Social and environmental concerns within ethical fashion: general consumer cognitions, attitudes and behaviours
Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management
ISSN: 1361-2026
Article publication date: 17 December 2021
Issue publication date: 9 December 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Although interest in sustainability within the fashion apparel industry has increased over the last decade, ethical fashion remains a minority trend due to low consumer awareness and consumption behaviour. The aim of the paper is to explore empirically the relationships between general consumer support for ethical fashion, buying intention and willingness to pay, focussing on the effect that consumer concern and knowledge and beliefs have on these variables.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 450 general consumers in Spain, who are not specifically dedicated buyers of fashion apparel goods. Responses were collected with a structured questionnaire that included multi-item scales to measure all the variables of the causal model. After corroborating the reliability and validity of the measurement scales with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), 11 research hypotheses were explored using a structural equation modelling (SEM) approach.
Findings
The findings demonstrate that whilst beliefs are not predictors of consumer support for either social or environmental issues, concern and knowledge are antecedents of consumer social and environmental support, which determine general support for ethical fashion, intention to buy and willingness to pay. Consumer social support has a slightly higher impact on consumer support for ethical fashion, intention to buy and willingness to pay than environmental support.
Originality/value
The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the literature by empirically comparing general consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards the social and environmental dimensions of ethical fashion. In doing so, the authors aim at shedding light on the complex concept of ethical fashion and how general consumers understand it. The findings suggest that promoting educational marketing especially focussed on environmental issues is necessary to raise consumer awareness, knowledge and ethical consumption.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Compliance with ethical standards: Author A declares that she has no conflict of interest (either financial, commercial or any other relationship of a declarable nature relevant to the manuscript being submitted). Author B declares that he has no conflict of interest (either financial, commercial or any other relationship of a declarable nature relevant to the manuscript being submitted). Author C declares that he has no conflict of interest (either financial, commercial or any other relationship of a declarable nature relevant to the manuscript being submitted). All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Citation
Pérez, A., Collado, J. and Liu, M.T. (2022), "Social and environmental concerns within ethical fashion: general consumer cognitions, attitudes and behaviours", Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, Vol. 26 No. 5, pp. 792-812. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFMM-04-2021-0088
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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