An expansion of the brand and message framing effects on smart health-care clothing
Journal of Product & Brand Management
ISSN: 1061-0421
Article publication date: 17 August 2021
Issue publication date: 4 April 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of brand and message framing on consumers’ evaluations and purchase intentions of smart health-care clothing. The study also examines the mediating effect of consumers’ evaluations on the effects of the brand and message framing on purchase intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
Through an experimental approach, a total of 240 US consumers’ evaluation of smart health-care clothing is compared according to the existence of a well-known brand (vs. none) and message framing (technology-focused vs. fashion-focused).
Findings
The results show that consumer evaluation of smart health-care clothing is higher when the product is from a well-known brand, where consumers’ fashion consciousness and health consciousness positively influence such an evaluation as covariates. Message framing, however, did not have an influence that revealed any significant difference between technology-focused and fashion-focused messages. The consumer’s evaluation of smart health-care clothing eventually increased their purchase intentions and mediated the effects of brand on purchase intentions.
Originality/value
Smart health-care clothing refers to clothing that measures, records and manages the user’s activity and health status through conductive fibers or sensors that are woven in the clothes. Despite its benefits, smart health-care clothing is still not widely adopted among consumers, except for a few successful examples. Closing this gap, the results of this study provide implications regarding whether and how brand and message framing maximize consumers’ evaluations toward smart health-care clothing, which the developers and marketers of such products can use to increase the product’s market penetration.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Declaration of Interest: None.
This work was supported by the Brain Korea 21 Plus Project of Dept. of Clothing and Textiles, Yonsei University in 2020 (2020–11-0025), and the Yonsei University Research Grant of 2020 (2020–22-0291).
Citation
Woo, H. and Kim, S. (2022), "An expansion of the brand and message framing effects on smart health-care clothing", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 622-636. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPBM-11-2020-3199
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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