Dissertation
S1 – 2014 December 5, 2014
The influence of major consumer decision-making styles towards the purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods
Juliane Wöbse
Student number: s2334143/B4017415 Supervisors: Sjoerd Beugelsdijk & Markus Blut
MSc AIBM&M University of Groningen & Newcastle Business School
Word count: 11.355
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The influence of major consumer decision-making styles towards the purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods
Juliane Wöbse
Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
Newcastle University Business School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom
ABSTRACT
Purpose – The purpose of the study was to investigate the relative influence of five major consumer decision-making styles (fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness and brand consciousness) towards the purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods.
Design/methodology/approach – A web-based questionnaire was conducted with a total of 326 German female respondents included in the final analysis. The study included a statistical multiple regression analysis to examine the data.
Findings – The results of the statistical analysis suggest that except for brand consciousness, the decision-making styles were found to have a significant impact on purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods. Among those, quality consciousness was found to be the only characteristic having a negative relationship with purchase intention. In addition, fashion innovativeness and quality consciousness were found to be the most powerful predictors for consumer purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods.
Practical implications – The findings help Fast Fashion retailers and marketers to better understand the importance of each of the consumer decision-making styles towards purchase intention of Fast Fashion apparel to develop effective and profitable marketing strategies.
Originality/value – The research represents a novel attempt to examine the relative influence of major decision-making styles in the new context of Fast Fashion using empirically- collected quantitative data. The study takes a fresh approach to deepen the limited understanding of the consumer perspective related to Fast Fashion and extends existing research on consumer behaviour.
Keywords – Consumer research, consumer behaviour, purchase intention, decision-making styles, Fast Fashion, young females, Germany
Paper type – Research paper
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ... 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 4
1. INTRODUCTION ... 5
2. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 9
2.1 Examine consumer purchasing behaviour ... 9
2.2 Fast Fashion from a consumer perspective ... 13
3. THEORY AND HYPOTHESES ... 20
3.1 The novelty-fashion conscious consumer: ‘’fashion innovativeness’’ ... 20
3.2 The hedonistic consumer: ‘’hedonic shopping consciousness’’ ... 22
3.3 The high-quality conscious consumer: ‘’quality consciousness’’ ... 23
3.4 The price conscious consumer: ‘’price consciousness’’ ... 25
3.5 The brand conscious consumer: ‘’brand consciousness’’ ... 27
4. METHODOLOGY ... 30
4.1 Research method ... 30
4.2 Research sample ... 30
4.3 Data collection and procedure ... 30
4.4 Ethical issues ... 31
4.5 Research measures ... 32
4.6 Data validity and reliability ... 33
4.7 Data analysis ... 34
5. RESULTS ... 35
5.1 Sample description ... 35
5.2 Descriptive Statistics ... 35
5.3 Hypotheses testing ... 36
6. DISCUSSION ... 40
7. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS ... 43
8. LIMITATIONS AND FURTHER RESEARCH ... 47
REFERENCE LIST ... 49
INFO AUTHOR ... 60
APPENDICES ... 61
Appendix A – Scale items description ... 61
Appendix B – Demographic profile of the respondents ... 63
1. INTRODUCTION
The term Fast Fashion has become well-recognized in business due to its impressive global market performance during the last two decades (Bhardwaj and Fairhust, 2010). Fast Fashion is referred as a rare and new business model that implies efficient supply chain management in order to deliver fashion apparel quickly, several times a year, while forecasting consumer demand (Barnes and Lea-Greenwood, 2006). The last two decades have brought progress in knowledge about Fast Fashion, evidenced by the increasing number of publications of journal articles. Although considerable research exists about the concept of Fast Fashion, a review of the academic literature shows that most existing academic studies are limited to the aspect of the dynamics in the supply chain management (for example, Christopher, Lowson, and Peck, 2004; Bruce, Daley and Towers, 2004; Doyle, Moore and Morgan, 2006; Barnes and Lea-Greenwood, 2006; Tyler, Heeley and Bhamra, 2006). Besides, a growing body of literature focuses on the financial success of Fast Fashion (Hayes and Jones, 2006), buying practices for Fast Fashion (Bruce and Daley, 2006), and others such as Tokatli, Kizilgun and Cho (2011) or Ghemawat and Nueno (2006) who are focusing on Zara as a Fast Fashion specialist. Among the several studies on Fast Fashion, only the few focus on aspects related to the consumer, who is characterized to be the driving force of the changes in the fashion industry (Bhardwaj and Fairhust, 2010). Fast Fashion consumers are characterized as consumers combining label branded and low priced unbranded apparel due to striving for individuality as well as for more value for money (Barry, 2004; Watson and Yan, 2013).
Consumers purchase Fast Fashion for hedonic pleasure seeking reasons (Kim, 2006; Miller 2013), design and up-to-date trendyness (Choi et al., 2010; Cachon and Swinney, 2010).
Research provides opposed findings about the importance of quality of Fast Fashion goods.
On the one hand, poor product performance and deindividuation were found having positive significant effects on the intention of Fast Fashion avoidance (Kim, Choo and Yoon 2013).
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On the other hand, research found that even if consumers are dissatisfied with the quality of Fast Fashion, they are found to be overall satisfied because product expectations were met (Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi, 2013; Watson and Yan 2013). Fast Fashion consumers do not expect that Fast Fashion apparel to lasts forever (Barry, 2004; Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi, 2013). To conclude, existing literature related to Fast Fashion provides only a partial description of consumer behaviour and does not provide the full spectrum and understanding of consumer decision-making traits influencing the purchase intention of consumers towards Fast Fashion. Recently, Bauer et al. (2006) suggest further research to determine the influence of the decision-making styles in different product categories. Along the same lines, Bhardwaj and Fairhust (2010) stressed the importance of additional empirical research on Fast Fashion consumer behaviour. So far, no study has identified how shopping orientations and decision-making style characteristics does influence consumer purchase intention in the Fast Fashion context.
