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To help brands persuasively communicate their environmentally responsible initiatives, this study aims to involve two experiments, examining the impact of brand schema, information transparency and skepticism toward climate change for brands both familiar and unfamiliar to US consumers.

Two online experiments were designed recruiting a total of 510 participants. The design incorporates both message and treatment variance to increase internal and external validity of the study. Data collected were analyzed using PROCESS, a regression-based conditional path analysis technique.

The results indicated that for both familiar and unfamiliar brands, increased congruity of consumers' schemas to information presented in brands' pro-environmental messages led consumers to evaluate the messages as more persuasive, have more positive opinions about brands' environmentally responsible initiatives as well as behavioral intentions toward the brand. Also, presence of high information transparency on environmental responsibility-related messages influenced consumers' schemas positively, and in turn, their evaluations were more favorable. However, consumers’ climate change skepticism seemed to influence unfamiliar, not familiar brands.

The study provides both theoretical and managerial implications. The findings are important for established apparel brands that suffer from negative reputations, but are willing to revitalize their images, and for new ventures who want to establish their image as environmentally responsible.

The purpose of this study is to examine the ease of use and usefulness of the application Taobao and whether involvement, self-confidence and self-expression of users are related and ultimately affect the purchase intention of Gen Z Chinese users on the site.

The theoretical basis of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was utilized. An online survey of 46 questions and 190 responses of Chinese consumers between the ages of 18 and 23 was conducted. PROCESS and a linear regression were used to analyze the results.

Through the lens of the TAM (Davis, 1989), the findings of this study determined that for participants TAM was deemed more useful when TAM was viewed than as easier to use. However, in this case perceived ease of use and usefulness did not directly relate to attitude. Instead, attitude was directly related to self-expression, confidence and involvement as the determining factors of positive attitude leading to intention. The study found that self-expression was most significant regarding attitude. To influence perceived self-expression though, ease of use and usefulness were crucial to obtain this effective characteristic.

In this study how the ease of use and usefulness of the application and involvement, self-confidence and self-expression of users are related and affect the purchase intention is examined.

This study aims to understand how consumers evaluate Made in USA messages that are congruent/incongruent to consumers’ prior expectations about the brand’s US-based sourcing initiatives.

Two separate studies were conducted. Online experiment was designed implementing both message and treatment variance to increase internal and external validity of the study. Data collected from two distinct samples were analyzed using MANOVA and ANOVA.

Findings from Study 1 indicated that consumers’ perceived message credibility, attitude toward message and attitude toward brand were highest for congruent messages, followed by when incongruity was resolved and lowest when incongruity was not resolved. Further, consumers’ brand attitudes before and after message exposure were different, with change being most positive for incongruity resolution, followed by congruity, whereas negative for incongruity non-resolution. Findings from Study 2 indicated that consumers’ general attitude toward brands’ US-based sourcing strategies influenced their brand attitude, as well as moderated the relation between schema congruity/incongruity resolution/incongruity non-resolution and brand attitude.

The findings are helpful for brand managers and sourcing personnel to better invest their resources in US-based sourcing strategies. In addition, the findings of the study contribute and extend theory by identifying a boundary condition.

This study aims to empirically examine the determinants of corporate hypocrisy and to investigate the potential negative impact on the consumer–brand relationship, specifically on trust, switch and resilience intentions.

A 2 (mission: no and yes) × 3 (sustainability activities: perfect, imperfect and no duty) experiment was developed. A total of 548 US consumers were randomly assigned to one of six case conditions and asked to respond to an online survey. The responses were analyzed by both two-way analysis of variance and PROCESS.

The results showed that respondents who saw clear sustainability goals in the companies’ mission statements had lower levels of corporate hypocrisy than those who did not, and when the mission statements and activities related to corporate sustainability were congruent, the respondents were less likely to elicit corporate hypocrisy than when they were not. Also, consumers showed lower levels of trust when corporate hypocrisy was present, which negatively impacted their switch and resilience intentions.

This study provided empirical evidence demonstrating how and to what extent corporate hypocrisy is formed by varying sustainability goals and activities. These findings urge brand managers to recognize the ripple effect created by a mismatch between their stated sustainability goals and their activities. Also, these findings could provide apparel management with guidelines for formulating and communicating companies’ sustainability goals and activities.

This paper aims to understand whether product descriptor cues related to artisanal qualities can help marketers to delineate their clothing product offerings to consumers by influencing consumers’ perceived product values and the effect (if any) of consumers’ fashion clothing involvement on such value perceptions. In today’s intensely competitive market environment marked by minimal product differentiation, marketers are often using the terms artisan, handcrafted or similar to indicate that their products are different, produced with care, are of higher quality and even premium.

For the study, a 2 (Involvement: High/Low) × 4 (Cues: Control/Artisan-made/Part of a curated collection/Handcrafted) × 2 (products replications: Jeans/Handbags) mixed model repeated measures experiment was designed. A sample of 487 adult female US consumers was recruited using a market-based research firm.

Results indicated that framing luxury products as artisanal using product descriptor cues influenced the perceived value of these products. Moreover, consumers’ fashion involvement positively influenced their perceived value for artisanal luxury products.

