Saima Khan Predictors of Fashion Clothing Involvement ...€¦ · involvement towards advertising involvement, consumption involvement, purchase decision involvement and product involvement
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Saima Khan
Aligarh Muslim University, India
Predictors of Fashion Clothing Involvement amongst Indian Youth
Abstract:
This study aims to ascertain the motivators for fashion clothing consumptions amongst Indian Youth. The interrelationship between Product Involvement, Purchase Decision Involvement, Advertising Involvement and Consumption Involvement is investigated. A sample size of 150 consisting of college going students of Aligarh aged between (18- 26) yrs and the consumption pattern of males and females in specific was also analyzed. It was found that Consumption Involvement has a high correlation with Product Involvement, Purchase Decision Involvement and Advertising Involvement. Although there is no significant difference in the involvement of males and females towards fashion clothing but Product Involvement and Purchase Decision Involvement has more impact on Males and Consumption Involvement and Advertising Involvement has more impact on Females. The research indicates that there is a growing market for fashion products in India and the manufacturers of fashion wear may consider this as a major opportunity for their products in the country.
Keywords: Advertising Involvement, Consumption Involvement, Product Involvement, Purchase Decision Involvement.
1. Introduction
Fashion is a general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. It refers to current trends in look and dress up of a person, as well as to prevailing styles in behavior. Fashions and clothing are constantly changing and may differ from country to country, depending on various factors including age, geography, and climate. In recent years, consumers in developing countries have attracted much attention from marketers. Brand awareness and realization about the self have gained importance among consumers. Clothing is one domain that is supposed to fulfill both functional and symbolic needs of the consumers. Growing consciousness about the self and the role of brands in enhancing the consumers’ image are being
recognized in developing countries. In India, liberalization has not only brought western brands amongst the Indian consumers, but has also introduced more of a western wear and lifestyle. India has a rich and varied textile heritage, where each region of India has its own unique native costume and traditional attire. While traditional clothes are still worn in most of rural India, urban India is changing rapidly, with international fashion trends reflected by the young and glamorous, in the cosmopolitan metros of India. Fashion in India is a vibrant scene, a nascent industry and a colorful and glamorous world where designers and models start new trends every day.
The research attempts to understand the Indian youth’s involvement with fashion clothing and its
implications to marketers. The branded clothing manufacturers are establishing apparel stores in India, and fashion involvement of youth with branded clothes would open marketing opportunities
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to them states: ‘Fashion may be conceptualized both as an object and as a behavioral process ’.
Clothing helps in enhancing the self-image of the individuals, and for the Indian youth it may signify global values and lifestyle. Clothing serves to help individuals with low self-esteem adapt in the social setting and for those with high self-esteem it acts as an expressive function. Fashion products are positioned to improve the social image of the consumers. Fashion involvement is based upon behavioral activities and perceived personal interest of the individuals. Fashions are supposed to communicate the values of the society and the involvement of the consumers in their clothes provides a deeper understanding of the consumer behavior and consumption predispositions. The scale in the research has constructs related to four factors which are consumption involvement, product involvement, advertising involvement and purchase decision involvement. Research findings show a high correlation of consumption involvement with the other three involvement dimensions.
2. Theoretical Background
Involvement research has often focused on pre-purchase settings in the context of decision making and advertising, with little attention being given to the construct as it affects consumer behaviour on an enduring basis (Bloch, 1983; Mittal & Lee, 1989). Involvement is often couched in terms of pre-purchase search activities, information processing, and the hierarchy-of- effects, attribute evaluation, and perception of brand differences. (Rothschild,1984). These pre-purchase and information processing approaches appear insufficient to explain the totality of involvement within a broader context of effects, because they limit involvement to a very narrow context and temporal domain of consumer behaviour.
