Investigating the Effect of Perceived Product Portfolio Innovativeness on Consumers´ Brand Perceptions

Portfolio innovativeness has been indicated as a crucial aspect of a firm's innovation efforts. However, research traditionally applies a firm-centric conceptualization of portfolio innovativeness, neglecting its signaling effect to consumers. Taking a different route, this article applies a consumer-centric approach to investigate consumer perceptions of portfolio innovativeness as an antecedent of their brand perceptions. We incorporate inconsistent insights on portfolio innovativeness by introducing a novel construct: portfolio innovativeness variety. It describes the degree of novelty concerning different new products and services in a firm's innovation portfolio. Drawing on signaling theory, the results of 691 completed questionnaires show that consumers’ perceived portfolio innovativeness increases consumer-based brand equity. However, portfolio innovativeness variety moderates this relationship negatively. This article explores an inverted U-shaped relationship between portfolio innovativeness variety and brand equity. These insights suggest that large portfolio innovativeness variety confuses consumers about a brand's offerings and that portfolio management should incorporate these insights in order to offer a balanced and value-maximized innovation portfolio. This article offers novel insights into an unexplored aspect of portfolio innovativeness with complementary research on innovation portfolios from a consumer perspective.