a more specific distinction 

between the dimensions was made, e.g. distinction between institutional and in-group 

collectivism. 

Hence, the nine dimensions of the GLOBE Project are: Performance orientation, 

Assertiveness, Future orientation, Humane Orientation, Institutional collectivism, In-

group collectivism, Gender egalitarianism, Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance 

(House 2004: XV-XVII). 

In the same way as with the Hofstede’s model, this study will only concentrate on the 

most relevant dimension for the topic of the thesis, i.e. Gender egalitarianism. The 

Gender egalitarianism dimension differs from Hofstede’s masculinity versus femininity 

dimension as it focuses exclusively on the cultural beliefs whether men and women are 

determined to specific roles in society. House (2004: 344-347) points out that Hofstede’s 

approach comprises several subdimensions, hence, it is very difficult to work with the 

masculinity versus femininity dimension. First, it encompasses the performance 

orientation or the degree to which a culture fosters rewards respectively. On the other 

hand, it also describes the extent to which a culture encompasses traditional gender roles 

versus egalitarian gender roles. Moreover, typical behavior patterns are allocated to 

masculinity and femininity, e.g. masculine societies are characterized by success striving 

whereas feminine societies are more human oriented. That is why the masculinity versus 

femininity dimension was split up into three distinct dimensions for the GLOBE Project: 

Gender egalitarianism, Performance orientation and Assertiveness.  

The more a culture tends to be gender egalitarian, the more the society beliefs that men 

and women are suited for the same social roles. Thereby, the model of gender-

egalitarianism was based on two components: value-based manifestations and behavioral 

ones (practices). Value-based manifestations have integrated gender stereotypes and a 



37 

 

gender-role ideology whereas practices were measured through gender equality and 

gender discrimination (House 2004: 386). 

3.1.2.3. Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture and the GLOBE Project:     

…...usability of the models for marketing strategies and deficits 

Like already mentioned Hofstede’s dimensions of natural culture and the GLOBE Project 

were mainly chosen because both include a “gender dimension” which is highly important 

for the topic of this thesis. However, no matter how popular a framework is, the value for 

companies and marketers is determined by the usability for potential marketing strategies. 

That is why this subchapter tries to record possible advantages as well as limitations of 

those models.  

First of all, both models provide country scores which allow a comparability between 

countries. There only exist a few dimensional models which provide country scores (de 

Mooij 2004: 32), hence, having the possibility to compare countries with scales 

containing absolute numbers is a major advantage. Comparing countries also enables the 

creation of cultural clusters as done for the GLOBE Project (House 2004). Deploying 

similar marketing strategies for clustered regions may decrease marketing efforts and 

expenditures. Moreover, in case a company wants to enter a new country it can use its 

experience from another country which holds similar values. Second, as already 

mentioned in chapter 2 a gender-specific consideration of markets has clear advantages 

over a simple male-female classification. Analyzing the market based on the 

socioeconomic environment is highly important as it can be a much better predicator how 

the consumers will behave. Thus, gender role attitudes and gender identity play an 

important part for consumer behavior. Hence, a framework with a dimension which 

explicitly refers to gender egalitarianism and values connected with it, is another major 

advantage of those models. Third, both frameworks are based on tremendous data sets. 

Hofstede’s database contained over 100.000 questionnaires and 93 countries and regions 

have been scored so far (Hofstede 2011) whereas the GLOBE Project is based on the 

questioning of 17.000 managers from 62 different societies. Moreover, those frameworks 

and their data collection have been constantly expanded. In short, such collective effort 



38 

 

is nearly irreplaceable and probably one of the reasons why those studies enjoy such great 

popularity.  

Nevertheless, those frameworks also have their downsides. Even though the samples of 

both frameworks are vast, the representatives of the samples should be critically 

questioned. Hofstede’s database consists merely of people which worked in one of the 

local subsidiaries of the multinational corporation IBM (Hofstede 2011: 6). The GLOBE 

Project collected their data from 951 different organizations, however, only managers 

were questioned (House 2004: XV). However, culture is not limited to national cultures. 

