Effects of online customer reviews on sustainable clothing purchase intentions: The mediating role of perceived diagnosticity

Abstract

Online customer reviews play a vital role in evaluating product or service performance and serve as an important reference for other customers' purchase decisions. This study explores the influence of online customer reviews on sustainable clothing purchase intention through text mining and survey‐based methodologies. The results showed that online customer reviews focused on four dimensions: material ecology, clothing fashion, clothing functionality, and price reasonableness. Online customer reviews have a positive impact on consumers' sustainable purchase intentions, and perceived diagnosticity mediates the relationship between online customer reviews and purchase intentions. In addition, customers' prior sustainability knowledge moderates the relationship between material ecology, price reasonableness, and perceived diagnosticity. This study further enriches theoretical research on sustainable consumption within the context of online apparel retailing and helps sustainable apparel brands more accurately grasp the influencing variables of customers' sustainable consumption behaviours and formulate precise electronic word‐of‐mouth marketing strategies.