Global Fast Fashion markets result in a complex environment for consumer decision- making. Examining what factors are important in predicting Fast Fashion purchase intentions are relatively unexplored in consumer research (Kim and Kim, 2004). Existing consumer research suggests several different approaches to explain consumer behaviour. As claimed by Sinkovics, Leelapanyalert, and Yamin (2010), consumer decision-making styles are used as a well-documented and accepted research instrument to predict consumer purchasing behaviour. Sproles and Kendall (1986) determined the following five major consumer- decision making characteristics based on literature review: perfectionistic/ high-quality consciousness, novelty-apparel consciousness, hedonistic/ recreational shopping consciousness, price consciousness and brand consciousness. The five decision-making traits have already been used successfully to study apparel consumption in different contexts (e.g.
Wang, Siu and Hui, 2004; Cowart and Goldsmith, 2007), and it is likely to be an applicable
tool for understanding Fast Fashion consumer purchase intention. Furthermore, recent studies applied the consumer decision-making styles successfully under synonyms such as decision- making characteristics, traits or orientations to provide explanations towards consumer behavior in the fashion industry (Seock and Bailey, 2008; Nirmala and Dewi, 2011; Nui, 2013).
This study is the first to investigate Fast Fashion consumption behaviour (e.g. purchase intention) using consumer decision-making characteristics. The present study aims to deepen the understanding of the consumer perspective related to Fast Fashion and extends existing research on purchase behaviour. The purpose of the study is to understand the relationship between five basic consumer decision-making characteristics (fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness, brand consciousness) and the intention towards purchasing Fast Fashion goods.
This can be summarized in the following overall research question: What is the relevance of major consumer decision-making characteristics (fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness and brand consciousness) on the intention to purchase Fast Fashion goods?
More specifically, the research objectives are to determine whether the five basic decision making styles influence young German female consumers’ intention to purchase Fast Fashion goods. Besides, their relative importance will be examined. In this study, purchase intention is defined as a mental state reflecting the decision of a consumer to acquire a product/service in the immediate future (Howard, 1989 in Alcañiz et al. 2008).
Managerially, the research results may be relevant for retail managers from the Fast Fashion industry to better understand major consumer characteristics and their importance for understanding consumer purchase behaviour. The research helps to gain a more comprehensive understanding of purchase intention in the Fast Fashion industry what will
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help firms to develop specific marketing strategies to better target their customers. Besides, analysing the relative importance of the five consumer decision-making characteristics on consumer purchase intention will help Fast Fashion retailers to more efficiently plan their marketing efforts.
The remainder of this thesis is organized as follows. The thesis initially examines current literature related to consumer decision-making behaviour and Fast Fashion consumer behaviour; and then discusses theory about each consumer decision-making style characteristic to develop research hypotheses. Research methodology will be introduced before presenting and discussing the findings, research limitations, relevant conclusions and implications.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Examine consumer purchasing behaviour
Existing literature related to consumer behaviour suggests several different approaches to find explanations for consumer behaviour. One of them is the lifestyle approach, assuming that lifestyle activities and interests are closely related to consumer behaviour (e.g.
Lastovicka, 1982). Other approaches are determining different basic consumer psychographic profiles (e.g. Darden and Ashton, 1974) for explaining specific consumer behaviour.
Moreover, the consumer characteristics approach considers the importance of shopping motivations (e.g. Westbrook and Black, 1985), consumer shopping orientations (e.g. Darden, Reynolds and Fred, 1971; Moschis, 1976) and key decision-making characteristics for determining consumer behaviour (e.g. Sproles and Kendall 1986).
In the following, the study will focus on consumer decision-making styles for providing explanations for consumer purchase behaviour.
Profiling consumer decision-making
According to Sproles and Kendall, consumer shopping behaviour can be expected to be the most researched topic in consumer-interest studies. They argued that although consumers may be influenced by numerous factors, consumers are expected to base their purchase decisions on basic decision making styles. Decision-making styles are cognitive and affective characteristics of the mental shopping orientation of consumers about to make choices. In their research, they developed a comprehensive research model for measuring major consumer traits. Sproles and Kendall made use of existing findings of previous research as foundation for their methodology, called the Consumer Style Inventory (CSI). The CSI index
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got invented for measuring consumption habits including eight major characteristics of consumer decision-making (1986).
The first five out of the eight major characteristics defined by Sproles and Kendal (1986) and which will be used in the current study are: perfectionistic/ high-quality consciousness, novelty-apparel consciousness, hedonistic/recreational shopping consciousness, price consciousness and brand consciousness. A short description of the five consumer decision- making characteristics can be found in Table 1.
TABLE 1
Description of decision-making styles
Factor Description
Perfectionistic/ high- quality consciousness
Consumers with high levels of this characteristic are striving for products with the best overall quality, are comparison shoppers and do shopping with care.
Brand consciousness Consumers scoring high in this trait are oriented towards buying well-known national brands and believe that a higher price means better quality
Novelty-apparel consciousness
Consumers with high apparel consciousness are striving for finding out new things, shop less carefully regarding prices and are more impulsive shoppers.
