Older female consumers’ environmentally sustainable apparel consumption

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwia Kim ◽  
Byoungho Ellie Jin

Purpose Built on the socioemotional selectivity theory, the purpose of this paper is to analyze elderly female consumers’ consumption of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) according to their time perspective (TP) (expansive vs limited) and different types of advertising appeals (emotional vs rational and positive vs negative emotional appeals). Design/methodology/approach The study conducted a survey and experiments with 154 US female consumers who were 65 years of age or older. Data were analyzed through regression and ANCOVA. Findings The results showed that older female adults with an expansive TP tended to consume ESA, with their fashion consciousness moderating the results. Rational and either positive or negative emotional advertisements with environmental messages were found to encourage the higher purchase intentions of elderly consumers more effectively than advertisements with no environmental messages. Practical implications Apparel retailers are recommended to consider the factor of TP when encouraging environmental consumption. Environmental messages containing rational information and eliciting positive and negative emotions are suggested to promote purchase intention toward ESA among elderly consumers. Originality/value This study addressed an under-studied segment in ESA consumption – elderly female consumers – built on the socioemotional selective theory, and confirmed that this group’s ESA consumption can be explained by their perspective on time. In addition, this study confirmed which advertising appeals would effectively encourage their ESA consumption, and provided theoretical explanations for these findings.

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (12) ◽  
pp. 2604-2628 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manveer K. Mann ◽  
Yuping Liu-Thompkins

Purpose This study aims to examine gender differences in the impact of imagining product use on purchase decisions. The authors argue that while imagination can enhance purchase intention for female consumers, it can be detrimental to male consumers. This study explores the conditions under which imagination can be turned into a positive device for male consumers. Design/methodology/approach Three experimental studies were conducted. The first two studies illustrate the differential effects of imagination on males vs females. Given the negative effect found among males, the third study focused exclusively on male consumers to identify conditions under which the negative impact of imagination on these consumers can be alleviated. Findings Studies 1 and 2 show that while an imagination tactic has positive or no effect on female consumers, a generic imagination request lowers male consumers’ purchase intention. Focusing on potential ways of alleviating this negative effect, Study 3 shows that for males without prior brand ownership experience, imagining product use in a less-typical context can increase purchase intention. Research limitations/implications The results provide evidence that gender impacts the effectiveness of imagination in improving product evaluation. Furthermore, the context of imagination and previous brand experience can be used together to determine how male consumers respond to imagination. Practical implications The study’s findings warn against the blind use of imagination tactics. Instead, retailers need to customize imagination tactics based on gender, previous brand experience and product usage context. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first papers to examine the impact of gender on the influence of imagination on product evaluation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 190-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juhi Gahlot Sarkar ◽  
Abhigyan Sarkar ◽  
Rambalak Yadav

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the impacts of distinct advertising appeals on brand attitudes and purchase intentions toward green brands across two different product categories (technology-intensive and technology non-intensive) among the young adult consumers. Design/methodology/approach On the basis of focus group discussion, recyclable shopping bags (technology non-intensive) and hybrid cars (technology intensive) were identified as two product categories for the final study. A total of eight advertisement copies were developed (three in each product class + two control group ads) and distributed across 240 young consumers. A 4 (three advertising appeals + one control group) × 2 (product classes) between group experimental design was used to test the hypotheses formulated. Findings The study findings show that all the three advertisement appeals significantly influence attitudes and purchase intentions toward green brands across both the product categories. However, it was also found that functional appeal generated significantly lower mean scores for brand attitude and purchase intention for recyclable shopping bags compared to hybrid cars, whereas emotional appeal generated significantly lower mean scores for brand attitude, as well as purchase intention for hybrid cars compared to bags. This implies that functional green ad appeal would be more effective for technology-intensive products and emotional green ad appeal would be more effective for technology non-intensive products. Self-expressive green ad appeal was found to be equally effective in impacting brand attitudes and purchase intentions across both product categories. Originality/value The value of this research lies in investigating how the effects of distinct green brand advertising appeals on brand attitude and purchase intention can vary across technology-intensive and technology non-intensive products.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Zhao ◽  
Stacy H. Lee ◽  
Lauren Reiter Copeland