Culture also occurs in industries, companies, professions and functions which even go 

beyond national cultures. Each subculture shares its own values and beliefs or underlying 

assumptions (Schneider & Barsoux 2003). For instance, the professional culture between 

bankers and teachers may completely develop differently because both undergo a 

different education, training, peer pressure, etc. It may be assumed that a database which 

merely is based on surveys from one multinational corporation is at least partly biased by 

this specific corporate culture whereas a dataset merely based on questioning managers 

is biased by a specific professional culture. 

Another limitation can be the comparability between countries. Researchers measure 

values or behavior respectively within social systems. The data collection in both cases 

were mostly based on self-report questionnaires. However, individuals make subjective 

judgments, comparing themselves with others in their social system which in turn can 

make a comparison between different cultures difficult (de Mooij 2004: 28). For instance, 

in some societies equal payment between men and women may be seen as an egalitarian 

intervention whereas for other societies granting women the right to obtain driving 

licenses may be seen as a progress for equal treatment between men and women. Thus, 

measuring values by itself can be misleading. In contrast to Hofstede’s dimensions of 

national culture, the GLOBE Project also scored practices next to values. As practices 

represent how things are actually done in a given culture, it is no surprise that practice 

scores differ much more than value scores between the countries. 



39 

 

3.1.3. Gender roles as a social process and changeability 

As the above chapter concentrated on explaining the culture as the total of shared values 

a group of people holds, this subchapter focuses on the presentation of cultural values and 

gender roles, as social process and its changeable characteristics.  

3.1.3.1. Social Role Theory 

Whereas there is evidence that biological differences between men and women lead to 

different behavioral patterns and thus, different consumer behavior, lot of scholars claim 

that the origin of sex differences in human behavior evolved mostly through social 

processes. 

A very popular theory in that respect is the social role theory (Putrevu 2001; Schwartz & 

Rubel 2005). The social role theory deals with gender-specific relationships as well. The 

underlying idea of this theory is that the allocation of tasks and responsibilities between 

men and women in a given society determines to a great extent how skill, behaviors and 

attitudes as well as gender stereo types are developed and fostered. The reason for this, is 

that the allocation of men and women to certain occupational and family roles leads the 

people to experience the environment differently. Those varying experiences in turn mold 

the behavioral skills and attitudes etc. For instance, until now men have predominated the 

labor market in many professions as well as prestigious jobs with higher status and power. 

Therefore, men have had more opportunities to exercise power, and thus attributes like 

dominance and power are rather values which are assigned to men rather to women.  

In contrast, women experienced in most societies more dependency from men rather than 

the other way around. Consequently, traits like dependency and fearfulness are rather 

assigned to women (Schwartz & Rubel 2005). Summarized, all these factors ultimately 

contribute to the actual gender differences which are noticeable in a society as seen in 

Figure 1. However, the social role theory also implies that the role structures in a society 

are not static but can be altered. 



40 

 

 

Figure 1. Simple model of the social role theory. 

 

3.1.3.2. Changeability of culture and social roles 

Shifts in the role structure between men and women could be shown in various studies. 

Qualls (1982) showed in his study that there is an increasing tendency for joint-decision 

making by husband and wife for crucial family decisions like vacations, automobiles, 

children’s education, housing, savings. Moreover, Qualls (1982) could exhibit great 

differences between gender-role modern spouses and gender-role traditional spouses. 

Whereas gender-role modern family members perceived a more egalitarian influence on 

family decisions, family members which reported a more traditional view on gender roles 

experienced less joint-decision making.  

Another study conducted by Cinamon and Rich (2002) investigated gender role 

differences. Participants were 126 married men and 87 women working either in 

computer or law firms. Cinamon and Rich (2002) categorized the participants into three 

profiles. The profiles defined whether a participant assigned the highest priority to work 

(Work profile), family role (Family profile) or to both roles equally (Dual profile). They 

found that women were underrepresented in the work profile compared to men. 