Hedonistic/ recreational shopping consciousness
Consumers with a high hedonic shopping orientation do shop for the fun of it and regard shopping as entertainment.
Price consciousness Consumers scoring high on price consciousness are concerned with getting the best value for their money, are comparison shoppers looking for low prices.
During the last two decades, several studies used the CSI methodology and the major consumer traits identified in other country contexts. Most research tested the generalizability, validity and reliability of the methodology developed by Sproles and Kendall (e.g. Hafstrom, Chae and Chung, 1992; Durvasula, Lysonski and Andrews, 1993; Lysonski, Durvasula and Zotos, 1996; Fan and Xiao, 1998; Mitchell and Bates, 1998; Siu et al., 2001; Wesley, Le Hew and Woodside, 2006; Cowart and Goldsmith, 2007; Yang and Wu, 2007; Hanzaee and Aghasibeig, 2008; Sinkovics, Leelapanyalert and Yamin, 2010; Zhou et al., 2010).
Moreover, a study by Walsh, Mitchell, and Henning-Thurau tested the generalizability, reliability as well as validity of the CSI decision-making styles measurement in the context of Germany while prompting an investigation of German adult shoppers. Walsh, Mitchell and Henning-Thurau used a slightly adapted questionnaire to determine the underlying factors. Of the five basic consumer decision-making characteristics which will be used in this current study, they found support for all, except the price consciousness trait. Walsh, Mitchell and Henning-Thurau claimed that this might be due to the fact that a sample with non-students was chosen. The sample from Sproles and Kendall in 1996 was composed of students who were assumed to be more restricted to their low incomes and therefore high price conscious (2001).
Consumer decision-making in the online fashion context
Cowart and Goldsmith (2007) used the decision-making characteristics as defined by Sproles and Kendall (1986) to examine the influence on consumer purchasing behaviour in the context of fashion. More specifically, they used all eight major decision-making styles to investigate motivations for U.S. online apparel consumption. The study findings showed that some decision-making characteristics (quality consciousness, brand consciousness, fashion consciousness, hedonistic shopping, impulsiveness, brand loyalty) were positively correlated
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with online apparel shopping. However, price sensitivity was found to be negatively correlated with online spending (Cowart and Goldsmith, 2007).
In addition, Nui explored the effects of the eight decision-making styles by Sproles and Kendall (1986) on adolescent online purchasing behaviour. In addition, the moderating effect of peer influence was tested. The results indicate that adolescent online consumers are rational focussing on brand, price and quality in their decision-making. All decision-making styles were found to be significantly related to online purchasing behaviour. Except for hedonic shopping consciousness and impulsiveness which were negatively related, the others were found to be positively related with adolescent online purchasing behaviour. Of those, fashion consciousness and hedonic shopping consciousness were found to be the weakest predictors.
Furthermore, peer influence was found to strengthen purchase behaviour (2013).
Next to the literature on decision-making styles, existing literature used those characteristics under synonyms such as consumer shopping orientations for predicting consumer purchase behaviours. The following three current studies are presenting examples for approaching shopping orientations related to the context of online shopping of fashion.
Seock and Bailey examined the relationships between college students shopping orientations and purchases of apparel products online. The study identified shopping enjoyment, brand/fashion consciousness, price consciousness, shopping confidence, convenience/time consciousness, in-home shopping tendency and brand/store loyalty as shopping orientations. Findings showed that consumers’ shopping orientations were significantly related to purchases of apparel items online. Brand/fashion consciousness, shopping confidence and shopping enjoyment were significantly positively related to apparel purchases online and price consciousness was negatively related. Seock and Bailey claim that this is due to the fact that although online stores often offer bargains, price consciousness consumer view shipping, handling and return fees as too expensive (2008).
Nirmala and Dewi examined the effects of consumers’ shopping orientations (brand consciousness, shopping enjoyment, price consciousness, time consciousness, etc.), consumer innovativeness, purchase experience and gender on the intention to shop for fashion apparel online. Except for time consciousness, brand consciousness and shopping confidence, significant support was found for all other factors on the intention to shop for fashion apparel online (2011).
2.2 Fast Fashion from a consumer perspective
In recent years, a limited number of empirical studies approached the consumer perspective in the Fast Fashion phenomenon (Kim, 2006; Choi et al., 2010; Cachon and Swinney, 2011; Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi, 2013; Watson and Yan, 2013; Kim, Choo and Yoon 2013; Miller, 2013). Table 2 presents the key authors, research methods used and main findings of existing literature related to the consumer perspective in the context of Fast Fashion.
TABLE 2
Overview of literature related to the consumer perspective in the context of Fast Fashion
Author (Year) Research Method Main Findings
Kim (2006) Korea; questionnaire;
female consumers
Fast Fashion consumers are found to exhibit a hedonic, convenient orientation in shopping with focus on sex appeal as clothing benefit.
Choi et al. (2010) Hong Kong; questionnaire A positive relationship between brand loyalty and brand involvement on the intention to evaluate Fast Fashion brand extensions was found. Besides, brand concept consistency, transferability and complementary is found to be positively related to a more favourable brand extension evaluation. However, self-image is not found to be related to the intention to evaluate brand extensions. Substitutability is found to be not related to a more favourable evaluation.
Cachon and Swinney (2011)
Numerical experiments Quick response and enhanced design, as used in the Fast Fashion industry, are most likely found to be complement systems. Especially if consumers are very strategic, both systems in combinations decrease consumer willingness to delay their purchase.
Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi (2013)
Italy; interviews with focus groups
Consumers are found to move away from quality values of a product to emotional value. Consumers do give up quality to be able to fulfil their constantly changing wishes. Fast Fashion is found to reduce potential tension after the purchase is made because the product was bought for an affordable price.
Miller (2013) Inquiry obtained through publicly available online information
Rarity of Fast Fashion items is found to increase hedonic enjoyment after purchase. Hedonic pleasure-seeking consumers are found to enjoy the creativity which is associated with additional value through uniqueness. Moreover, consumers demonstrate pleasure in finding rare items.
Watson and Yan (2013)
America; interviews with focus groups; female consumers
Slow and Fast Fashion consumer groups are found to differ in their characteristics and decision-making process. The findings show that Fast Fashion consumers love to purchase trendy fashion at low price for being able to replace their clothing on a frequent basis. Fast Fashion consumers buy because they love purchasing a large quantity of trendy items for little money and are intend to dispose out of style clothing. Noteworthy, most Fast Fashion consumers are likely to be dissatisfied after the consumption stage but however are still overall satisfied because their expectations of low quality were met.
Kim, Choo and Yoon (2013)
Korea; web-based survey Poor product performance, deindividuation, foreignness and inauthenticity were found to have significant effects on the behavioural intention of Fast Fashion avoidance. Specifically, poor performance and deindividuation have positive effects on Fast Fashion avoidance while inauthenticity has a negative effect on behavioural intention. Besides, they found that lack of alternatives has an interaction effect, along with big store discomfort and foreignness.
The importance of quality and price in Fast Fashion consumption
Watson and Yan explored, with the help of American female focus groups and personal interviews, differences in characteristics of Fast and Slow Fashion consumers and their decision-making processes (i.e. purchase/consumption, post-consumption evaluation, and divestment). The findings showed that Fast Fashion consumers purchase trendy fashion at low price for being able to replace their clothing on a frequent basis. On the contrary, Slow Fashion consumers prefer to purchase high quality products for building a wardrobe with care and consideration. Moreover, the study found that both consumer groups differ in their decision-making process. On the one hand, Fast Fashion consumers buy because they love purchasing a large quantity of trendy items for little money. On the other hand, Slow Fashion consumers buy items that do not go out of style that quickly to build a long-lasting wardrobe.
Besides, Slow Fashion consumers are emotionally connected to clothing, what is contrary to Fast Fashion consumers who intend to dispose out of style clothing. Noteworthy, they found that Fast Fashion consumers are likely to be dissatisfied after the consumption stage but however are still overall satisfied because their expectations of low quality were met (2013).
Moreover, Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi focused a qualitative research on the consumption habits of Italian consumers. They claimed that there is a consumer basket of meanings creating lifestyle and individual identity, which are incorporated in Fast Fashion items. The interactions within the Italian focus group pointed out, that post-modern consumers are moving away from the quality value of a product to the emotional value. The findings showed that consumers make a compromise between what consumers would love to wear and how much money they can afford to spend. Hence, quality must be given up to save money to fulfil constantly changing consumer wishes. Besides, Fast Fashion was found to reduce potential tension after the purchase is made, because the product which was frivolous purchased was bought for an affordable price (2013).
In addition, a study by Kim, Choo and Yoon intended to find new explanations for Fast Fashion avoidance. Avoidance was measured in active forms as well as through negative attitudes and behaviours against Fast Fashion and its consumption. Their conceptual model got based on literature and blog analyses and was empirically tested using survey data of young Korean consumers. Their findings found that poor performance, deindividuation, foreignness and inauthenticity were having significant effects on the behavioural intention of Fast Fashion avoidance. Specifically, poor performance and deindividuation have positive effects on Fast Fashion avoidance while inauthenticity has a negative effect. Besides, they found that lack of alternatives has an interaction effect, along with big store discomfort and foreignness (2013).
The importance of pleasure and branding in Fast Fashion consumption
Kim conducted a study on differences in shopping behaviours of Fast Fashion and non- Fast Fashion female Korean consumers. Data was collected from a questionnaire and Kim found out that consumers preferring Fast Fashion exhibited a hedonic, convenient orientation in shopping with focus on sex appeal as clothing benefits. Contrary, consumers preferring non-Fast Fashion exhibited an economic, brand-oriented orientation in shopping with focus on practicality and social status as clothing benefits (2006).
Besides, Choi et al. examined consumer behaviour towards different types of Fast Fashion brand extensions of Zara, tested on a sample of Hong Kong consumers. The study found out that a positive relationship exists between brand loyalty and brand involvement on the intention to evaluate Fast Fashion brand extensions (ranked from high to low influence). They also found that brand concept consistency, transferability and complementary positively related to a more favourable brand extension evaluation.
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Moreover, Miller obtained data through publicly available online information of freely shared opinions about Fast Fashion purchases. The study indicated that limited supply and therefore rarity is common for Fast Fashion retailers. According to Miller, rarity increases the urgency to purchase. In addition, the research findings indicate that rarity increases hedonic enjoyment after purchase. The most important finding was that hedonic pleasure-seeking consumers enjoy the creativity which is associated with additional value through uniqueness.
The research showed that Fast Fashion consumers reward limited availability of Fast Fashion, because they love to create their own style which is hard to be copied by others. Moreover, consumers from the inquiry demonstrated pleasure in finding rare items. Miller expects that the enjoyment will result in repeated purchases of Fast Fashion (2013).
The importance of quick response and product design in Fast Fashion consumption
The research by Choi et al. also found out that Korean consumers ranked ‘stylish’, ‘up-to- date’ and ‘numerous styles’ to be the major product attributes in Fast Fashion. Hence, Choi et al. claimed that consumers buy Fast Fashion products because of style and design (2010).
