Life-role transition is a state when people pass through different life stages that involves changes in identities, roles, and responsibilities. Across six studies, the current research shows that consumers under life-role transition have more favorable attitudes towards distant (i.e., low- or moderate-fit) brand extensions compared to consumers who are not under life-role transition. The effect is driven by a sense of self-concept ambiguity associated with life-role transition, which subsequently prompts dialectical thinking that helps to improve perceived fit between a parent brand and its extension, and finally results in more favorable brand extension evaluation. This effect diminishes for (1) near (i.e., high-fit) brand extensions that do not require dialectical thinking for perceiving fit, (2) for sub-brand (vs. direct brand) architecture, for which there is less of a need to use dialectical thinking to reconcile the inconsistencies between a parent brand and its extension, and (3) when consumers perceive they have resources to cope with the life-role transition which attenuates self-concept ambiguity. This research offers important theoretical and managerial insights by focusing on life-role transition—an important aspect of consumers’ lives that has been largely under-researched, and by demonstrating how and why it elicits more favorable attitudes toward brand extensions.

人生角色转变是人们经历不同人生阶段的状态，其中涉及身份，角色和责任的变化。在六项研究中，当前的研究表明，处于生命角色过渡期的消费者与未经历生命角色过渡的消费者相比，对遥远（即低适应度或中等适应度）品牌扩展的态度更为有利。这种效果是由与人生角色转变相关的自我概念模糊感所驱动的，这种模糊感随后引发了辩证思维，有助于改善母品牌与其扩展之间的感知契合度，最终导致更有利的品牌扩展评估。对于（1）不需要辨证思维即可感知适合度的（1）近距离（即高契合度）品牌扩展，（2）对于子品牌（相对于直接品牌）架构而言，这种影响会减弱。为此，几乎不需要使用辩证思维来调和母品牌与其扩展之间的矛盾，并且（3）当消费者认为他们有资源应对人生角色转变时，这种转变减轻了自我概念的歧义。这项研究通过关注人生角色转变（这是消费者生活中一个尚未被充分研究的重要方面）以及展示如何以及为什么对品牌扩展产生更有利的态度，从而提供了重要的理论和管理见解。