University of Twente Student Theses
SUSTAIN your ABILITY in consuming green! : A Mixed Method Study on how Influencers’ Characteristics relate to Young Adults’ Sustainable Fashion Consumption Behaviour.
Wojtun, M.N. (2022) SUSTAIN your ABILITY in consuming green! : A Mixed Method Study on how Influencers’ Characteristics relate to Young Adults’ Sustainable Fashion Consumption Behaviour.
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| Abstract: | Introduction: The growth of sustainability awareness more and more shapes the consumption patterns of today's society. Even though the fashion industry is still facing environmental and societal challenges, an increase in consumers' demand for green fashion products is recognizable. The power of influencers can be considered as one of the key factors leading to this behaviour. Nowadays, brands and marketers integrate influencer marketing to shape consumers' buying behaviour. Different characteristics of influencers, such as perceived trustworthiness, credibility, or the number of followers, are seen as essential drivers shaping individuals' intentions towards consuming sustainable fashion. Objective: The main objective of this research was to investigate influencer characteristics’ relation to young adults’ intentions toward their sustainable fashion consumption behavior. Method: To fully explore the concepts of this study, a mixed-method design was applied. This was done to use the strengths of both methodologies which provided a broad-ranging angle of the concepts from a consumer perspective. First, a small-scale survey was conducted in which 96 participants took part (Mage = 21.5; 58.6% female). After that, semi-structured interviews were conducted with in total nine participants to gain more extensive insights in individuals' perceptions and opinions. Findings: This research showed a relationship between intentions and young adults' sustainable fashion consumption behaviour. However, the moderating effect of influencers yielded a non-significant prediction in the quantitative analysis. Nonetheless, influencers could be seen as compelling actors who can impact young adults' sustainable fashion consumption behaviour, which was found out during the interviews. In this context, subjective (e.g., trust and credibility) characteristics seem to be a relevant driver that could impact consumer's perceptions. Moreover, this study found that influencers with a smaller number of followers (e.g., nano, micro) can be perceived as more credible and trustworthy than influencers with bigger network size (e.g., macro). Implications: These findings can be applied to help brands and marketers understand how influencer marketing strengthens consumer's intentions toward consuming sustainable fashion products. It also allows influencers to get in-depth insights in consumer's attitudes and opinions regarding influencers which helps to maintain their influencing capability. Keywords: Sustainable Fashion Consumption, Intentions, Influencer Characteristics, Young Adults |
| Item Type: | Essay (Bachelor) |
| Faculty: | BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences |
| Subject: | 05 communication studies |
| Programme: | Communication Studies BSc (56615) |
| Link to this item: | https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/91288 |
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