Besides, Cachon and Swinney studied the influence of quick response systems and enhanced design on consumer purchasing behaviour in the Fast Fashion context. During their research they tested three alternative systems: quick-response-only systems, enhanced-design- only systems, and traditional systems not using quick-response neither enhanced design.
These three systems were compared in its performance with the new Fast Fashion model of enhanced design and quick response in combination. The study found that both enhanced design and quick response mitigate consumers’ strategic buying behaviour, because Fast Fashion products were valued more and bought more frivolously. Even if the two systems can be seen as substitutes because both decrease the likelihood that consumers are willing to delay their purchase, a complementary effect dominates. Cachon and Swinney concluded that when
both systems are combined in Fast Fashion, firms can enjoy greater profits, because consumers do value the products even more and are less willing to wait until the end-of- season clearance. Therefore, the results stressed the importance for Fast Fashion retailers to use both strategies in combination to be able to charge higher prices. Noteworthy, the complementary effect is found to be the strongest if the target is strategic consumers, who are intended to delay purchases until the end-of-season clearance (2011).
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3. THEORY AND HYPOTHESES
3.1 The novelty-fashion conscious consumer: ‘’fashion innovativeness’’
According to Sproles and Kendall (1986), consumers who have a high level of novelty- fashion consciousness are both fashion conscious and novelty conscious. Consumers with high level of these characteristics are known for keeping up-to-date and trying new varieties of styles (Sproles and Kendall, 1986). Contemporary studies about fashion indicate that consumers are distributed across a range of different fashion consciousness levels and behaviours (Cass, 2011). A current study by Seock and Bailey (2008) found that fashion conscious consumers collect information about the latest trends. In the current research the term novelty-fashion consciousness, as originally named by Sproles and Kendall, will be replaced with the term fashion innovativeness. This is due to the fact that there does exist a bigger stream of research on the term of fashion innovativeness with descriptions similar to fashion consciousness. Based on the theory of diffusion of innovation, consumers’ individual willingness to accept new products, services or ideas earlier than most other people in their social environment is determined by the individual degree of innovativeness (Rogers, 1983 in Zhang and Kim, 2013). As stated by Muzinich, Pecotich and Putrevu, consumer innovativeness is one of the most relevant concepts in behavioural science and innovative consumers are intended to gather more information about fashion. This enables them to be able to be a trendsetter for others by early adaption (2003). In reference to Beaudoin and Lachance, consumers with a high degree of fashion innovativeness are intended to differentiate themselves from others by combining new fashion styles. On the contrary, consumers with a low degree of fashion innovativeness are taking over the imitation role (2006). Fashion innovators are known to facilitate the spread of new fashion trends (Phau and Lo, 2004) and found to have a higher need for uniqueness compared to fashion followers (Workman and Johnson, 1993). Research has found that innovators do know more about
fashion styles and spend more money on larger quantities of fashion goods (Baumgarten, 1975; Jordaan and Simpson, 2006; Workman and Caldwell, 2007). Besides, Cass (2011) claimed that especially young people and females are characterized to be fashion conscious.
So far, no empirical research analysed the relationship between the consumer fashion innovativeness levels and the consumer purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods.
Nevertheless, there is existing research which allows assumptions over consumer traits related to innovativeness in Fast Fashion. Choi et al. (2010) found out that ‘up to date’ is the second most important product attribute for Fast Fashion right behind ‘stylish’. According to Barry (2004) and Cachon and Swinney (2009), it is likely to expect that consumers are visiting Fast Fashion stores on a regular basis due to the continuous introduction of new clothing collections. This argument is in line with Bhardwaj and Fairhust (2010), who stated that with the help of product scarcity in collections, retailers are encouraging consumers to visit the stores more often. Moreover, research by Miller (2013) claimed that product scarcity in Fast Fashion allows consumers to combine individual styles which are hard to be copied by others.
Hence, consumers are likely to feel the need to frequently spend more time on purchasing the new trendy items as soon as possible. Furthermore, spending time and money are found to be signs for a high level of innovativeness of Fast Fashion consumers (Miller, 2013).
Based on the findings of the above mentioned research on Fast Fashion consumer behaviour it is likely to expect that Fast Fashion consumers have a high degree of fashion innovativeness. It can be assumed that there exists a positive relationship between fashion innovativeness and purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods. Therefore, consumers with high levels of fashion innovativeness are expected to have a higher intention to purchase Fast Fashion goods. Based on the arguments, the following hypothesis got developed:
H1: Fashion innovativeness is positively related to purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
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3.2 The hedonistic consumer: ‘’hedonic shopping consciousness’’
In previous research, hedonic shopping consciousness was found to be referred to as hedonic shopping value in consumption due to the fact that some groups of consumers drive greater pleasure from shopping (Byoungho and Sternquist, 2004). Purchasing hedonic goods is stated to provide more pleasure, fun, excitement and experiential consumption (Dhar and Wertenbroch, 2000). Overall, hedonic consumption is defined to as “those facets of consumer behaviour that relate to the multisensory, fantasy and emotive aspects of one’s experience with products” including “tastes, sounds, scents, tactile impressions and visual images’’
(Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982, p. 92-93). Moreover, research has shown that hedonic related consumer motivations for consumption include sensation seeking and escaping from the daily life (Zuckerman, 1979 in Neeley, Min and Kennett-Hensel, 2010). Besides, hedonic shopping orientation can involve a greater consumer involvement, perceived freedom and strong recreational feelings (Babin et al., 1994). For example, hedonic values are associated with price savings (Mano and Elliot, 1997) and the pleasure of bargaining is found to be a shopping motive (Tauber, 1972).