Moreover, more women fit the family category than men. However, Cinamon and Rich 

(2002) could not identify any gender differences for participants with the Dual profile. 

Allocation of Men and 
Women into 

occuptional/family 
positions

Gender stereotypes  
and Expectations 

Actual Gender 
Differences

Different Skills, 
Behaviors and Attitudes 

Reinforced



41 

 

About 40% of female participants were in the dual profile which can mainly be explained 

by the choice of sample were women worked in “nontraditional” jobs, and thus 

demonstrated nontraditional work attitudes (Cinamon & Rich 2002: 538).   

There is a global trend that equality between men and women is rising in terms of job 

opportunities and pay. Hence, it is expected that gender differences will decrease even 

more over time due to the increased blur in the division of labor and responsibilities 

between men and women. (Palan 2001; Schwartz & Rubel 2005). As a consequence, the 

traditional family image is increasingly fading and alternative ways of living appear 

(Blackwell et al. 2001). However, this does not only concern the role of women but also 

the change of masculine roles. As the men’s contribution to family income steadily 

decreases, it is increasingly common that men participate more in family functions as 

housekeeping activities and child care (Blackwell et al. 2006: 508; Palan 2001: 16). In 

turn, men undergo new experiences which lead to change in men’s behavior. In the 21st 

century, men see themselves as being more sensitive which is also reflected in the 

shopping behavior and purchased products (Otnes & McGrath 2001) as it can be seen, for 

instance, in the increasing market for male personal care products (Blackwell et al. 2006: 

508).  

In conclusion, the above presented study findings as well as the observable trends in social 

roles and consumer trends along with the Social Role theory give interesting insights 

about the way social roles can influence values and the behavior of individuals in a 

society. It also gives a possible explanation why societies with relative traditional gender-

roles are more reluctant to cross-gender brand extensions. Gender expectations as well as 

different beliefs and attitudes, that result from the allocation of societal positions, may 

lead to negative attitudes toward cross-gender brand extensions. In contrast, in societies 

with relative egalitarian gender-roles, cross-gender brands extensions may be more 

accepted because both, men and women, share more familiar experiences, and thus 

behavior and attitudes. 



42 

 

3.2. Indian culture 

This subchapter takes up the theoretical knowledge of the previous chapters and outlines 

the situation about gender equality and gender roles in India. Because of the constant 

rapid socio-economic changes in India, an intergenerational consideration is necessary. 

Furthermore, the scores of Hofstede’s dimensions of national culture and of the GLOBE 

Project will be presented and reflected. 

3.2.1. Gender equality and gender role attitudes in India 

India still experiences a relative high level of gender inequality and gender discrimination 

(Dhar et al. 2015; Shukla 2016; Venkatesh 1994). In the Global Gender Gap Report 2017, 

India only ranks 108 out 1447. Gender inequality is measured primarily through economic 

participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health (in India especially sex ratio 

at birth) and political empowerment. Nevertheless, India faces a decline in its overall 

gender gap (The Global Gender Gap Report 2017: 3-4; 22-23).  

An explanation for the differences between men and women in the Indian culture are the 

dominant religious and cultural institutions. The role of women in respect of family 

structure and gender hierarchy is often clearly defined. Venkatesh (1994: 45-46) also 

refers to the “tridependent” relationship. Women are along their lifetime attached to men. 

Until marriage females are under protection of their fathers, during marriage they are 

attached to their husbands and later to their sons. Thereby, the system of patrilocality is 

predominant. The wife joins her husband’s family whereby the husband provides for his 

parents. In return, parents have more incentives to favor their sons whom they give the 

inheritance. That is why families in India often show fewer incentives in investing into 

their daughters (Dhar et al. 2015: 1). 

However, generalizations about the Indian society and gender roles suffer often from 

oversimplification (Chadda & Deb 2013; Venkatesh 1994: 43-44). For instance, there can 

be found great differences of gender inequality between urban and rural areas as well as 

                                                 
7 ranks for comparison: Finland (3), Germany (12), United States (49), China (100), Saudi Arabia (138) 



43 

 

between Indian classes and castes respectively (Venkatesh 1994: 43-44). In general, 

women from the urban middle-class experience more privileges than in poor rural areas. 