Purpose Social media and sustainability are changing Chinese consumers’ consumption behavior in notable ways. Few apparel industry sustainability efforts are enforced or well known in China. As China operates its own social media sites, it is necessary to study Chinese social media, rather than Western types, in order to understand its influence on Chinese consumer behavior with regard to sustainability. By extending the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the prototype willingness model, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how Chinese consumers were taught their environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) consumption behavior through social media, and also how the influence of peers affected their purchase intentions. Design/methodology/approach A total of 238 survey responses were collected and analyzed from a Chinese research firm in 2016. In accord with the study objectives, an exploratory factor analysis was first conducted, and then a two-step analysis of a structural equation model was employed for hypothesis testing. To test the significance of hypothesized mediated effects, a bootstrap procedure with 2,000 bootstrap samples from the original data was used to compute bias-corrected 95% CI for indirect effects. Moreover, hierarchical regressions were demonstrated to verify the unique contribution of social media influence. Findings The study findings support the previous literature that indicated positive attitudes toward environmentally sustainable purchasing behavior increased as Chinese consumers learned about social and environmental issues. Also, results of the analysis revealed that Chinese consumers’ engagement with social media and their peers were important social influences that were directly tied to increasing sustainable apparel purchase intentions. Originality/value By extending two grand theories of the prototype willingness model theory and the TRA, this study underlines a novel link between the influence of social media and ESA purchase intentions among Chinese consumers. Results are valuable in a global context as it is one of only a few studies to explore Chinese consumers’ purchase intentions of ESA through an exclusive social media platform – WeChat – in China.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Li-Keng Cheng ◽  
Chung-Lin Toung

Purpose Fear appeals in advertising communication are considered by advertisers when other types of advertising appeals do not achieve expected effects. Fear appeals, by arousing the fear that something may threaten consumers’ present lives, are often adopted to persuade individuals to take a particular action. Although this topic has been widely studied, the internal operation mechanism of fear appeals in consumers has not been fully understood or agreed upon. Design/methodology/approach Three experiments were conducted where the type of fear appeal was manipulated (i.e. physical fear appeal or social ear appeal), as well as consumers’ consideration of future consequences (CFC) and mental imagery approaches. Findings This study examined the effects of fear appeal on mental imagery fluency and how it affects advertising effectiveness and the moderating effect of consumers’ CFC were discussed. When receiving advertisements with physical fear appeals, consumers with low CFC had greater mental imagery fluency than did those with high CFC. Furthermore, consumers’ purchase intentions could be improved by increasing consumers’ mental imagery fluency on fear appeal. Therefore, the interaction between fear appeal and CFC on purchase intention was mediated by mental imagery fluency. This study found that consumers responded differently to fear appeal advertising when they engaged in different mental imagery approaches. Originality/value The present study adds to social marketing literature by showing how consumers’ mental imagery fluency influence the fear appeal effectiveness, and this study’s results also enable social marketers to understand the two factors (i.e. consumers’ CFC level and mental imagery approaches) that affect the influence of fear appeals on consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, social marketers are recommended to provide consumers with advertising information by using various message types to facilitate consumers’ imagination of advertising appeals. This heightens the importance of consumers’ acceptance and absorption of advertising content, in turn, strengthening their purchase intentions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huai-Liang Liang ◽  
Ping-I Lin

Purpose Enterprises must select the best optimal endorser-product fit in order to maximize the limited budget available for endorsements. Previous studies have determined that the influence of athlete endorsers is greater than is that of celebrity endorsers on consumer attitudes toward sport products. However, different endorsers may possess different levels of influence on products. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This study developed two field experiments to investigate the influence of endorser-product fits on consumer purchase intentions. Participants in Study 1 were 295 individuals (220 male consumers, 75 female consumers, M age=32 yr) in the two Baseball Stadiums in Taiwan. Participants in Study 2 were 317 EMBA students (204 men, 113 women, M age=34 yr) at a certain university in Taiwan. Findings The results determined no significant moderating effect of celebrity endorser-product fit and purchase intention, whereas athlete endorser-product fit enhanced consumers’ purchase intentions in low product involvement scenarios. In high product involvement scenarios, a moderating relationship between endorser-product fit and purchase intentions was observed. These findings can provide a reference regarding endorsers and product patterns for enterprises to maximize the value of endorsers. Originality/value Using the multiple endorser-product patterns, this study provides useful findings in terms of the perceived value of endorser-product and purchase intention. The results of this study can help enterprises to choose the most suitable endorser when they are subject to budget constraints. Detailed descriptions of the expected results and discussion are reported in the text.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jitong Li ◽  
Karen K. Leonas

