Shopping without the fuss: the effect of curation type in clothing subscription adoption on cognitive dissonance and consumer responses

Abstract

PurposeTo address the volatile nature of the retail industry, retailers have adopted clothing subscription services (CSS) to meet the demanding needs of consumers. This study provides insight into different types of CSS, as well as a process by which behavioural intentions are influenced by CSS type through cognitive dissonance (wisdom of purchase and emotional dissonance) and attitude towards the CSS.Design/methodology/approachAn experimental design manipulating the CSS type (full/partial/none) was conducted among 358 US consumers to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsHayes PROCESS macro model results demonstrated that consumers did not experience more cognitive dissonance towards a partially, fully curated or non-curated CSS. However, a significant interaction effect further uncovered that consumers with high aesthetic perception experience more negative wisdom of purchase towards a fully compared to a partially curated CSS, thereby impacting attitude and behavioural intention towards CSS.Practical implicationsDue to today's rapidly evolving retail industry, retailers endeavouring to engage in this business model should come up with strategies to turn a visitor into a subscriber and decrease hesitation in novice consumers. Moreover, retailers should ascertain consumers’ level of aesthetic perception as it plays an important role in CSS adoption.Originality/valueWe introduced a unique operationalization of CSS types by differentiating between fully, partially and non-curated subscriptions, which are commonly employed in the subscription-box marketplace. The previous literature rarely makes distinctions between these types, although our findings show that consumers perceive them differently.

Do consumers always believe humans create better boxes than AI? The context-dependent role of recommender creativity

“…The users of fashion and meal subscription services seek creativity from subscription services. Consumers who perceive themselves as less creative in styling or creating recipes use curation subscription services to receive inspiration from recommendations (Bischof et al, 2020;Johnson et al, 2021). Furthermore, fashion and meal subscriptions, unlike other subscriptions that often provide convenient replenishment or cost-saving as the main benefits, provide both hedonic and utilitarian benefits and an element of surprise (Andonova et al, 2021).…”

“…The ability to predict consumer's needs and wants inspired a new innovative retail business model, curation subscription service. Curation subscription services offer products to fit a customer's needs and preferences through curated boxes at a set interval (Johnson et al, 2021) and is a prime example of how AI prediction can be used (Davenport et al, 2020). While subscription-based retail is not a new idea (e.g.…”

“…While these studies provide an initial understanding of how consumers perceive curation subscription services, the findings remain relatively descriptive. An exception is the study of Johnson et al (2021) who examined a cognitive process of consumer evaluation. The authors illustrated consumers' cognitive responses to curation subscription services are not as simple as positive beliefs lead to positive outcomes.…”

How does involvement build loyalty towards music-streaming platforms? A multi-analytical SEM-ANN technique

“…Festinger's (1957Festinger's ( , 1962 cognitive dissonance theory serves as the underpinning theory for this study. The effects of the cognitive dissonance on consumer behaviour have been extensively studied for decades with substantial theoretical evidence indicating that cognitive dissonance theory acts as an effective theoretical lens to elucidate customers' attitudinal and behavioural changes, particularly at the post-purchase stage (Johnson et al, 2021;Jeong et al, 2019). According to the cognitive dissonance theory, people have an innate tendency, known as cognitive consistency, to maintain harmony among their attitudes and behaviours, and avoid cognitive dissonance, which describes a state of mental discomfort and psychological stress caused by having opposing attitudes, beliefs, or values simultaneously (Festinger, 1957).…”

How are e-retailer brands related to the manufacturer brands they offer?

“…Socio-demographics (age and gender) or psychological variables (openness to change) can also shape the intention to adopt these subscription services (Sivathanu, 2018; Woo & Ramkumar, 2018). Consumers can also be attracted by the uniqueness, the aesthetic and the surprise effect through the beauty or food products curated by the e-retailer brand (Bischof, Boettger, & Rudolph, 2020; Johnson, Seifert, & Lee, 2021; Lee, Sadachar, & Manchiraju, 2019). From a transactional approach, the subscription time and frequency are also influential in positive evaluations of the e-retailer brand (Xu, 2020).…”