Especially, women who managed to achieve high positions in the society may be treated 

coequally to men (Venkatesh 1994: 43-48). Nevertheless, the role and status of women is 

still suppressed and far away from real egalitarianism and empowerment (Dhar et.al 2015; 

Jyothsna 2016; Shukla 2015). For instance, women still suffer much discrimination in 

education. Even if the literacy rate of women improved in the last decades8, females are 

still relatively far behind men. In 2011, men’s literacy rate was 82.1% whereas women’s 

literacy rate was only 65.5% (Jyothsna 2016: 144-145).  

Especially in rural areas where traditional Indian cultures predominate, women suffer 

from discrimination. Such traditional attitudes about gender roles also have lasting effects 

on the following generations. Dhar et al. (2015) investigated the transmission of attitudes 

toward gender equality in India. Thereby, attitudes among children and their parents in 

rural India were measured. Dhar et al. (2015) could show that parents had a strong 

influence on the gender-equality attitudes of their children. However, girls were 

considerably more gender equitable than boys, disagreeing much more to traditional role 

expectations.  

Nevertheless, there are great differences between the generations. Shukla (2015) 

compared the change in attitudes toward the role and status of women in India over three 

generations. The sample size was n = 200, whereby a family belonging to three 

generations9 was equated with one united. Thereby, not only the attitudes in different 

gender role areas were measured but also customs and practices related to inheritance and 

dowry, marriage and violence against women. The results have been split into differences 

between genders as well as differences between generations. Significant gender 

differences were found in four out of ten areas: employment, social roles, attitudes toward 

dowry and violence against women. Whereas, women were more gender equitable 

regarding employment and social roles, men were more against the system of dowry and 

violence against women (Shukla 2015: 123-124). Nevertheless, men showed less gender 

                                                 
8 the women’s literacy rate rose from 39.2% (1991) to 65.5% (2011) 
9 ‚young‘, ‚not so young‘ and ‚old’ 



44 

 

egalitarianism in every area. Regarding differences between the three generations, 

significant differences were detected in all attitude areas. The younger generation, 

regardless of gender, were more gender equitable than older generations. Thereby, 

women from the ‘young’ and ‘not so young’ generation were more gender equitable than 

their male counterparts. However, women from the ‘old’ generations were surprisingly 

more traditional than men (Shukla 2015: 125).  

Shukla’s (2015) recent intergenerational investigations of gender roles confirm many of 

the above-mentioned statements. First, the findings are aligned with the study results of 

Dhar et al. (2015) who found that girls are more gender equitable than boys. Though men 

were more against the system of dowry and violence, such practices together with the 

women’s right to inheritance are still very resistant to change (Shukla 2015: 119), 

showing that the “tridependent” relationship still has great impact. As criticized in chapter 

5.1.2.3., this also shows that taking only values into account is not sufficient. The 

practices within societies must also been considered to get a better understanding of 

cultures and their preferences. An approach to explain those differences in values and 

practices is Fishbein and Ajzen’s (1967) Theory of Reasoned Action. Due to the 

collectivistic nature of Indian culture, and thus the importance of social cohesion and 

social norms (Chadda & Deb 2013; Venkatesh 1994: 51) individual values may differ 

strongly from actual performed behavior. Moreover, the high extent of collectivism in 

India may rather slow down than accelerate cultural changes in certain areas at an early 

stage. 

This short outline about gender roles exhibited the contrast about the status of men and 

women in India. However, it became apparent that the gender question and recent changes 

in general develop very versatile in India. Whereas certain sections of urban areas in India 

undergo drastic development, e.g. as nuclear families are becoming the predominant 

family structure, rural as well poor areas are still mainly affected by traditional Indian 

cultural values (Chadda & Deb 2013; Dhar et al. 2015; Shukla 2015; Venkatesh 1994). 

