Typology of Korean Eco-sumers: Based on Clothing Disposal Behaviors

Abstract

Green or an εnvironmental consciousnεss has been a major issue for businesses and government offices, as well as consumers, worldwide. In response to this movement, the Korean government announced, in the early 2000s, the era of "Greεn Growth" as a way to encourage green-related business activities. The Korean fashion industry, in various levels of involvement, presents diverse eco-friendly products as a part of the green movement. These apparel products include organic products and recycled clothing. For these companies to be successful, they need information about who are the consumers who consider green issues (e.g., environmental sustainability) as P따t of their personal values when making a decision for product purchase, use, and disposal. These consumers can be considεred as eco-sumers. Previous studies have examined consumers' purchase intεntion for or with eco-friendly products. In addition, studies have examined influential factors usεd to identify thε eco-sumers or green consumers. Howεver， limitεd attention was paid to eco-sumers' disposal or recycling behavior of clothes in comparison with thζir green product purchases. Clothing disposal behaviors are ways that consumer can gεt rid of unused clothing and in clue tεmporarily lending the item or pεrmanently eliminating thε item by " handing down" (e.g., giving it to a younger sibling), donating, εxchanging， selling, or simply throwing it away. Accordingly, examining purchasing behaviors of εco-friendly fashion iterns in conjunction with clothing disposal behaviors should improve understanding of a consumer's clothing consumption behavior from the environmental perspective.The p따pose of this exploratory study is to provide descriptive information about Korean εco-sumers who have ecologically-favorable lifestyles and behaviors when buying and disposing of clothes. The objectives of this study are to (a) categoηze Koreans on the basis of clothing disposal behaviors; (b) invεstigate the differences in dεmographics ， lifestyles, and clothing consumption values among segments; and (c) compare the purchase intention of eco-friendly fashion items and influential factors among segments.A sεlf-administered questionnaire was developed based on 1) * @ 2010 KAMS. AII rights reserved previous studies. The questionnairε included 10 items of clothing disposal behavior, 22 items of LOHAS (Lifìεstyles of Health and Sustainability) characteristics, and 19 items of consumption values, measured by five-point Likert-ηpe scales.In addition, the purchase intention of two eco-friendly fashion items and 11 attributes of each item were mεasured by seven-point Likert ηpe scalεs. Two polyεster fleece pullovers, made from fabric created from recyc1ed bottles with the PET identification code, were sεlected from one Korean brand and one US imported brand among outdoor sportswear brands. A brief description of εach product with a color picturε was provided in the survey. Demographic variables (i.e., gender, age, marital status, education level, incomε， occupation) wζrε also included. Th...

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