According to (O’Cass, 2002) the construct of consumer involvement is important in understanding
consumer behaviors related to consumer possessions and there are several broad types of consumer involvement that can be related to the product, to the message, or to the perceiver. Zaichkowsky (1986) identified the antecedents of involvement as a) person factors, b) object or stimulus factors, and c) situational factors. The factors can trigger different types of involvement (product, purchase decision, and advertising) that can produce differing results or consequences of involvement. Previous research has shown several ways in which consumers become involved with products and the effect that product involvement has on various purchasing and consuming behaviors (Mittal & Lee, 1989; Tigert, Ring, & King, 1976).
(O’Cass, 2001) defined fashion involvement as a consumer’s perceived importance of fashion
clothing. Goldsmith et al (1999, 2002) studied the real self-image of female fashion leaders and found that leaders have a unique self-image compared to later buyers. The fashion leaders viewed themselves as more comfortable, pleasant, contemporary, formal, colorful, and vain than later adopters. He also examined the personal characteristics of frequent clothing buyers and developed the four psychological constructs a) innovativeness, b) knowledge, c) involvement, d)and opinion leadership and found that they are were also associated with heavy use of clothing purchases. Since the young adults pay more attention to fashion, this age group must figure highly in any study of clothing (Auty & Elliott, 1998).
In 1985, Zaichkowsky developed the Personal Involvement Inventory (PII) scale to measure product involvement. Tests of construct validity over three products demonstrated the scores were positively related to perceptions of brand differences, brand preferences, interest in gathering
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information about the product category, and comparison of product attributes among brands (Zaichkowsky, 1985).
Figure 1-Conceptual Model
3. Research hypothesis
Hypothesis 1a: There will be a relationship between fashion clothing consumption involvement and product involvement.
Hypothesis 1b: There will be a relationship between fashion clothing consumption involvement and purchase decision involvement.
Hypothesis 1c: There will be a relationship between fashion clothing consumption involvement and advertising involvement.
Hypothesis 2: The consumers’ involvement with fashion clothing, its advertising and purchase
decision would affect the consumers’ decision to purchase fashion clothing.
Hypothesis 3: There will be a significant difference between the male and female consumers ’
involvement towards advertising involvement, consumption involvement, purchase decision involvement and product involvement of fashion clothing.
Questionnaire:
A self-administered questionnaire was used on Indian college students aged between 18 and 26 years studying in colleges in Aligarh. These students were residents of different states from India, who were studying in various intermediate, under graduate and post graduate colleges in Aligarh
Sampling procedure:
1. Analytical tool – MS Excel and SPSS.
2. Sample size – 150
3. Sampling Unit – Colleges of Aligarh
4. Data collected – Primary Data in the form of questionnaires and Secondary Data from books, websites of various companies, magazine surveys, annual reports and journals.
Consumption
Involvement
Advertising Involvement
Purchase Decision
Involvement
Product Involvement
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4. Analysis and Interpretation
The Cronbach’s alpha was computed to test the reliability of the questionnaire. We ascertained the reliability of the items by computing the Cronbach’s alpha and the score for the same was .919 for
25 items of fashion involvement scale.
The total sample size used for analysis was 150, out of which the total male respondents were79 and female respondents were 71 (Table 1). Table 1 shows the two group means (males and females) in the four variables of fashion clothing involvement. There is variation in the means, with higher mean scores for females than males. The differences in the means on all the four variables appear somewhat different. Table 2 shows the male and female group statistics for each question.