The importance of hedonic shopping consciousness, as consumer decision-making style influencing purchase intent, has not got attention in Fast Fashion literature so far. However, there does exist limited research approaching the aspect of hedonic shopping orientation for Fast Fashion. Kim (2006) explored in a quantitative study that consumers purchase Fast Fashion due to hedonic pleasure seeking reasons. Support for this finding comes from Miller (2013), who found that Fast Fashion product rarity increases hedonic enjoyment after purchase. According to Miller, hedonic pleasure-seeking consumers enjoy the creativity which is associated with additional value. Besides, consumers demonstrate pleasure in finding rare items and creating their own style which is hard to be copied by others.
Based on the qualitative findings of Miller (2013) and Kim (2006), one of the basic shopping orientations for Fast Fashion is likely to be hedonic shopping consciousness. Due to the fact that hedonic pleasure is associated with Fast Fashion, consumers buying Fast Fashion are likely to have a high level of hedonic shopping consciousness. Therefore, a high level of consumer hedonic shopping consciousness is expected to be positively related to the purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods. Hence, the higher the consumers’ hedonic shopping consciousness level, the higher the shopping intention due to pleasure seeking reasons. The hypothesis is as follows:
H2: Hedonic shopping consciousness is positively related to purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
3.3 The high-quality conscious consumer: ‘’quality consciousness’’
Existing literature on quality consciousness suggest that consumers who possess higher levels should be more informed about market prices and quality compared to those with lower levels (Lichtenstein and Burton, 1990). According to Zeithaml (1988), the superiority of a product is judged by the consumers’ perceived quality of a specific product or service. In general, perceived product quality is defined as the view of consumers on a products’ overall superiority compared to alternatives (Aaker, 1991 in Beneke et al., 2013). Research done by Monroe (2002) highlighted the importance of a trade-off between perceived quality and perceived price, representing the concept of value-for money. Although existing research has shown that the construct of product value is difficult to conceptualize and measure, customers who perceive a high product value are more likely to make a purchase (Zeithaml, 1988;
Monroe, 2002). Besides, consumers’ perceived product value determines purchase intent and consumers’ willingness to buy (Chang and Wang, 2011). Moreover, Beneke et al. (2013)
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observed a negative correlation between perceived product quality and perceived risk. The study of Beneke et al (2013) suggested that in the consumer decision-making process, perceived risk can be minimised through an optimal quality of the retail product.
Looking at existing Fast Fashion literature, the importance of consumer quality consciousness, as consumer decision-making style influencing purchase intent, has not got approached so far. However, some existing literature related to Fast Fashion consumer behaviour present some findings about the importance of quality aspects related to Fast Fashion. Bhardwaj and Fairhurst (2010) called Fast Fashion “disposable” fashion which emerges from the consumers’ willingness to lose quality and durability to feel free to construct and alter an own style every day. This argument got further elaborated by Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi (2013) who found that emotional value of Fast Fashion is more important than quality value which is given up to satisfy consumer wishes. This is in line with Kim (2007), who stated that consumers do expect low quality and are still willing to purchase Fast Fashion. Hence, the fulfilment of constantly changing wishes seems to be more important when considering purchase. However, a current research of Watson and Yan (2013) observed that Fast Fashion consumers are often dissatisfied with the quality and damageability of the apparel items. In addition, Kim, Choo and Yoon (2013) found that poor product performance has significant positive effects on the behavioural intention of Fast Fashion avoidance.
Despite the above presented research findings’ assuming that quality is not the most important aspect when purchasing Fast Fashion, poor quality is found to be an important aspect for Fast Fashion avoidance. One could assume that even if consumers’ expectations about the quality were fulfilled, consumers with high levels of quality consciousness would intent not to buy Fast Fashion due to low product quality. Hence, a negative correlation
between quality consciousness and purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods is expected.
Therefore, the hypothesis is as following:
H3: Quality consciousness is negatively related to purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
3.4 The price conscious consumer: ‘’price consciousness’’
The concept of price consciousness got first defined as consumers ‘’unwilling to pay a higher price for a product, and if the price is greater than what is acceptable to pay, the buyer may refrain from buying’’ (Monroe and Petroshius, 1981, p. 44). In reference to Zeithaml (1984), price consciousness is used by researchers to refer to several different price-related perceptions such price acceptability, overall price knowledge, value for money perceptions and price importance. Gauzente and Roy (2012) suggested that the level of price consciousness is important in the consumer decision-making process. Price is stated to be an important determinant of consumer purchase decision and price influences individual buyers' purchase process (Monroe and Petroshius, 1981). Findings of existing research demonstrate that the trade-off between perceived price and perceived quality leads to perceived value which is a primary factor for determining consumer purchase intention (Zeithaml, 1988;
Chang and Wildt, 1994). On the one hand, consumers can regard higher prices as an indicator of quality or prestige increasing the likelihood of a purchase (Byoungho and Sternquist, 2004). According to consumer behaviour research, people believe that expensive products are of higher quality which increases the desirability of expensive products (Monroe, 1973; Rao
& Monroe, 1989). In addition, Veblen (1965) argued that consumers are purchasing expensive products to symbolize their wealth. Moreover, Lynn (1991), assumed expensiveness of a product might increase the desirability for scare products due to the increased perceived status of the consumer. On the other hand, price can be seen as negative
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cue decreasing the likelihood of purchase (Byoungho and Sternquist, 2004). Price sensitive consumers are seeking for low prices and are less likely to buy when price increase (Goldsmith et al., 2005). Hence, price can play a negative role when money must be given up to acquire a product as well as a positive role related to product quality and associated prestige (Neeley, Min and Kennett-Hensel, 2010).