This leads to the development of two distinct and extreme profiles in India (Venkatesh 

1994: 48). The status of a newly industrialized economy may reinforce the development 

at a different pace.  



45 

 

3.2.2. Indian’s scoring according to Hofstede’s dimension and the GLOBE 

Project 

According to Hofstede's dimensions of national culture, India scores 56 on masculinity. 

As comparison, Germany (66) and the United States (62) score even higher than India 

whereas Finland (26) still scores much lower. Compared to the findings about gender 

inequality and gender discrimination presented above, 56 on a scale of 100 seems relative 

moderate when not even contradictive. However, it is important to remind two aspects. 

First, the scores represent merely values and not practices based on self-report 

questionnaires whereby individuals are comparing themselves with others in their social 

system. Moreover, the IBM’s corporate culture may have had an influence on the results. 

Second, in contrast to the GLOBE Project, Hofstede’s Masculinity versus Femininity 

dimension consists of several subdimensions. It encompasses, amongst others, 

performance orientation, gender role attitudes as well as the extent to which a society is 

characterized rather by masculine and feminine behavior (e.g. success striving, human 

oriented). As House (2004: 344-347) points out the masculinity versus femininity 

dimension is not transparent enough. 

  

Figure 2. Cultural Dimensions of India according to Hofstede's 6-D Model. (Source: 

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/india/). 

 

When it comes to Individualism versus Collectivism India scores 48. Compared again to 

Germany (67), Finland (63) and the United States (91), India scores relatively low but 

higher than China (20). Regarding the literature, India’s relative low score is 

comprehensible, however, several researchers emphasized the strong cohesion of Indian 

https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-comparison/india/


46 

 

families (Chadda & Deb 2013; Shukla 2015; Venkatesh 1994) which in turn a score of 

48 out of 100 does not reflect that much. Hence, the presentation of the GLOBE Project 

where Institutional collectivism and In-group collectivism are treated as separate 

dimensions seem as a more instructive approach.  

The GLOBE Project encompasses nine cultural dimensions for India, whereby not only 

value scores but also practice scores are depicted. In Gender egalitarianism India’s Value 

Score is 4.51 which is equivalent to the Average GLOBE Score10. However, India’s 

Practice Score (2.9) for Gender egalitarianism is relatively low and under the Average 

GLOBE Score for practices (3.37). The Practice Score reflects much better the presented 

literature about gender inequality and gender roles in India, whereas the Value Score once 

again like in Hofstede’s model seems rather delusive. The great difference between 

India’s Value Score and the Practice Score only confirms that measuring practices 

together are necessary to get a more realistic view of a given culture.  

India’s Value (5.32) as well as Practice Score for In-group collectivism (5.92) are 

relatively high and reflect the findings of the presented literature. For Institutional 

collectivism India scores, both in values and practices, much lower. As predicted 

separating Institutional collectivism and In-group collectivism is more insightful than the 

approach in Hofstede’s cultural dimensions where no distinction is made. 

All in all, the GLOBE Project seems to be more align with the presented literature about 

gender issues and gender roles in India. Also, the In-group collectivism which represents 

the strong family cohesion in India seems more accurate than Hofstede’s Individualism 

versus Collectivism dimension. The GLOBE Project mostly profits from the practice 

scores which are absent in Hofstede’s model. Moreover, due to the finer subdivision, the 

GLOBE Project is more instructive which in turn may help marketers to get a better 

overview about a specific culture. 

                                                 
10 average of all countries which were evaluated in the GLOBE Project 



47 

 

 

Figure 3. Cultural Practices and Values in India according to GLOBE Project. (Source: 

http://globeproject.com/results/countries/IND?menu=list). 

 

3.3. Summary and conceptual framework 

3.3.1. Summary 

The topic of the master’s thesis touches several research areas. Cross-gender brand 

extensions seem to be a promising marketing strategy to reach a new customer base. 

