Proactive versus reactive apparel brands in sustainability: Influences on brand loyalty

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Highlights

  • Consumers form brand loyalty toward sustainable versus fast fashion in a different manner.

  • A consumer's perceived value of sustainable fashion brands was more strongly associated with brand trust than with brand affect.

  • Consumers' knowledge of apparel sustainability strengthened the impact of perceived value of sustainable fashion brands on both brand trust and brand affect while it attenuated the same effect for fast fashion brands.

  • Consumers' fashion consciousness attenuated the impact of perceived value of sustainable fashion brands on brand affect, while it did not weaken the same effect on brand trust.

  • Consumers' fashion consciousness strengthened the impact of perceived value of fast fashion brands on brand trust, while the same moderating effect was not significant on the link between perceived value and brand affect.

Abstract

Building on the literature in brand loyalty and sustainable consumption of apparel, this study compares the loyalty formation mechanism between sustainable fashion and fast fashion brands. A series of hypotheses proposing the difference in the loyalty formation between the two types of apparel brands were developed. A structural equation modeling tested the research model with a sample of 556 U.S. respondents. Although somewhat inconsistent, the results suggest that consumers form brand loyalty toward sustainable versus fast fashion in a different manner. Implications for marketers as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Introduction

Sustainability has become an integral component of successful business in recent decades. In response to the social and environmental problems created by businesses, many companies have implemented a variety of sustainability initiatives, ranging from green marketing to a corporate social responsibility (CSR) program. While these initiatives have increased options for more sustainable choices in the market, consumers have been confused by the complexity of sustainability claims and mixed messages about the impact of these initiatives on society and the environment (Fulton and Lee, 2013, Parker and Dickson, 2009). Specifically, while some brands make a proactive approach to sustainability by actively seeking opportunities to invest in sustainability and embed it in their business practices, others are more reactive in their sustainability initiatives, adopting some sustainable business operations mainly in response to consumer demand and focusing on marketing and advertising their limited versions of ethical offerings and sustainability efforts. Given this difference in firms' sustainability efforts, this study distinguishes the firms' modes of approaches to sustainability into proactive and reactive approach, and examines their influences on brand loyalty.

This study particularly focuses on the case of apparel brands in examining brand loyalty with the different approaches to sustainability. The apparel industry has long been notorious for its detrimental impacts on the ecological environment and society (Kozlowski et al., 2012). Indeed, few industries are more challenged by the sustainability concerns than the apparel industry (Caniato et al., 2012). With regards to the modes of approaches to sustainability, there also exists a clear difference in apparel firms' approach to sustainability between proactive and reactive brands. For example, many fast fashion companies, who are known for providing trendy fashion at low prices, have recently adopted environmentally-friendly business strategies by offering clothes made of organic cotton and engaging in a variety of CSR programs. However, concerns arise that merely offering a limited number of ethical versions of products (e.g., organic cotton collections) or dealing with one single point of lifecycle (e.g., offering a donation program for unwanted clothes) is a fundamentally different approach from that taken by sustainable fashion companies that consider social and environmental performances as equally important as financial performance (Caniato et al., 2012, Cline, 2012).

Despite the difference between the two approaches to sustainability, little research has delineated these two different approaches to sustainability and consumer reactions to each mode of sustainability efforts. Therefore, this study proposes a research model demonstrating the different mechanism of brand loyalty between the apparel brands that are proactive and those that are reactive to sustainability. The research model was tested by examining (a) different strengths of the association between brand value and brand loyalty mediators (i.e., brand trust/affect) and (b) differential roles of two moderating variables (i.e., sustainability knowledge, fashion consciousness) in the relationship between perceived value and brand trust/affect. More details will be discussed in the literature review and hypotheses development section. Given that many of current apparel brands increasingly use sustainability claims (e.g., “ethical fashion brands,” “sustainably-designed clothes”) as their central marketing tool, the results of this study will provide marketers practical suggestions with regard to how they can communicate those claims with their customers. Theoretical suggestions will also be made as to how firms' different types of sustainability efforts influence consumers' brand evaluation and whether brand evaluations vary by consumer group.

Section snippets

Literature review and research hypotheses

The research model (Fig. 1) builds on two research streams: brand loyalty and sustainable consumption of apparel. First, the core brand loyalty model posits that perceived value of a brand influences loyalty indirectly through brand trust and brand affect. Second, within the core model, two variables (i.e., sustainability knowledge, fashion consciousness) are introduced to examine whether they moderate the relationships between brand value and brand trust/affect.

Measures

The measurement scales were adapted from previous studies. All items used in the current study are listed in Table 2. Items were measured using a 5-point Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree). Finally, demographic information was solicited for age, gender, education, ethnicity, and income.

Brand selection

As discussed, sustainable fashion brands and fast fashion brands are proactive and reactive to sustainability, respectively. To select these two groups of brands (sustainable fashion and fast

Assessment of measurement model

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted for the measurement model with all six constructs using AMOS 20.0. One item of brand loyalty that had high standardized residual covariance with ten other items was eliminated because it indicated a considerable prediction error (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1988). The construct validity of latent constructs was evaluated by both convergent and discriminant validity. Convergent validity was confirmed by (a) high composite reliabilities of all six

Discussion and implications

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the loyalty formation mechanism for two types of apparel brands: those brands that are proactive and reactive to sustainability. The mechanism of brand loyalty formation for each apparel brand type was examined by: (a) testing the different strength of association between brand value and brand trust/affect and (b) evaluating the differential roles of two moderating variables (i.e., sustainability knowledge, fashion consciousness) in the relationship

Limitations and future research

Although asking questions based on a specific brand can elicit a concrete, detailed (versus vague, abstract) opinion about brand-related topics, only particular brands are represented in the sample, which may provide limited generalization of the study result. For instance, consumers' brand perceptions may differ depending upon the brand's product category (e.g., sportswear that is less influenced by fashion trends versus fashion-forward women's wear). Thus, future research can examine whether

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