Table 1: Group Statistics
You are N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
PI Male 79 3.2451 .82788 .09314
Female 71 3.2215 .81337 .09653
PDI Male 79 3.5295 .80630 .09072
Female 71 3.4554 .90806 .10777
CI Male 79 3.4262 1.14097 .12837
Female 71 3.4531 1.21243 .14389
AI Male 79 3.4241 .97431 .10962
Female 71 3.4014 .97695 .11594
Table 2: Male and Female Group Statistics
You are N Mean Std. Deviation Std. Error Mean
Fashion clothing means a lot to me
Male 79 3.7089 1.03962 .11697
Female 71 3.6761 .95281 .11308
Fashion clothing is a significant part of my life
Male 79 3.5570 .94390 .10620
Female 71 3.5634 .85744 .10176
I have a very strong commitment to fashion clothing that would be difficult to break
Male 79 3.0633 1.04196 .11723
Female 71 2.9859 .99273 .11782
I think about fashion clothing a lot
Male 79 3.1392 1.04678 .11777
Female 71 3.1408 1.01834 .12086
For me personally fashion Male 79 3.3418 1.06079 .11935
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clothing is an important product
Female 71 3.5070 1.04024 .12345
I am very interested in fashion clothing
Male 79 3.4810 1.08440 .12200
Female 71 3.4366 1.06546 .12645
I would say fashion clothing is central to my identity as a person
Male 79 3.0127 .96733 .10883
Female 71 2.8732 1.12033 .13296
I would say that I am often pre-occupied with fashion clothing
Male 79 2.9620 1.01833 .11457
Female 71 2.8028 1.02288 .12139
I can really identify myself with fashion clothing
Male 79 3.0633 1.02959 .11584
Female 71 3.0141 1.08881 .12922
I find fashion clothing a very relevant product in my life
Male 79 3.1772 .93039 .10468
Female 71 3.1972 1.00881 .11972
I pay a lot of attention to fashion clothing
Male 79 3.1899 1.12177 .12621
Female 71 3.2394 1.03461 .12279
Making purchase decision for fashion clothing is significant to me
Male 79 3.3291 1.12912 .12704
Female 71 3.3803 .97638 .11588
I think a lot about my choices when it comes to fashion clothing
Male 79 3.5316 1.18576 .13341
Female 71 3.6197 1.04698 .12425
I place great value in making the right decision when it comes to fashion clothing
Male 79 3.6709 .91598 .10306
Female 71 3.5775 1.02347 .12146
Purchase decisions for fashion clothing are very important to me
Male 79 3.5696 .98298 .11059
Female 71 3.3944 1.11456 .13227
I like being involved in making purchases of fashion clothing
Male 79 3.6203 1.07779 .12126
Female 71 3.4225 1.05101 .12473
The purchase of fashion clothing is important to me
Male 79 3.4557 .95806 .10779
Female 71 3.3380 1.08158 .12836
The feeling of self-Male 79 3.4937 1.02374 .11518
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fulfillment I get from wearing fashion clothing is significant
Female 71 4.0845 4.90116 .58166
I feel a sense of personal satisfaction when I wear fashion clothing
Male 79 3.5570 .94390 .10620
Female 71 3.4930 1.05388 .12507
Wearing fashion clothing is one of the most satisfying and enjoyable things I do
Male 79 3.2658 1.08260 .12180
Female 71 3.3662 1.01755 .12076
I like to think about wearing fashion clothing
Male 79 3.3924 .96633 .10872
Female 71 3.3803 1.07393 .12745
I often become pre occupied with fashion clothing
Male 79 3.5316 4.72266 .53134
Female 71 3.0423 1.12677 .13372
Wearing fashion clothing is important to me
Male 79 3.3165 1.03210 .11612
Female 71 3.3521 1.12248 .13321
Ads about fashion clothing are no concern to me
Male 79 3.4430 1.03462 .11640
Female 71 3.3803 1.10021 .13057
Ads about fashion clothing are relevant to me
Male 79 3.4051 1.06842 .12021
Female 71 3.4225 1.02347 .12146
The 41-item scale was factor analyzed using the principle component method with Varimax rotation of factors. Initial extraction of components gave us seven components, and items with factor loading less than 0.5 were removed and the remaining items were again analyzed through the principle component method. We obtained a final component matrix comprising of 25 constructs segregated under two components. Seven constructs removed from the scale.
To understand the relationship between fashion clothing product involvement, purchase decision involvement and advertising involvement with consumption involvement correlation was computed. The consumption involvement attribute was kept as the dependent variable.
