The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between need for variety and four consumer groups: fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, innovative communicators, and fashion followers. We predicted that fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, and innovative communicators would have a greater need for variety than would fashion followers. Subjects were 425 undergraduate students. Hirschman and Adcock's Measurement of Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership was used to identify the four consumer groups. Need for variety was measured by the Sensation Seeking Scale. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance and the Student-Newman-Keuls test. Results indicated that there was a significant difference between fashion innovators and fashion followers on need for variety as measured by the experience seeking component of the Sensation Seeking Scale. There were no significant differences between fashion opinion leaders or innovative communicators and fashion followers on the Sensation Seeking Scale. Results suggest that part of the psychological makeup of fashion innovators is a greater need for variety in the form of mental stimulation than fashion followers possess.

The purpose of this study was to identify differences between fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, innovative communicators, and fashion followers in their need for uniqueness. It was predicted that fashion change agents (i.e., fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, and innovative communicators) would have a greater need for uniqueness than fashion followers. Participants in this study were 264 students enrolled in a U.S. university located in the Midwest (males = 110, females =154) who represented a variety of majors. Hirschman and Adcock's (1978) Measure of Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership was used to identify the four fashion consumer groups. Need for uniqueness was measured by Fromkin and Lipshitz's (1976) Need for Uniqueness Scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance. There was a significant difference in scores on the Need for Uniqueness Scale between fashion followers and fashion change agents (fashion opinion leaders, fashion innovators, innovative communicators, who did not differfrom one another). Results suggest that fashion change agents have a greater need for uniqueness than fashion followers. Implications for uniqueness theory and consumer behavior relative to fashion are included.

KeywordsFashion consumers, centrality of visual product aesthetics, need for touch, need for uniqueness. CorrespondenceJane E. Workman, School of Architecture, Fashion Design and Merchandising Program, AbstractThe purposes of this study were to determine whether fashion consumer groups (fashion followers, fashion innovators, fashion opinion leaders and innovative communicators)

Within the context of consumer motivation theory, the purpose of this research was to investigate how fashion consumer groups and gender are related to need for touch. Differences between individuals high and low in need for touch are consistent with differences between fashion change agents and fashion followers. Participants (101 females; 70 males) from 54 different majors completed demographic information, the Need For Touch (NFT) scale, and the Measure of Fashion Innovativeness and Opinion Leadership. Fashion change agents and females had a greater NFT-total, autotelic and instrumental-than fashion followers and males. Fashion change agents and females scored equally high on autotelic and instrumental dimensions of NFT but fashion followers and males scored higher on the instrumental than the autotelic dimension. Using a diverse sample that included male and female college students from a variety of majors countered limitations of earlier research and provided new insights into the role of need for touch in consumer behavior.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships among materialism, gender and fashion consumer groups from two countries -one representative of an individualistic culture (US) and one representative of a collectivistic culture (Korea). Participants were 397 students from a university in Korea (n = 221) and a university in the US (n = 176) who completed the questionnaire. The materialism construct showed adequate reliability for participants in both cultures. Fashion change agents scored higher on materialism (centrality and success) than fashion followers. Females scored higher on materialism than males which seemed to be based on higher scores on the centrality subscale. Participants from the US and Korea differed on all three subscales of materialism with US participants scoring higher on centrality but lower on success and happiness than Korean participants. The findings of this study provide valuable implications for fashion marketers and retailers in Korea and US. The findings are limited to Korean and US consumers and cannot be generalized to other cultures. This paper fills a gap in the literature by comparing materialistic values between genders and fashion consumer groups in an individualistic culture (US) and a collectivistic culture (Korea).