Consumers’ Value, Environmental Consciousness, and Willingness to Pay more toward Green-Apparel Products

Consumer awareness of and concerns for the environment have increased significantly and environmental concerns now represent one of the major factors in consumer decision making. While there have been many studies regarding green marketing, limited research has been conducted concerning the consumers’ view on ethical issues in the fashion industry and its influence on their purchase behavior (Laroche, et al., 2001; Dickson, 2000; Butler & Francis, 1997). This study looks at the relationships among environmental consciousness, willingness to pay more toward environmentally friendly apparel products and buying behavior among college students. It also examines the effects of fashion involvement, which is considered one of the important values in apparel purchasing behavior. Laroch, et al.’s (2001) conceptual framework serves as a basis for the present research. In this framework, they consider factors that may influence consumers’ willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly products using five categories: demographics, knowledge, values, attitudes and behavior. Among these five categories, four of them (knowledge, values, attitudes and behavior) were adopted and knowledge, attitudes and behavior were considered as an environmental consciousness and those were included as predictors of willingness to pay more for green apparel in this research. In addition, since many studies examined the hierarchical relationship between values, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, it was hypothesized that value (fashion involvement) will influence environmental consciousness (knowledge, attitudes, and behavior) and environmental consciousness will have direct effect on willingness to pay more for eco-friendly apparel products following reviews of literature. Based on the previous discussion, six hypotheses were developed: H1. Consumers who have higher fashion involvement value will have less environmental knowledge than those who have lower fashion involvement value. H2. Consumers who have higher fashion involvement value will have lower environmental concern than those who have lower fashion involvement value. H3. Consumers who have higher fashion involvement value will demonstrate fewer environmentally sensitive behaviors than consumers who have lower fashion involvement value. H4. Consumers who have more environmental knowledge will demonstrate a greater willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly apparel products than consumers who have less environmental knowledge. H5. Consumers who have higher environmental concerns will show higher willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly apparel products than consumers who have lower environmental concerns. H6. Consumers who are more involved in environmentally sensitive behaviors will have higher willingness to pay more for environmentally friendly apparel products than consumers who are less engaged in general environmental behaviors. The questionnaire was developed from existing measures of the variables and from the author. The participants were 150 undergraduate students attending a Midwestern university. To test the hypothesized model, linear structural equation modeling (LISREL 8) was performed. The findings of this study provide that university students who had more interest in fashion tended to know less about environmental issues, to show less concern about the environment, and to be involved less in the environmentally sensitive behaviors. According to the results, there was no relationship between environmental knowledge and willingness to pay more for eco-friendly apparel. This indicates that people who have more knowledge about the environment are not necessarily the consumers of eco-friendly apparel. The findings also show that college students who were more concerned about the environment tended to be willing to pay more for green apparel. College students who made more effort to conserve energy and natural resources also tended to be willing to spend more for green apparel. This research provides valuable insights for eco-friendly apparel product retailers and manufacturers by indicating that two dimensions of environmental consciousness (attitude and behavior) were good predictors of college students’ willingness to spend more for green apparel. Environmentally sensitive behavior like conserving natural resources is a good indicator to intention to purchase environmentally friendly apparel products. Retailers and marketers might need to encourage students to be aware the importance of environmentally sensitive behaviors and to involve in those behaviors. Marketers in the fashion industry need to consider college students’ environmental concerns and conserving natural resources behaviors when they make marketing decisions for environmentally-friendly apparel products. The apparel marketers also need to develop creative marketing strategies for the eco-friendly apparel products to persuade the fashion-conscious consumers. Although environmental knowledge was not related to intention to pay more for green apparel, it might be related to environmental concern or other environmental behavior. It is also suggested that apparel retailers and marketers should use a consistent and reliable message about their practice of green marketing in order not to confuse consumers.