We intended to study the impact of consumers’ consumption involvement with fashion clothing
with respect to other three variables. These three were taken as motivational variables that affected the consumers’ decision and consumption involvement with fashion clothing. The results in Table 3 demonstrate the involvement relationships of Indian youth with fashion clothing consumption. Hypotheses 1a, 1b and 1c were accepted in the test.
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Table 3: Involvement relationships of Indian youth with fashion clothing consumption
Dependent Variable Product involvement
Purchase decision involvement
Advertising involvement
Consumption
ption involvement
Pearson Correlation
.710** .688** .378**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000
N 350 350 350
**Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
The correlation score of 0.378 with product involvement shows that Indian youth gives importance to fashion clothing brands. The high correlation further implies that western fashion brands connote an image of high quality and it holds a relevant place in their life. Our findings are on similar lines with earlier researches on consumer involvement in fashion clothing product category, which posit that consumers show a high involvement in fashion clothing.
The Pearson correlation of 0.688 between purchase decision involvement and consumption involvement shows that the consumption of fashion clothing has a positive relationship with purchase decision involvement. It may be viewed that Indian youth is engrossed and considers fashion clothing to be of significant importance. The findings suggest that if the product is important for the consumer, there will be greater purchase decision involvement experienced by the consumer for that product category.
The results of correlation also show a positive relationship of fashion clothing advertisement with consumption involvement. The results are significant at 0.01 levels. The consumers’ perception
about the relevance of fashion clothing may be based upon their evaluation of intrinsic motives and determining the role of fashion clothing in their lifestyle. The findings imply that advertising of fashion brands plays a significant role in determining the consumption involvement of the youth
The simultaneous multiple regressions were conducted to investigate the best predictors of fashion clothing consumption involvement (Table 4, 5 , 6). The test results of regression analysis demonstrate a high significance of product involvement, purchase decision involvement and advertising involvement of consumers towards consumption of fashion clothing. For product involvement and purchase involvement’s impact on consumption involvement, P < 0.001 and for advertising involvement P = 0.001, which is significant at 0.01 levels. Thus Hypothesis 2 is accepted. This supports our earlier findings that to increase consumers’ involvement with fashion
clothing, the advertising, product and purchase involvement must be looked into. The marketers may formulate strategies to design advertisements that help consumers to associate with the fashion clothing and consider them to be an intrinsic part of their lifestyle. This may help in generating greater degree of product, and purchase decision involvement. The consumers’ interest towards fashion clothing may be enhanced by positioning it as a product that enhances the self-image of the Indian youth and helps them to establish their membership with their counterparts in other
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developed countries. This would significantly increase their endorsement for it. This is supported by earlier research that suggests that Indians place greater value of global brands.
Table 4: Variables Entered
Model Variables Entered Method
1 AI, PDI, PIa Enter
a. All requested variables entered
b. Dependent variable: CI
Table 5:Model Summary
Model
R R Square
Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
Change Statistics
R Square Change
F Change df1 df2
Sig. F Change
1 .731a .535 .525 .80730 .535 55.910 3 146 .000
a. Predictors: (Constant), AI, PDI, PI
Table 6: ANOVAb
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 109.315 3 36.438 55.910 .000a
Residual 95.153 146 .652
Total 204.468 149
a. Predictors: (Constant), AI, PDI, PI
b. Dependent Variable: CI
Table 7: Coefficientsa
Model Unstandardized Coefficients
Standardized Coefficients
t Sig. B Std. Error Beta
1 (Constant) .102 .303 .335 .738
PI .657 .154 .459 4.265 .000
PDI .436 .141 .318 3.095 .002
AI .314 .081 .226 3.386 .001
a. Dependent Variable: CI
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Our findings support earlier research that consumers involvement with fashion clothing reflects their need to look good as it reflects their status among peer groups. To test whether there was any significant difference between the four variables and gender of the student, ANOVA was computed. The results mentioned in Table 8 show that between groups differences for advertising is significant (P < 0.05), whereas for those of purchase decision involvement, product involvement and consumption involvement is not significant. Hypothesis 3 gets partially accepted where gender affects advertising involvement of Indian youth. The males and females differ in their involvement levels. Our findings support the previous research that men and women differ in their perceptions towards clothing. 80,81 In India it appears, women are more influenced by advertising and this may be attributed to their interest to look at the latest fashion clothing worn by models in advertisements before purchasing it. This can be of immense importance for marketers in creating advertisements specifically targeted to women. The television advertisements of fashion clothing can use the celebrities to target the young women.