The study is one of the few attempts in understanding the value of artisanal luxury products. Given the importance of the artisanal luxury industry to the global economy, focusing on how consumers perceive the value of artisanal luxury products is important to marketers and practitioners as well as academicians. From a theoretical perspective, the study indicates fashion involvement as a predictor of consumers’ perceived value, thereby filling a gap in literature. The study used two different product categories to aid in generalizability of the results.

While the fashion industry is beginning to comprehend the commercial imperative for sustainability, it is struggling to address the issues of overconsumption and accompanying packaging. Research indicates that framing of marketing messages makes an impact on consumers’ choices, particularly when it comes to supporting sustainable initiatives from brands. This study aims to investigate the impact of message framing, reference to perceived benefits and green consumer values on their choice of packaging reduction initiatives in the context of online retailing and the subsequent impact on brand attitude.

A 2 (frame: gain/loss) × 2 (reference to perceived benefits: personal/societal) × 2 (green consumer value: high/low) mixed method online experiment was conducted.

Results indicated that how the message is referenced in terms of benefits (personal gain/loss or societal gain/loss) and green consumer values act as moderators between message frame and attitude toward the packaging initiatives, which in turn impact brand attitude.

Overall, the findings contribute to message architecture, insight on consumer behavior, and add to the business case for sustainable packaging for fashion/apparel companies.

The apparel industry is often scrutinized for its lack of environmental stewardship, and thus pro-environmental initiatives have been of significant consideration among apparel brands in recent years. However, one personality trait of specific concern to brand marketers is consumer skepticism toward climate change, which has the potential to negatively impact the success of brands’ pro-environmental initiatives. In this light, research indicates that knowledge of the environmental impact of products can lead to lower skepticism (Tobler et al., 2012) and ultimately higher purchase intentions of such products. Thus, this study investigates the impact of consumers’ knowledge about environmental impact of apparel, climate change skepticism on their evaluation of brands’ pro-environmental initiatives (shared value and perceived benefit) and ultimately their relationship with the brand (perceived trust, commitment), leading to purchase intention for both familiar and unfamiliar brands.

Two separate studies were conducted for familiar and unfamiliar brands. Data for online surveys were collected from two US nationwide samples and analyzed using path analyses.

Consumers’ intention to purchase from a pro-environmental brand was influenced by knowledge and skepticism. Particularly, the obtained shared value perceptions and perceived benefits of consumers influenced their relationship with the brand through trust and commitment, which eventually impacted their intention to purchase from the brand. Differences were observed for familiar and unfamiliar brands.

Findings of this study will help brand managers design effective pro-environmental marketing messages. Both familiar and unfamiliar brands would benefit from educating consumers about the true environmental impact of their apparel choices, as well as the personal benefits and values earned when purchasing/consuming pro-environmental apparel. This, in turn, reduces consumer skepticism toward climate change, leading to favorable evaluations of the brand’s pro-environmental initiatives and improvement of long-term brand relations.

This study extended the social exchange theory by understanding antecedents of consumers’ shared value and perceived benefits, namely, their knowledge about the environmental impact of apparel and their skepticism toward climate change, with the final outcome variable being consumers’ patronage intention of pro-environmental brands.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of product description cues as a way to differentiate luxury products for the absolute luxury consumer and the effect of individual traits such as need for uniqueness, product involvement, and product knowledge on consumers’ perceptions of expected price.

An adult sample of 253 female US consumers were recruited for an online survey.

Consumers’ need for uniqueness was related to their level of clothing involvement, which in turn was related to clothing knowledge. Fashion clothing involvement was positively related to participants’ product knowledge which in turn positively influenced participants’ perceived change in expected price of products in response to various product descriptors or cues related to absolute luxury products. In addition, younger consumers were found to be more involved in fashion clothing than older consumers.

This study extends the research into the luxury market and identifies elements of the marketing mix which might be manipulated to better inform potential customers about the luxury product. The study further emphasizes that product descriptors or cues can have an impact on price judgments, especially for highly involved and knowledgeable consumers. This is especially important to academicians as well as marketers since high fashion involved consumers have often been seen as drivers, influential, and legitimists of the fashion adoption process.

The purpose of this study was to understand how male and female consumers differently evaluate sustainability claims from brands and how brands’ sustainability efforts and the presence/absence of information transparency in the claims affect their brand schemas differently.

Five hundred participants were recruited for an online experiment implementing both treatment and message variance. PROCESS, a recently developed regression-based bootstrapping technique was used to test the hypotheses.

Males were more likely than females to rely on their existing schemas for judgment in case of Made in USA but not Fair Labor claims. The presence of information transparency in claims reduced participants’ reliance on their schemas.

The findings might be helpful for brands to design marketing claims with specific customer segments to stand out amidst advertisement clutter. Especially, brands targeting male consumers might try to build strong brand schemas starting the early stages of brand image building as males tend to consistently rely on their schemas for judgment. On the other hand, brands might benefit from providing transparent information about their sustainability efforts in their claims (especially those related to Made in USA) while targeting female consumers. However, irrespective of gender, brands might benefit from making claims with information transparency.

This study investigated the influence of gender in evaluation of brands’ sustainability claims and the role of information transparency in the process, thereby filling a gap in literature. It is one of the very few studies to empirically investigate not only whether males and females are different in their information processing styles but also how such differences arise.