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The purpose of this research is to gain insight into collectivist consumers' perception of purchasing organic cotton apparel. An extended TRA model was employed to identify major factors that influence consumers' purchase decisions. Data were collected through a Web-based survey of 200 female South Korean residents older than 18 years of age. The results of SEM showed that perceived benefits, importance of individual expression through dressing well, performance risk, financial risk and subjective norm significantly influenced attitude toward purchasing organic cotton apparel products. In addition, financial risk, attitude, and subjective norm had significant effects on consumers' purchase intention. It was revealed that subjective norm played a critical role in the purchase process: subjective norm was one of the strongest antecedents of attitude among the six variables under examination and exerted a similar influence on purchase intention as attitude. Based on the findings, practical implications for organic cotton marketers and suggestions for future research are proposed.

A recent report from Textile Exchange (2017) has revealed a growth in the organic market as well as an increased consumer demand for organic products. In 2016, there was a 4% increase in U.S. production of organic cotton with a rising number of farmers growing this crop as many companies are showing commitments to organic cotton and supporting these farmers. Additionally, organic sales in the non-food category which includes apparel and textile products have increased by 8.8% from the previous year. Despite the growing demand in the market, consumers generally have poor understanding about environmental or social matters associated with apparel and textile products (Ha-Brookshire and Norum 2011a; Han and Han 2017). Ha-Brookshire and Norum 2011a had mentioned the lack of opportunities to learn about sustainability

Abstract:The purpose of this research was to examine consumers from distinct cultural groups and identify similarities and differences in their green purchase behaviors. The sample consisted of consumers from the U.S.A. and South Korea and the theory of planned behavior was used as a theoretical framework to test the influence of diverse constructs on consumers' purchase intentions toward organic cotton apparel. For both countries, perceived behavioral control (PBC) and descriptive norms were strong predictors of purchase intentions and injunctive norms strongly influenced attitude formation. However, the study also found different results between the two groups. For example, while attitude was the strongest predictor of purchase intentions in the U.S.A. group (strength of influence on intentions: attitude > descriptive norms > PBC > injunctive norms), it had an insignificant effect in the South Korea group. For the South Korea group descriptive norms and PBC had strongest effects on consumers purchase intentions (strength of influence on intentions: descriptive norms = PBC > injunctive norms > attitude). South Koreans were more affected by the social pressure: their purchase intentions were strongly influenced by both injunctive norms and descriptive norms in contrast to the findings from American consumers. Injunctive norms were an insignificant predictor of purchase intentions in the U.S.A. group. This result is consistent with previous research that suggest conformity is a crucial factor for people belonging to a collectivistic culture. Exposure of others' purchasing behavior is particularly important in motivating consumers' buying in collectivistic culture. Marketers of organic cotton apparel may consider using diverse formats of media to display consumers' ethical buying behaviors or creating product design or packaging that can directly reveal the ethical features of the product to display greater exposure in the market.