Table 8: Group differences for advertising involvement, purchase decision involvement,
product involvement and consumption involvement.
ANOVA
Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
PI Between Groups .021 1 .021 .031 .861
Within Groups 99.770 148 .674
Total 99.791 149
PDI Between Groups .206 1 .206 .281 .597
Within Groups 108.429 148 .733
Total 108.634 149
CI Between Groups .027 1 .027 .020 .889
Within Groups 204.441 148 1.381
Total 204.468 149
AI Between Groups .019 1 .019 .020 .887
Within Groups 140.854 148 .952
Total 140.873 149
5. Conclusions
Research findings suggest that fashion apparel sellers in India can work upon enhancing their brand awareness as the market for the fashion wears, accessories and other products is promising. There is a huge scope for Indian firms to foray into branded apparel category in India at a lower price range, as at present the market is dominated by international labels at higher price. The manufacturers of fashion wear may consider this as a major opportunity for their products in the country. Communication from the global fashion firms should focus more on enabling consumers to
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associate with the fashion brands as a part of their lifestyle. As fashion clothing has a prestige and status value attached to its use and adoption, Indian youth would be willing to wear it for improving their social position. Advertising efforts of the firms should also take into cognizance the ‘material
symbol’ communicated through these products and messages should be framed accordingly.
6. Limitations
The study was confined to AMU students. Future researchers can include data from other segments as well; this can make the findings more generalized. Although the number of respondents were significantly fine, yet some part of institution could not be covered owing to non -cooperation and time constraints. Though due care was taken in designing the questionnaire yet as it is based on a research instrument was quite lengthy which led to a decrease in involvement of the respondents.
References
Auty, S. and Elliot, R. (1998). Fashion involvement, self-monitoring and the Meaning of brands Journal of Product and Brand Management 7 (2). p. 109-123
Bloch, P. H. and Richins, M. L. (1983) A theoretical model for the study of product importance perceptions. Journal of Marketing. 47. p. 69 – 81
Goldsmith, R., Moore, M. and Beaudoin, P. (1999) Fashion innovativeness and self-concept: A replication. Journal of Product and Brand Management. 8 (1). p. 7-18.
Mittal , B . and Lee , M . (1989) A causal model of consumer involvement. Journal of Economic Psychology. 10. p. 363 – 389.
O ’ Cass , A . and Frost , H . (2002) Status brands: Examining the effects of non product-related brand associations on status and conspicuous consumption. The Journal of Product and Brand Management. 11 (2/3). p. 67 – 89.
O’ Cass, A. and Lim, K. (2001) The influence of brand associations on brand preference and purchase intention: An Asian perspective on brand associations. Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 14 (2/3). p. 41 – 70.
Rothschild, M. L. (1984) Perspective in involvement: Current problems and future directions. Advances in Consumer Research. 11. p. 216 – 217.
Tigert, D. J., Ring, L. J. and King, C. W. (1976) Fashion involvement and buying behavior: A methodological study. In: A review. Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising. 15 (1). p.21 – 57.
Zaichkowsky, Judith L. (1985) Measuring the Involvement Construct", Journal of Consumer Research, 12(4). p. 341-352.
Zaichkowsky, J. (1986) Conceptualizing involvement. Journal of Advertising. 15(2).p. 4-34
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