The e-commerce fast fashion industry, encouraging over consumption of ever-changing cheap fashion items is one of the most growing e-commerce sectors in the world. Alongside the growth of the fashion industry, a major critical debate regarding its societal and environmental damages is affecting the industry.
The starting point of the current study is that pro-environmental behavior may be manifested not only by enhancing purchase intention of sustainable fashion brands, but also by reducing purchase intention of unsustainable fast fashion brands such as SHEIN. The current research focuses on generation Z consumers, who were born between 1995 and 2010 and have grown up amid climate change concerns, are considered to be the most environmentally conscious generation from one side and one of the main target audiences of SHEIN from the other side. As the knowledge of consumers plays a direct role in their attitudes as well as behavior intentions, the study’s purpose is to understand whether providing SHEIN’s consumers with negative information about the social and environmental impact of the brand affects their purchase intention and which consumers’ values are related to the decrease in it.
The results of the online survey among 607 Gen Z SHEIN consumers indicate that negative environmental information reduces purchase intention and brand attitudes significantly. Multivariate analysis indicates that the gap in purchase intention before and after providing negative environmental information is only explained by a decrease in positive attitudes toward SHEIN and by feelings of deception after exposure to negative information. The association between other independent variables derived from the generational identity of Generation Z: objective knowledge of online fashion, ascription of responsibility, materialistic motivations and the gap in purchase intention were insignificant. Thus, promoting sustainable behaviors is possible by providing environmental information which changes attitudes that reduce the purchase of unsustainable brands.
The e-commerce fast fashion industry, encouraging over consumption of ever-changing cheap fashion items is one of the most growing e-commerce sectors in the world. Alongside the growth of the fashion industry, a major critical debate regarding its societal and environmental damages is affecting the industry.
The starting point of the current study is that pro-environmental behavior may be manifested not only by enhancing purchase intention of sustainable fashion brands, but also by reducing purchase intention of unsustainable fast fashion brands such as SHEIN. The current research focuses on generation Z consumers, who were born between 1995 and 2010 and have grown up amid climate change concerns, are considered to be the most environmentally conscious generation from one side and one of the main target audiences of SHEIN from the other side. As the knowledge of consumers plays a direct role in their attitudes as well as behavior intentions, the study’s purpose is to understand whether providing SHEIN’s consumers with negative information about the social and environmental impact of the brand affects their purchase intention and which consumers’ values are related to the decrease in it.
The results of the online survey among 607 Gen Z SHEIN consumers indicate that negative environmental information reduces purchase intention and brand attitudes significantly. Multivariate analysis indicates that the gap in purchase intention before and after providing negative environmental information is only explained by a decrease in positive attitudes toward SHEIN and by feelings of deception after exposure to negative information. The association between other independent variables derived from the generational identity of Generation Z: objective knowledge of online fashion, ascription of responsibility, materialistic motivations and the gap in purchase intention were insignificant. Thus, promoting sustainable behaviors is possible by providing environmental information which changes attitudes that reduce the purchase of unsustainable brands.
The e-commerce fast fashion industry, encouraging over consumption of ever-changing cheap fashion items is one of the most growing e-commerce sectors in the world. Alongside the growth of the fashion industry, a major critical debate regarding its societal and environmental damages is affecting the industry.
The starting point of the current study is that pro-environmental behavior may be manifested not only by enhancing purchase intention of sustainable fashion brands, but also by reducing purchase intention of unsustainable fast fashion brands such as SHEIN. The current research focuses on generation Z consumers, who were born between 1995 and 2010 and have grown up amid climate change concerns, are considered to be the most environmentally conscious generation from one side and one of the main target audiences of SHEIN from the other side. As the knowledge of consumers plays a direct role in their attitudes as well as behavior intentions, the study’s purpose is to understand whether providing SHEIN’s consumers with negative information about the social and environmental impact of the brand affects their purchase intention and which consumers’ values are related to the decrease in it.
The results of the online survey among 607 Gen Z SHEIN consumers indicate that negative environmental information reduces purchase intention and brand attitudes significantly. Multivariate analysis indicates that the gap in purchase intention before and after providing negative environmental information is only explained by a decrease in positive attitudes toward SHEIN and by feelings of deception after exposure to negative information. The association between other independent variables derived from the generational identity of Generation Z: objective knowledge of online fashion, ascription of responsibility, materialistic motivations and the gap in purchase intention were insignificant. Thus, promoting sustainable behaviors is possible by providing environmental information which changes attitudes that reduce the purchase of unsustainable brands.
Keywords
Environmental Information
Fast fashion
Generation Z
Sustainability
