The effects of product information on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions of fashion products made of fur, leather, and wool

The purpose of this study was to examine how product information affects consumer attitudes, subjective norms, and purchase intentions of fashion goods made of fur, leather, and wool. Based on the theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) and elaboration likelihood model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), the effects of two types of information, one-sided and two-sided, were examined. An experiment was planned and conducted. Different types of information were presented to research participants and data regarding their attitudes, subjective norms, and purchase intentions were collected using a web-based survey. A total of 31,001 undergraduate and graduate students were invited to participate in the research. A total of 1,533 responses were returned resulting in a 4.9% response rate. After excluding responses with more than 15% of missing data, 1,291 responses were used for the data analysis. The three phases of the data analyses conducted were: preliminary analysis, hypotheses testing, and determination of the influence of participants\u27 demographic characteristics on the research variables. Preliminary analyses included descriptive analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, and correlation analysis. Hypotheses testing used a series of one-way ANOVA and multiple regressions. The influence of participants\u27 demographic characteristics on the research variables was analyzed using independent t-tests to determine how consumers\u27 demographic background affected their attitudes, subjective norms, and purchase intentions of fashion products made of fur, leather, and wool. The research findings revealed that one-sided information against the use of animal-based materials negatively affected consumer attitudes and subjective norms with respect to purchasing fashion products made of animal-based materials. In contrast, one-sided information promoting benefits of using animal-based materials for fashion products positively affected consumer attitudes and subjective norms with respect to purchasing fashion products made of animal-based materials. Two-sided information presenting both positive and negative aspects of using animal-based materials for fashion products, however, had no impact on consumer attitudes and subjective norms with respect to purchasing fashion products made of animal-based materials. The results indicate that one-sided information about fashion products made of animal-based materials, whether negative or positive, causes consumers to develop more favorable attitudes in the direction of the information presented. The findings of this study help better understand how information affects consumer attitudes toward controversial fashion products. Understanding how different types of information influence consumers might be beneficial to both fashion industry professionals and animal rights advocates. The research results have important educational and marketing implications.