Sustainable apparel purchase intention: collectivist cultural orientation and price sensitivity in extended TPB model

Abstract

Increasing pollution, climate change and concern over the energy consumption in conventional apparel production methods has made the textile industry as a major pollution source. Empirical advancement in the field of sustainable apparel and customer behavioural intention are not sufficient enough to be presumed applicable in Indian market settings. This study intends to examine the application of the extended TPB model by additional constructs like collectivism cultural orientation, environmental concern and price sensitivity for anticipating green apparel purchase intension of educated millennial in India. Quantitative research followed with cross-sectional survey design was used to ascertain millennial behavioral intention towards eco-friendly apparels. Variance-based estimator, Partial Least Square (PLS) structural equation modelling was used to confirm the proposed structural relationship and Multi Group Analysis (MGA) was employed to test the moderating effect of price sensitivity. Study disseminates valuable insights to policymakers and marketers to formulate strategies and policies to attain sustainability in fashion. India being a collectivist nation the study suggests marketers to manage collectivistic national values in order to promote environment friendly apparel so as to educate customers about environmental issues and the benefit of using ecological friendly product.