The importance of price consciousness as consumer decision-making style influencing purchase intent has not got attention in Fast Fashion literature so far. However, existing literature presents some findings about the importance of price related to Fast Fashion consumption. Research by Watson and Yan (2013) found that Fast Fashion consumers prefer large quantities of low priced items for being able to replace their clothing on a frequent basis and to avoid gilt and dissatisfaction after consumption. The findings by Watson and Yan (2013) are in line with Bagwell and Bernheim (1996) who indicated that consumers are known to buy a large quantity of low-price goods for signalling health.
Based on the findings of Watson and Yan (2013) and Bagwell and Bernheim (1996), the price consciousness level of consumers is likely to influence consumer purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods. It is likely to expect that a consumer with high price consciousness intent to buy at cheap prices to be able to fulfil constantly changing wishes. Even if consumers are willing to buy non-sale Fast Fashion items (Cachon and Swinney, 2011), Fast Fashion is priced lower than luxury and Slow Fashion in general. Therefore, it is assumed that the higher the price consciousness level, the more increases consumers’ purchase intention of Fast Fashion as expressed in the following hypothesis:
H4a: Price consciousness is positively related to purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
Moreover, based on the existing Fast Fashion literature related to quality and price perceptions (Kim, 2007; Bhardwaj and Fairhurst, 2010; Gabrielli, Baghi and Codeluppi, 2013), it is likely to expect that price perception is more important in decision making than quality perception. This is likely due to the fact that consumers do give up quality to satisfy continuous demand and prefer a large amount of low priced items. Even though, low product quality was found to be the most common reasons for Fast Fashion avoidance (Choo and Yoon, 2013) one could expect that price is the stronger predictor towards purchase intention.
Therefore, the hypothesis is as follows:
H4b: Among the five decision-making styles, price consciousness is of greater relevance than quality consciousness towards purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
3.5 The brand conscious consumer: ‘’brand consciousness’’
According to Sproles and Kendall (1986), brand consciousness is defined as consumer preference towards specific branded goods. Consumers who are characterized to have a high degree of brand consciousness do link brands to status and prestige and are willing to buy famous branded goods (Liao and Wang, 2009). Brand conscious consumers are found to associate prestige with the brand regardless the actual product value (Tai and Tam, 1997).
Brand consciousness as well as brand sensitivity which is often used interchangeably, are known to be important in the pre-purchase decision-making process (Nelson and McLeod, 2005; Workman and Lee, 2013). Brand sensitivity of consumers is found to be an increasing function of fashion "adoptiveness" and is defined to be an important influential factor on consumption behaviour (Beaudoin, Lachance and Robitaille, 2003). In addition, research has found that females score higher on brand sensitivity compared to men (Beaudoin and Lachance, 2006). Overall, brands are known to provide reduced risk to consumers in
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purchasing (Lehmann and Winer, in Liao and Wang, 2009), are used by consumers to enhance their self-image and are often used as indicators for quality (Husic and Cicic. 2009).
Within the current Fast Fashion literature, no study does investigate the importance of branding in the consumer decision-making and purchase behaviour for Fast Fashion goods.
Existing research provides only partial hints for assumptions about the influence of brands in purchase decisions. According to Barry (2004), Fast Fashion consumers combine label branded and unbranded apparel due to striving for individuality as well as for more value for money. Based on this argument, unbranded apparel could be viewed as the Fast Fashion apparel which is often not branded and therefore cheaper. This is in line with Kim, Choo and Yoon (2013) who found that although consumers know that Fast Fashion brands copy high fashion products at lower costs, they seem to be unconcerned and are likely to accept the inauthenticity of Fast Fashion brands. In addition, Kim (2006) found out that non-Fast Fashion consumers exhibit a brand-oriented orientation. Hence, the brand consciousness level of Fast Fashion consumers is expected to be low. Hence, the following hypothesis predicts that the higher the degree of consumer brand consciousness, the lower will be the purchase intention of Fast Fashion.
H5a: Brand consciousness is negatively related to purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
Furthermore, existing Fast Fashion literature provides evidence, that the most important product attributes are style and design (Choi et al., 2010) and purchases are made due to hedonic reasons (Kim; 2006; Miller, 2013). Hence, other product attributes like design and style are found to the most important in Fast Fashion consumption. It is likely to expect that brand consciousness has among the five decision-making characteristics the lowest relevance in determining purchase intention of Fast Fashion goods. This argument is based on the above
mentioned literature findings and the fact that no literature found significant importance of branding for Fast Fashion. Therefore, the following hypothesis derives:
H5b: Among the five decision-making styles, brand consciousness shows the lowest relevance towards purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
FIGURE 1 Conceptual model
Among the five decision-making styles, price consciousness is of greater relevance than quality consciousness towards purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
Among the five decision-making styles, brand consciousness shows the lowest relevance towards purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods.
Fashion innovativeness
Hedonic shopping consciousness
Quality consciousness
Price consciousness
Brand consciousness
Purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods
Age Income
H4b:
H5b:
H1+
H2+
H3 - H4a+
H5a -
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4. METHODOLOGY
4.1 Research method
A deductive research approach was applied for testing the research framework presented in the conceptual model with the help of a web-based survey questionnaire. To test the hypotheses derived from existing literature, quantitative research was administered.