PurposeThis study aims to investigate consumer knowledge of environmentally sustainable apparel (ESA) and examine the impact of communication on consumer knowledge of ESA.Design/methodology/approachThis study employed a quantitative survey focused on Millennial and Generation Z consumers. Two communication methods, hangtags and product webpages, were involved. First, two instruments were established to measure consumers’ objective and subjective knowledge of ESA. Second, two questionnaires were developed to collect participants’ knowledge before and after reading hangtags or product webpages.FindingsThere were 385 useable responses. It was found that participants’ knowledge about waste and cotton production’s water issues was less than their knowledge of other subjects and did not increase after reading the related information on hangtags or webpages. Participants’ subjective knowledge was significantly higher than their objective knowledge after communication. The positive effects of communicating with consumers via hangtags and webpages on consumers’ subjective knowledge were confirmed. Additionally, the ESA information provided via hangtags was more effective than webpages in improving consumers’ objective knowledge.Originality/valueThis study makes up for the deficiency in the literature. It provides in-depth insights on consumers’ knowledge of ESA by investigating consumer knowledge before and after communication based on consumer knowledge structure. The textile and apparel industry can use this study’s findings to improve communication with consumers and aid in sustainable product distribution.


2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joo-Hyung Cho ◽  
Moon-Hyang Oh ◽  
Kisang Ryu ◽  
Jin-Ju Choi ◽  
Chang-Ho Chung

Purpose – This paper aims to identify consumer preferences before Dongchimi products are commercialized and brought to the market. It provides basic data for research and development of Dongchimi products, examining consumer preferences for general products and purchase intentions based on eating-out behavior, dietary lifestyle and demographic characteristics. Finally, the study examined male and female consumers more than 18 years old who have eaten Dongchimi, particularly their consumption behavior. Design/methodology/approach – This study was based on preliminary in-depth interviews of consumers to investigate consumer Dongchimi consumption behavior. The authors examined their demographic characteristics, dining-out behavior, dietary lifestyles, how often they buy pickled products and the circumstances in which they consume Dongchimi products. Various statistical analyses were performed with SPSS 18.0, including frequency analysis of the general characteristics of subjects, chi-square test for difference verification as well as factor analysis and cluster analyses. Findings – More than half of the respondents eat Dongchimi products only once or twice every six months or once or twice a year. Consumers prefer Dongchimi’s glass bottle packaging with two to three servings of white radish, the original version of Dongchimi. Furthermore, cross-analysis comparing purchase intentions of Dongchimi products among clusters revealed significant differences (χ2 = 212.58, df = 2, p < 0.001). The group most concerned with taste and diet showed 100 per cent purchase intention. However, the group most interested in convenience showed only 50 per cent purchase intention for Dongchimi products. The group primarily concerned with health showed little intention to purchase. Originality/value – Food scholars have investigated consumption behaviors of domestic consumers in developing kimchi products, but research on Dongchimi is lacking, especially of consumption behaviors by actual consumers. Using certain determinants (marital status, expense of dining out, frequency of buying pickled products and food-related lifestyle), the authors analyzed the purchasing intentions of consumers of Dongchimi products. The results show that married consumers who spend heavily on dining out and purchase pickled foods frequently, but who are also concerned about taste and diet, were those with the highest intention to purchase Dongchimi products.


2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yujie Wei ◽  
Blaise Bergiel ◽  
Lingfang Song

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the possibility that individual differences in consumer choice of cognac are at least partially influenced by parental cultural capital. Also examined are ten value orientations factors (e.g. hedonism and self-direction) and attitudes toward France, cognac’s country-of-origin that may affect the degree of this intergenerational influence. Design/methodology/approach The survey research measures parents’ cultural capital, value orientations and attitude toward France and purchase intention using recognized scales. Data were collected from the faculty and students of a major university located in the southeast of the USA. The sample size was 234. Findings The results confirm that parental cultural capital, consumer value orientations and attitudes toward France have significant impacts on the consumer’s willingness to purchase cognac. Adult children of high cultural capital parents are more likely to buy cognac. Practical implications The findings of this paper provide meaningful insights into intergenerational influences on consumer purchase intention of cognac and socialization theory. The paper provides several managerial implications for segmentation, targeting and positioning of cognac in the US market. Originality/value As the first of its kind, this paper introduces the parents’ cultural capital into the consumer research regarding cognac. The longer-term effects that parents can have on grown children’s consumer behavior are confirmed, suggesting that parental influence persists well into adulthood and has impact on their brand preference.


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