Novelty vs. Familiarity in Rebranding: How Entrepreneurial Orientation Shapes Rebranding Success

This study investigates the interplay of schema incongruity level in rebranding and an individual's Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) on consumer responses (attitude and purchase intention). The study found that people with high EO have more positive attitudes toward a moderately incongruent rebranding and prefer it over congruent rebranding, increasing their likelihood to purchase. On the other hand, people with low EO have different responses and tend to favor congruent rebranding more than moderately incongruent rebranding in terms of attitude and purchase intention. This study highlights that the effectiveness of a rebranding strategy may ultimately depend on the individual EO level of the target audience: people with high EO are more receptive to change, seek innovation, and enjoy the cognitive challenge of adapting to a new brand identity, so a moderately incongruent (novelty-driven) rebranding strategy is more effective for them. On the other hand, people with low EO prefer stability, cognitive ease, and consistency, so a congruent (familiarity-driven) rebranding strategy is more appropriate for them. Theoretically, this study extends the theoretical scope of existing research by introducing EO into rebranding research as a psychological factor that moderates consumers' responses to rebranding. This opens up new research possibilities at the intersection of entrepreneurship, branding, and consumer psychology. Practically, it suggests that identifying consumers' EO characteristics is an important factor in developing an effective rebranding strategy: rather than applying the same rebranding approach to all consumers, rebranding strategies should be differentiated according to consumers' psychological characteristics.