The role of personal values on the relationship between attitudes and consumption behavior towards sustainable fashion brands: An exploratory study of millennial consumers.

Abstract

As environmental threats and social inequalities continue to plague global societies, sustainable brands have a powerful influence to activate change across society through developing strategies that will influence consumers towards more sustainable consumption behavior (Balazs et al., 2018). The development of a sustainable fashion system is complex, making it a process as well as a product, of which consumers’ conscious consumption choices form a part of (Alevizou, Henninger and Oates, 2016). However, consumer awareness of the need and benefit of shifting their consumption patterns towards sustainability remains low (Davies et al., 2019), hence the continued exploration of factors influencing the attitude-behavioral gap identified in previous studies (Bai, Ma and Wang, 2019). Davies et al. (2019) and Choi et al. (2020) argue that specific focus needs to be given to the factors influencing sustainable fashion consumption due to the complex role clothing plays in our lives, placing it in a unique context separate from other green product categories. Jha and Sharma (2017) and Alevizou et al. (2016) state that consumption choices and clothing specifically express a part of one’s identity and are likely influenced by certain values and beliefs of the individual. Furthermore, the interpretation of sustainable fashion differs across cultures and resultingly, the unique values and beliefs within these cultures may have an important impact on individual’s 7 sustainable consumption behavior (Gil, Su, Watchravesringkon and Zhou, 2019). Alevizou et al. (2016) states that the philosophical notion which underpins the sustainable fashion movement, centers on sustainability values. As such, it will be beneficial for sustainable fashion brands to gain a deeper understanding of the role that consumers personal values can have on the relationship between their attitudes and consumption behavior towards sustainable fashion brands.