Can a connection with the indigenous cultural values encourage sustainable apparel consumption?

Abstract

PurposeThe authors investigated the role of cultural (i.e. traditional and religious) values in predicting the relationships between the attitudes toward the environment and slow fashion and the purchase intention for sustainable apparel.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey was conducted in Amazon Mechanical Turk with the millennials of the US (n = 317). The data were analyzed through structural equation modeling (SEM).FindingsThe connection with indigenous cultural values in terms of the (1) traditional values positively influenced attitudes toward the environment and slow fashion; (2) religious values positively influenced attitude toward slow fashion but did not influence attitude toward the environment. (3) Both attitudes towards environment and slow fashion positively influenced purchase intention for sustainable apparel. (4) The connection with cultural values did not influence purchase intention toward sustainable apparel directly; however, (5) attitude toward slow fashion mediated the relationship between connection with cultural values and purchase intention for sustainable apparel both in terms of traditional and religious values, and (6) attitude toward the environment mediated the relationship between connection with traditional values and purchase intention for sustainable apparel.Practical implicationsInstead of focusing only on pro-environmental messages, marketers should use culture-specific cues to evoke favorable attitudinal and behavioral responses toward sustainable apparel.Social implicationsAdvertisement cues of sustainable apparel imbuing the target market's cultural values could help in protecting culturally significant elements of nature in the long-term by evoking positive attitudes toward the environment and slow fashion and encouraging purchase intention for sustainable apparel in the short-term.Originality/valueThe authors indicated the importance of indigenous cultural values in shaping favorable attitudes toward the environment and slow fashion and purchase intention for sustainable apparel.

Influencing millennials to embrace sustainable fashion in an emerging market: a modified brand avoidance model perspective

“…Marketers of sustainable fashion in South Africa may enhance symbolic congruence by incorporating brand personality facets valued by millennial consumers, such as novelty, trendiness and self-expressiveness (Park and Lin, 2018;Jung et al, 2016). According to Chakraborty and Sadachar (2022), this can be achieved by developing marketing messages that incorporate cultural cues that evoke favourable attitudes towards sustainable fashion.…”

“…Sustainable fashion is also criticized for attempting to standardize fashion by neglecting the notion of trendiness which is regarded as a central feature of fashion (Wang et al, 2019). The sustainable fashion movement has also been criticized for failing to consider the heterogeneity of consumer culture during the eco-design process (Brandao and Costa, 2021;Chakraborty and Sadachar, 2022). In practice, Caniato et al (2012) also note the challenge confronted by fashion designers as some major suppliers of sustainable raw materials may not be willing to disclose critical sustainability-related data.…”

Did Anything Good Come Out of the Pandemic? COVID-19-Stress Induced Self-Regulatory Sustainable Apparel Consumption among the Millennials in the U.S.

“…We used purposeful sampling to collect our data from the national population of millennials in the U.S. (born between 1981 and 1996). Researchers have employed purposeful sampling of millennials in studies related to sustainability and sustainable consumption in the U.S. [6][7][8][10][11][12][13]78,80]. Since our study addressed questions related to sustainable consumption in the U.S. as well, millennials were considered to be an appropriate sample.…”

“…Researchers have shown that a higher concern or commitment to the environment encourages sustainable consumption, including higher intentions for purchasing sustainable apparel [62,73,74] and divesting apparel [75][76][77]. A pro-environmental attitude and environmental concern increases intentions for slowing down the pace of consumption [78]. As such, people often hand down or donate apparel and/or engage in renting apparel to minimize the dependance on virgin natural resources to make new clothing items [79].…”

The role of values in enhancing longevity among indigenous black South African family businesses

“…This notion is supported by Ebniya (2020), who asserts that there is a strong connection between religion and values, because religion is seen as a source of values that significantly influence the behaviours of individuals, communities and nations. In their study, Chakraborty and Sadachar (2022) evaluate the connection between indigenous cultural values and sustainable apparel consumption by assessing values as a single-dimensional concept, being of both a traditional and religious nature. They further demonstrate the fluid nature of values, as the characteristics and descriptions they use tend to apply to all types of values, making it difficult to distinguish one value from another (Schwartz 2016).…”