Moreover, a quantitative research method was chosen for being able to draw a statistical generalization across a bigger population with the help of the representative sample population.
4.2 Research sample
Hypotheses were tested on a nationally representative sample of German young female consumers. The sample population of young women was chosen, because female fashion consumers are enticed to purchase more at Fast Fashion stores than men (Barnes and Lea- Greenwood, 2006). Survey participants were recruited through a forum post on the German clothing online platform kleiderkreisel (http://www.kleiderkreisel.de). Due to the fact that the platform mainly appeals to younger women, it was chosen as an applicable source for gathering respondents for a fashion related topic.
4.3 Data collection and procedure
The online questionnaire was conducted with the help of the online tool Qualtrics. The online survey was divided into three sections. The survey started with an informed consent, followed by a section for gathering demographic information of the respondents. An overview of the demographical characteristics such as age, highest level of education, marital status, employment status and monthly income can be found in Appendix B. In the third section,
respondents were asked to rate statements for measuring the decision-making characteristics including fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness, brand consciousness and purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods. The responses to the statements were measured with the help of a Five-point Likert-scale, ranking from strongly disagree (=1) to strongly agree (=5). Before the survey launch, content validity of the questions was assessed through the examination by both university supervisors. The online survey was written in English. Based on feedback gathered from ten test respondents, the survey was found to be understandable for respondents with at least basic English knowledge. The online survey was accessible 24h/7 with duration of one week. The collected survey data was processed with the help of the statistical software SPSS20.
4.4 Ethical issues
The survey-based research guaranteed voluntarily participation and protection of the participants’ identity and security of the sources of the data generated by this study.
Participant’s data got anonymized as well as all participants had the right to refuse to participate at any time. Besides, the storage and management of the consumer data was addressed in a confidential way. Before the start of the survey questionnaire, a brief explanation of the purpose of the study was provided to the respondents and informed consent was collected.
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4.5 Research measures
The research construct was measured by multi-items scales which were previously used and demonstrated good fit. The independent variables of this research were determined to be fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness and brand consciousness. Besides, purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods was determined to be the dependent variable in the current study.
The degree of fashion innovativeness of individual consumers was measured with the help of six adapted statements proposed by Goldsmith and Hofacker (1991) which were domain- specific for fashion including three reverse coded questions. Hedonic shopping consciousness was measured using three items used by Nirmala and Dewi (2011) which were context specific for fashion. In addition, three items proposed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) and three items proposed by Byoungho and Sternquist (2004) were used. Two of the total nine statements were reverse coded. Consumer quality consciousness was measured by six items developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) including one reverse coded item. Consumer price consciousness was measured by a combination of three items developed by Tai and Tam (1997), three items used by Nirmala and Dewi (2011) and three items by Sproles and Kendall (1986). This was leading to a total number of nine items including two reverse coded statements. Brand consciousness was measured with a combination of seven statements developed by Sproles and Kendall (1986) and two by Tai and Tam (1997) leading to a total of nine items. The dependent variable determining purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods was measured using four items as used by Nirmala and Dewi (2011) which were modified to adapt it to the context of Fast Fashion. An overview presenting the detailed scale items description can be found in Appendix A.
4.6 Data validity and reliability
In the first stage, the reliability of the scale items for measuring the underlying factors was assessed before hypothesis testing. Cronbach's Alpha and item-total correlation was used to guarantee internal model consistency. Cronbach’s Alpha was set on > 0.6 for an acceptable model consistency and > 0.7 as threshold to demonstrate good internal model consistency.
For the factors fashion innovativeness (α = 0.762, n = 6), hedonic shopping consciousness (α = 0.897, n = 9) and quality consciousness (α = 0.820, n = 6), all scale items were kept for further analysis. For brand consciousness an adequate level of reliability (α = 0.803, n = 9) was found. However, one of the scale items ‘’A product does not have to be perfect to satisfy me’’ scored conspicuous low in item-total correlation. Therefore, the item was excluded from further analysis leading to a final (α = 0.850, n = 8). Cronbach’s Alpha tested on price consciousness was found to be at an acceptable reliability of α = 0.629 (n = 9) only. While taking under consideration the item-total correlation, two scale items ‘’When I find clothes I like, I usually buy them without hesitation’’ as well as ‘’I don’t mind paying high prices for clothes’’ were excluded from the analysis leading to the highest possible reliability at the highest possible acceptable reliability level of α = 0.663 (n = 7). Moreover, Cronbach's Alpha for the dependent variable purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods was found to be α = 0.746 (n = 4). Due to the high importance of the reliability of the dependent variable in further analysis, item-total correlation was checked for potential corrections leading to a higher reliability. One of the scale items ‘’I intend to collect more information about Fast Fashion’’
was found to have a low item-total correlation and was therefore excluded from the analysis leading to a final Cronbach's Alpha of α = 0.823 (n = 3). Based on the outcomes, all variables were considered in the following analysis.
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4.7 Data analysis
First of all, the survey outcomes for each scale item considered in the final analysis were grouped for further analysis. In addition and prior to further analysis, tests of the regression assumptions were performed (e.g. multicollinerarity, homoscedasticicty and normality of residuals). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed to test the hypotheses while evaluating the relationship between the predictor variables (fashion innovativeness, hedonic shopping consciousness, quality consciousness, price consciousness, brand consciousness) and the dependent variable (purchase intent of Fast Fashion goods). Subsequently, the results were controlled for age and income as control variables.