However, they are a specific type of brand extension and thus, the specific peculiarities 

of cross-gender brand extensions must be considered when extending gendered brands to 

the opposite sex. First, brand-level fit is a crucial factor. Associations which are triggered 

on the original brand image and brand concept play a significant role because cross-

gender brand extensions relate to the same product category (Aaker & Keller 1990; 

Czellar 2003; Saedi 2016). The fact that companies spend much marketing efforts on 

attracting the original target group can make an extension to the opposite sex a critical 

factor (Avery 2012: 3-4). Moreover, the consumer experience toward the parent brand 

which launches a cross-gender brand extension can be very limited and hence, the 

http://globeproject.com/results/countries/IND?menu=list


48 

 

attitudes and beliefs toward the new extensions are often limited to the brand image itself. 

Another important factor to consider when launching cross-gender brand extensions is 

the product category. Because of the self-expressive and emotional attributes a symbolic 

product offers, it is more likely that such products evoke more rejection than functional 

ones when evaluating cross-gender brand extensions (Jung & Lee 2006: 68-69). Symbolic 

needs represent an individual’s desire for products that fulfill needs for self-enhancement, 

role position or ego-identification which can be conflicting with the brand concept of the 

original brand (Park et al. 1986: 136). 

All those things marketers should consider when setting up cross-gender brand 

extensions. However, this is only one side of the medal. When analyzing the specific 

peculiarities of cross-gender brand extensions, one must also think which attitudes in 

particular influence the evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions. Hence, a gender-

related analysis is important. Gender encompasses traits and behavioral characteristics 

derived from society and allows to understand consumer behavior from a different angle 

compared to simple sex classification. Especially gender role attitudes and gender identity 

enjoyed special attention in consumer behavior research (Palan 2001. Gender role 

attitudes refer to appropriate behaviors for men and women whereas gender identity is an 

individual’s perception of his or her gender or the degree an individual identifies with 

specific traits. Including those variables in consumer research, scholars found that they 

have significant impact on the consumer’s decision making (cf. Coughlin & O’Connor 

1985; Fischer & Arnold 1994; Jaffe & Berger 1988; Palan 2001; Ulrich 2013). Several 

studies claim that gender role attitudes and gender identity are better predictors for 

consumer behavior than the biological sex, whereby gender role attitudes had the biggest 

impact (Coughlin & O’Connor 1985; Fischer & Arnold 1994; Jaffe & Berger 1988; Ulrich 

2013).  

Jung and Lee’s (2006) and Ulrich’s (2013) result findings in particular are important for 

the master’s thesis topic as they examined the evaluation of cross-gender extensions. Both 

resume that the gender of the brand, the gender of the consumer as well as the product 

category influenced the evaluation of cross-gender brand extensions. However, Jung and 

Lee (2006) referred to gender as biological sex. That is why their results showed that 

biological sex significantly influenced the perception of cross-gender brand extensions, 



49 

 

Ulrich (2013) contested those results, claiming that gender role attitudes and not the 

biological sex have a significant impact on the evaluation. However, both samples were 

quite different and it is very possible that the biological sex in Jung and Lee’s (2006) 

study indirectly represented traditional gender role attitudes because of the relative high 

“masculinity” which prevails in Korea and Singapore. 

Hence, this shows that it is even more important to integrate cultural aspects into the 

analysis of this thesis. This was done in the next step by outlining how culture affects 

consumer behavior. Culture can be defined as: “the collective programming of the mind 

that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another” 

(Hofstede 2001: 9). The thesis specifically focused on values which in turn are molded 

by culture. Values are centrally held cognitive elements which stimulate motivation for 

behavioral response and therefore, affect attitudes as, for instance, toward gender roles. 

They are not only held by individuals but also by collectives for which culture is a 

necessity (Hofstede 2001: 5). Different value orientations cause disparities in preferences 

for brands as well as products (Vinson et al. 1977). That is why it is important to 

understand the value orientations of each culture to effectively comprehend the consumer 

preferences. As advertising is mostly equated to mass marketing, since companies want 

to reach as many consumers as possible, the individual’s personality is merely of 

secondary importance (Anholt 1999: 66). Even