To read this content please select one of the options below:

Investigating the determinants of using clothing subscription rental services: a perspective from Chinese young consumers

Mon Thu Myin (Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies, Bryan School of Business and Economics, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA)
Jin Su (Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies, Bryan School of Business and Economics, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina, USA)
Huicheng (Jeff) Wu (Providence Management Consultancy LLC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates)
Haina Shen (Department of Fashion Design and Engineering, School of International Education, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, China)

Young Consumers

ISSN: 1747-3616

Article publication date: 24 October 2022

Issue publication date: 2 January 2023

1015

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of Chinese young consumers’ traits (fashion leadership, quality consciousness, price consciousness, environmental consciousness and social media usage) as the external factors on their behavioral intention toward using clothing subscription rental services.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative research was conducted, and empirical data were collected from 255 Chinese college students. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings

The study offered convincing evidence that fashion leadership, price consciousness and social media usage are the three main drivers of Chinese young consumers’ favorable attitudes toward clothing subscription rental services, which together with social norms further lead to their intention to use clothing subscription rental services. Contrary to expectations, the study showed that consumers’ quality consciousness and environmental consciousness have no significant impact on consumer attitudes toward clothing subscription rental services. Moreover, the findings of the study demonstrated the impact of attitude and subjective norms on Chinese young consumers’ intention to use clothing subscription rental services.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the literature by integrating additional factors (fashion leadership, quality consciousness, price consciousness, consumer environmental knowledge, social media usage) into the traditional theory of reasoned action model to investigate how Chinese young consumers’ characteristics impact their attitudes and how their attitudes and subjective norms impact their intention toward using clothing subscription rental services.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Citation

Myin, M.T., Su, J., Wu, H.(J). and Shen, H. (2023), "Investigating the determinants of using clothing subscription rental services: a perspective from Chinese young consumers", Young Consumers, Vol. 24 No. 1, pp. 95-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-06-2022-1547

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles