48R_3-Fashion Structural Model Impulse

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ACADEMIC PAPER

A structural model offashion-oriented impulse

buying behaviorEun Joo Park

Dong-A University, Busan, Korea, and

Eun Young Kim and Judith Cardona ForneySchool of Merchandising and Hospitality Management,

University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, USA

AbstractPurpose – This study aims to examine the causal relationships among fashion involvement, positiveemotion, hedonic consumption tendency, and fashion-oriented impulse buying in the context of shopping.

Design/methodology/approach – A self-administered questionnaire developed from the literaturewas administered to 217 college students during a scheduled class. They were enrolled at onemetropolitan university in a southwestern state in the USA. A structural equation model using acorrelation matrix with maximum likelihood was estimated by LISREL 8.53.

Findings – Fashion involvement and positive emotion had positive effects on consumers’fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior with fashion involvement having the greatest effect.Hedonic consumption tendency was an important mediator in determining fashion-oriented impulsebuying.

Research limitations/implications – This study was limited to college students at onemetropolitan university in a southwestern state in the USA and to general fashion products.

Practical implications – Retailers may encourage consumers’ positive emotion through strategiessuch as store design, product displays, package design, and sales. A focus on entertainment, interest,and excitement may be as important as getting the right mix of merchandise and pricing. Other retailstrategies might be to stress the relative rationality and non-economic rewards of impulse buying inadvertising efforts; to make impulse purchases more risk free through convenient return policies; andto increase enablers such as offering credit and extending store hours.

Originality/value – Few studies exist for predicting fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior. Thisstudy addresses the need to examine impulse buying behavior related to fashion products.

Keywords Fashion, Buying behaviour

Paper type Research paper

IntroductionDramatic increases in personal disposable incomes and credit availability have madeimpulse buying in retail environments a prevalent consumer behavior (Dittmar andDrury, 2000). In the USA, impulse buying generated over $4 billion in annual sales(Kacen and Lee, 2002) where about 40 percent of consumers consider themselvesimpulse shoppers (Target Group Index, 1997). Impulse purchases are more likely when

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

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This research is supported by Dong-A University Research Fund in 2005.

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Vol. 10 No. 4, 20pp. 433-4

q Emerald Group Publishing Limit1361-20

DOI 10.1108/136120206107019


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consumers experience an impulse buying stimulus and then later evaluate thatprospective purchase as appropriate (O’Guinn and Faber, 1989). The powerfulinfluence of impulse behavior on consumer buying suggests it is an important area of study (Bayley and Nancarrow, 1998; Hausman, 2000).

Previous studies on impulse buying focused on defining differences betweenimpulse and non-impulse buying behavior (Cobb and Hoyer, 1986; Piron, 1991). Manyresearchers have provided theoretical frameworks for examining impulse buyingrelated to psychological variables (e.g. personality, self-regulation), hedonicexperiences (e.g. shopping enjoyment, emotional state, mood) and situationalvariables (e.g. available time, money) in a shopping context (Beatty and Ferrell,1998; Burroughs, 1996; Rook and Fisher, 1995). Generally, researchers found impulsebuying satisfied hedonic or emotional needs for fun, social interaction, and gratification(Hausman, 2000; Piron, 1991).

This implies that consumer impulse buying while shopping can be encouraged by ahedonic consumption tendency and emotional factors. An important issue aligned with

hedonic consumption is determining product-specific impulse buying behavior.According to Jones et al. (2003), product-specific impulse buying is affectedsignificantly by product involvement and it is an important factor supportingimpulse buying tendencies. Several researchers (Cha, 2001; Han et al., 1991; Ko, 1993)found impulse buying of fashion products (e.g. clothing) revealed a variety of patternsthat included pure, reminded, emotional, and fashion-oriented impulse buyingbehaviors.

Fashion-oriented impulse buying is related strongly to fashion involvement. Forinstance, Han et al. (1991) found textile and clothing students had significantlyhigher impulse buying scores than students in other majors. Their finding supportsa notion that fashion involvement might encourage fashion-oriented impulse

buying by providing sensory or experiential cues of fashion products. Also,fashion-oriented impulse buying can be predicted by other prominent variablessuch as hedonic consumption tendency (Hausman, 2000) and positive emotion whenshopping (Mattila and Enz, 2002). Sensory experiential products (e.g. apparel,accessories, jewelry) play a more important function in symbolic interaction withconsumers’ hedonic or emotional experiences in market environments. Given theimportance of experiential aspects of consumption, it seems essential thatmarketers understand impulse buying behavior for fashion products from anexperiential perspective. However, there is little study of impulse buying behaviorthat explicitly incorporates specific product involvement and experiential aspectsof consumption.

This study explores a model of fashion-oriented impulse buying in conjunction withproduct involvement and experiential aspects of consumption including hedonicconsumption tendency and positive emotion among college students. Understandingfashion impulse buying behavior offers retailers guidance in developing strategies thatcreate shopping opportunities. These marketing strategies may help retailers managehighly involved fashion customers and encourage their purchase intentions. Thebenefits include an increased market share for fashion retailers and positiveperceptions of impulse buying by fashion consumers.

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Literature review Impulse buying behavior Impulse buying behavior is a sudden, compelling, hedonically complex buyingbehavior in which the rapidity of an impulse decision process precludes thoughtful and

deliberate consideration of alternative information and choices (Bayley andNancarrow, 1998). Several researchers have reported that consumers do not viewimpulse purchasing as wrong; rather, consumers retrospectively convey a favorableevaluation of their behavior (Dittmar et al., 1996; Hausman, 2000; Rook, 1987). Otherresearchers have treated impulse buying as an individual difference variable with theexpectation that it is likely to influence decision making across situations (Beatty andFerrell, 1998; Rook and Fisher, 1995; Weun et al., 1997). According to Ko (1993),impulse buying behavior is a reasonable unplanned behavior when it is related toobjective evaluation and emotional preferences in shopping.

Fashion-oriented impulse buying . Consumer impulse buying is an important conceptalong with product involvement as they are involved with a specific product (Joneset al., 2003). For clothing, fashion-oriented impulse buying refers to a person’sawareness or perception of fashionability attributed to an innovative design or style.That is, fashion-oriented impulse buying occurs when consumers see a new fashionproduct and buy it because they are motivated by the suggestion to buy new products(Han et al., 1991). Early research into impulse buying behavior concentrated on thetypology of impulse buying and understanding the role of fashion involvement inpredicting fashion-oriented impulse buying. According to Han et al. (1991), impulsebuying was classified as four types:

(1) planned impulse buying;

(2) reminded impulse buying;

(3) fashion-oriented impulse buying; and

(4) pure impulse buying.

They found high evidence of fashion-oriented impulse buying for college studentsmajoring in textiles and clothing compared to students in other majors. Their findingssuggested that fashion-oriented impulse buying might be related more significantly tostudents with majors having high fashion involvement. Subsequent research focusedon impulse buying behavior that was based on consumer decision-making process. Ko(1993) found apparel impulse buying was distinguished from reasonable unplannedbuying that was based on emotional preference or objective evaluation rather thanrational evaluation. Ko’s finding implied that emotional factors (i.e. positive feelings)might lead to fashion-oriented impulse buying when shopping. Limited studies havereported that consumers are likely to be motivated to impulse purchase by high

involvement and emotional preference of products. The lack of research focused on theexperiential aspects of consumption underscore the need to understand howfashion-oriented impulse buying relates to hedonic consumption tendency or theemotional factor in retail environments.

Fashion involvement Involvement is a helpful metric for explaining consumer behavior and segmentingconsumer markets (Kapferer and Laurent, 1985; Kim, 2005; Martin, 1998). Involvement


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is the motivational state of arousal or interest evoked by a particular stimulus orsituation, and displayed through properties of drive (O’Cass, 2004). In general,involvement is conceptualized by the interaction between an individual (consumer) andan object (product).

In fashion marketing, fashion involvement refers to the extent of interest with thefashion product category (e.g. apparel). Fashion involvement is used primarily topredict behavioral variables related to apparel products such as product involvement,buying behavior, and consumer characteristics (Browne and Kaldenberg, 1997;Fairhurst et al., 1989; Flynn and Goldsmith, 1993). For instance, O’Cass (2000, 2004)found fashion clothing involvement related highly to personal characteristics (i.e.female and younger) and fashion knowledge, which in turn influenced consumerconfidence in making purchase decisions. Also, the positive relationship between thelevel of fashion involvement and purchasing apparel (Fairhurst et al., 1989; Seo et al.,2001) suggested consumers with high fashion involvement were more likely to beapparel buyers. Therefore, we assumed consumers with higher fashion involvementwere more likely to engage in fashion-oriented impulse buying.

Positive emotionsEmotion that encompasses affect and mood is an important factor in consumerdecision making. Typically, emotion is classified into two orthogonal dimensions (e.g.positive, negative) (Watson and Tellegen, 1985). Several qualitative studies reportedconsumers felt uplifted or energized after a shopping experience (Bayley andNancarrow, 1998; Dittmar et al., 1996; Rook, 1987). Positive emotion can be elicited byan individual’s pre-existing mood, affective disposition, and reaction to currentenvironmental encounters (e.g. desired items, sales promotions).

Emotion strongly influences actions including impulse buying (Beatty and Ferrell,1998; Hausman, 2000; Rook and Gardner, 1993; Youn and Faber, 2000). Consumers in

more positive emotional states tend to have reduced decision complexity and shorterdecision times (Isen, 1984). Moreover, when compared to negative emotion, consumerswith positive emotion exhibited greater impulse buying because of feelings of beingunconstrained, a desire to reward themselves, and higher energy levels (Rook andGardner, 1993).

While shopping, in-store emotion can influence purchase intentions and spending aswell as perceptions of quality, satisfaction, and value (Babin and Babin, 2001). Beattyand Ferrell (1998) found consumer’s positive emotion was associated with the urge tobuy impulsively. This supports earlier findings that impulse buyers are moreemotional compared to non-impulse buyers (Weinberg and Gottwald, 1982). Becauseimpulse buyers exhibit greater positive feelings (e.g. pleasure, excitement, joy), theyoften over spend when shopping (Donovan and Rossiter, 1982). Furthermore,

unplanned apparel purchases satisfy the emotional need derived from the socialinteraction inherent in the shopping experience (Cha, 2001). Therefore, consumeremotion can be an important determinant for predicting impulse buying in a retailstore.

Hedonic consumption tendencyHedonic consumption includes those behavioral aspects related to multi-sensory,fantasy, and emotional consumption which are driven by benefits such as fun using the

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product and aesthetic appeal (Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982). Bargaining andhaggling are two shopping experiences associated with shopping enjoyment (Sherry,1990). This suggests that the purchasing experience may be more important thanproduct acquisition.

Impulse buying plays an important role in fulfilling hedonic desires associated withhedonic consumption (Hausman, 2000; Piron, 1991; Rook, 1987). This role supports aconceptual link between hedonic shopping motivation and impulse buying behavior.That is, consumers more likely engage in impulse buying when they are motivated byhedonic desires or by non-economic reasons, such as fun, fantasy, and social oremotional gratification (Hausman, 2000; Rook, 1987). Since the shopping experiencegoal is to satisfy hedonic needs, products purchased during these excursions appear tobe selected without prior planning and they represent an impulse buying event.Fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior is motivated by new versions of fashionstyles and brand image salience which drive consumers to hedonic shoppingexperiences (Goldsmith and Emmert, 1991).

Research model and hypothesesThe research model depicted in Figure 1 was developed to examine consumers’impulse buying behavior toward fashion products. It illustrates the causalrelationships among four variables (fashion involvement, positive emotion, hedonicconsumption tendency, and fashion-oriented impulse buying) in a shopping context. Inthis causative relationship, fashion involvement ( j 1 ) is assumed to influence positiveemotion ( h 1 ), hedonic consumption tendency ( h 2 ), and fashion-oriented impulse buying( h 3 ). In addition, emotion and hedonic consumption tendency are assumed to influencefashion-oriented impulse buying behavior.

Estimates for the structural model for fashion-oriented impulse buying behaviorwere based on six hypotheses:

H1. Fashion involvement has a positive effect on positive emotion duringshopping.

H2 . Fashion involvement has a positive effect on fashion-oriented impulse buyingbehavior during shopping.

Figure Proposed model f

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H3. Fashion involvement has a positive effect on hedonic consumption tendency.

H4. Hedonic consumption tendency has a positive effect on positive emotionduring shopping.

H5 . Hedonic consumption tendency has a positive effect on fashion-orientedimpulse buying behavior during shopping.

H6 . Positive emotion has a positive effect on fashion-oriented impulse buyingbehavior during shopping.

Methods MeasurementsThe self-administered questionnaire included four variables. Fashion involvement(Fairhurst et al., 1989) measured four items on a seven-point rating scale (1 ¼ stronglydisagree, 7 ¼ strongly agree). For example, “I usually have one or more outfits of thevery latest style.” Positive emotion (Beatty and Ferrell, 1998) consisted of two items

(e.g. excited, satisfied) measured on a seven-point rating scale (1 ¼ very unlikely,7 ¼ very likely) that assessed an individual’s feeling during the last shopping trip.Hedonic consumption tendency (Hausman, 2000) included three items measured on aseven-point rating scale (1 ¼ very unlikely, 7 ¼ very likely) that determinedrespondents’ hedonic needs for shopping such as when shopping “I want to beoffered new experiences.” Fashion-oriented impulse buying (Han et al., 1991) includedthree items such as “I buy clothing with a new style if I see it” measured on aseven-point rating scale (1 ¼ very unlikely, 7 ¼ very likely). Demographic informationwas collected for gender, age, academic ranking, income, monthly income/allowance,and monthly clothing expenditures.

Sampling and data collection

The sample was college students enrolled at one metropolitan university in asouthwestern state in the USA. In the USA, there are 8 million full-time college agestudents who represent the older segment of Generation Y consumers. Their annualpurchasing power exceeds $200 billion (Gardyn, 2002). Among this consumer segment,mall shopping is a high priority with clothing shopping being the top activity. Thus,college age students represent a significant consumer group for fashion marketers inthe USA (Martin and Turley, 2004).

The questionnaire was administered during a regularly scheduled class. Usabledata were obtained from 217 Caucasian respondents who represented more female (76percent) than male (24 percent) students. Slightly more than half of the respondents (53percent) were ages 21 to 24 years old. Approximately 61 percent reported a monthlyincome/allowance of US$201 to US$1,000. The majority (75 percent) spent less thanUS$200 per month on clothing.

Data analysisThe measurement model and structural model using a correlation matrix with themaximum-likelihood were estimated simultaneously via LISREL 8.53 (Jöreskog andSörbom, 2002). The measurement model assessed how the latent variables (i.e. fashioninvolvement, hedonic consumption tendency, positive emotion, and fashion-orientedimpulse buying) were measured for the observed indicators ( X and Y variables).

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Cronbach’s alpha established inter-item reliability between items. The structural modelapplied the causal relationships among these latent variables to test the hypotheses(see Figure 1). The overall fit of the model was assessed by chi-square ( x 2 ), goodness of fit index (GFI), adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI), and root mean squared residual

(RMR).

Results and discussions Measurement and structural modelsA simultaneous estimation of structural and measurement models was performedusing LISREL 8.53. The proposed model tested causative relationships among the fourlatent variables. In the structural model presented in Figure 1, there are one exogenousvariable – fashion involvement ( j 1 ) – and three endogenous variables – positiveemotion ( h 1 ), hedonic consumption tendency ( h 2 ), and fashion-oriented impulse buying( h 3 ). The model consisted of four observed exogenous indicators ( X variables) forfashion involvement and eight observed endogenous indicators ( Y variables) forpositive emotion, hedonic consumption tendency, and fashion-oriented impulsebuying.

Measurement model . To assess the measurement model, all observed indicatorswere set free by standardizing all exogenous and endogenous latent variables. Thisprocedure was based on the magnitude of the coefficient matrix ( b s or gs) for latentvariables on one observed indicator that was arbitrarily selected as a referent for thelatent variables (Jöreskog and Sörbom, 2002). The estimated measurement modelpresented in Table I consisted of four observed X variables ( X 1- X 4) for fashioninvolvement, two observed Y variables for positive emotion ( Y 1-Y 2), three observed Y

VariablesFactorloading Reliability

Varianceextracted

Fashion involvement 0.82 0.62 X 1 I usually have one or more outfits of the very latest style 0.85 X 2 An important part of my life and activities is dressing smartly 0.81 X 3 I am interested in shopping at boutique or fashion specialty

stores rather than at department stores for my fashion needs 0.70 X 4 I usually dress for fashion, not comfort, if I must choose

between two 0.79 Positive emotion 0.84 0.80Y 1 Excited 0.96

Satisfied 0.82 Hedonic consumption tendency 0.91 0.83Y 3 I want to satisfy my sense of curiosity 0.91Y 4 I want to be offered new experiences 0.94

Y 5 I want to feel like I’m exploring new worlds 0.87 Fashion-oriented impulse buying 0.93 0.82Y 6 I buy clothing with a new style if I see it 0.97Y 7 I buy to try out a garment with a new feature 0.83Y 8 I like to buy new clothing that just came out 0.92

Notes: Variance extracted ¼ Sum of squared standardized loadings/(Sum of squared standardizedloadings þ Sum of indicator measurement error); Indicator measurement error calculates as thediagonal of the measurement error correlation matrix in the LISREL output

TableMeasurement mod

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variables for hedonic consumption tendency ( Y 3-Y 5), and three observed Y variablesfor fashion-oriented impulse buying ( Y 6-Y 8). Overall, the coefficients of factor loading( lij ) on the latent constructs ranged from 0.70 to 0.96 ( p , 0:001). Reliabilities of thelatent variables ranged from 0.82 to 0.93 and confirmed the measurement model was

valid and reliable (see Table I).Descriptive analysis revealed above midpoint mean scores for each research

construct: fashion involvement (M ¼ 4:62), positive emotion (M ¼ 4:89), hedonicconsumption tendency (M ¼ 4:39), and fashion-oriented impulse buying (M ¼ 4:63).This finding supported previous studies where younger consumers tended to havefashion involvement (Fairhurst et al., 1989; O’Cass, 2000, 2004) and shopped forhedonic needs that encouraged impulse buying (Hausman, 2000; Piron, 1991; Rook,1987).

Structural model . For testing the hypotheses, a proposed model was estimated toexamine causative relationships among latent variables. A structural equation modelgenerated the x 2 ) value of 83.32 with 45 degrees of freedom, which was statistically

significant ( p,

0:

01). If the x

2

-value is below the significance level of 0.05, then thedata do not fit the model well. However, x 2-value is sensitive to sample size, and alarge sample ( n . 200) can generate a significantly poor fit even though the model mayexplain the data well (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988). Therefore, the model fit was judged usingalternative fit indexes that were within the ranges for model acceptance (GFI ¼ 0:94,AGFI ¼ 0:89) and exceeded the 0.09 standard for model fit (Kelly et al., 1996). Inaddition, the RMR was 0.03, which indicated a good fit. Accordingly, the final modelillustrated in Figure 2 was deemed a good fit for testing the hypotheses.

Hypotheses testing H1. Fashion involvement had a positive causal effect on positive emotion ( g 11 ¼ 0:47,

p , 0:

001). Consumers with high fashion involvement were more likely to experiencepositive emotion (e.g. excited, satisfied) during shopping. This finding supported H1and suggested consumers’ fashion involvement can increase emotional experiences

Figure 2.Structural model forfashion-oriented impulsebuying behavior

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while shopping. Also, positive emotion while shopping can be a significant mediator inencouraging impulse buying (Beatty and Ferrell, 1998; Sherma et al., 1997).

H2. Fashion involvement had a significant positive effect on hedonic consumption( g 21 ¼ 0:64, p , 0:001). Consumers who had high involvement with the latest fashion,

shopping for their fashion needs, or dressing for fashion more likely exhibited ahedonic tendency (e.g. sense of curiosity, new experiences, exploring new worlds)during their shopping trip. Therefore, H2 was supported. This finding implied thatclothing as an experiential sensory product plays an important role in fulfilling hedonicneeds (e.g. novelty, diversion, stimulation) for shopping (Hausman, 2000).

H3. Fashion involvement had a direct significant effect on fashion-oriented impulsebuying behavior ( g 31 ¼ 0:62, p , 0:001). Consumers with high fashion involvementwere more likely to buy clothing with a new style or that just came out if they saw it.This finding supported H3 and suggested that fashion involvement encouragesfashion-oriented impulse buying behavior.

H4. Hedonic consumption related significantly to positive emotions ( b 12 ¼ 0:37, p , 0:001). Consumers felt more excited and satisfied during their shopping tripswhen they expressed curiosity, the need for new experience, and feeling like they wereexploring new worlds. This finding supported the involvement of hedonic orexperiential shopping motivations in satisfying emotional or expressive needs, such asfun, relaxation, and gratification (Bloch et al., 1991; Roy, 1994). Moreover, this findingwas consistent with previous research that found consumers’ positive feelings (e.g. fun,psychological lift) were associated with hedonic shopping experiences and the noveltyaspects of hedonic shopping (Hausman, 2000). Therefore, H4 was supported.

H5. There was no significant direct effect of hedonic consumption tendency onfashion-oriented impulse buying. This result did not support a notion that impulsebuying behavior is a form of hedonically-related consumption (Bayley and Nancarrow,1998). It may be that fashion-oriented impulse buying is motivated more likely by

consumers’ perception of a new design or style (Han et al., 1991). Furthermore, hedonicconsumption tendency is more likely to increase consumers’ shopping motivations tofulfill their hedonic desires (Hausman, 2000; Piron, 1991), such as an in-store emotionalexperience (Yoo et al., 1998) that eventually leads to impulse buying behavior. Thus, H5 was not supported. However, there was a significant indirect effect for hedonicconsumption tendency on fashion-oriented impulse buying via the mediating positiveemotion [ðb 12Þ £ ðb 31Þ ¼ 0:09, t ¼ 2:62, p , 0:01]. Researchers (Beatty and Ferrell,1998; Cha, 2001) have documented that positive emotion serves as a critical mediator inthe relationship between hedonic consumption tendency and fashion-orientedimpulsive buying in market environments. This supports the importance of consumers’ emotional response in encouraging apparel impulse buying.

H6. Positive emotion produced a positive effect on fashion-oriented impulse buying

when shopping ( b 12 ¼ 0:

23, p , 0:

01). Consumers with positive feelings, such as beingexcited and satisfied, impulsively bought fashion products more during their shoppingtrip. This finding supported the tendency of positive emotional states to reducedecision complexity, leading to impulse buying (Babin and Babin, 2001; Hausman,2000; Youn and Faber, 2000). H6 was supported. This finding suggested that emotionalstates play an important role in decision making for impulse buying clothing. Whencompared to the effect of positive emotion ( b 12 ¼ 0:23), fashion involvement had agreater effect on fashion-oriented impulse buying ( g31 ¼ 0:62). This result implied that,


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for younger consumers, fashion involvement is a more important antecedent fordetermining fashion-oriented impulse buying than are emotional factors.

Conclusions and implicationsThis study explored a structural model that examined the relationships amongfashion involvement, positive emotion, hedonic consumption tendency, andfashion-oriented impulse buying behavior of US college students. It providesinsights to retailers and researchers for understanding structural relationshipsbetween consumer characteristics and fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior.The results suggest that fashion involvement and positive emotion directly affectfashion-oriented impulse buying. Moreover, there are implications that both fashioninvolvement and positive emotion are important predictors of consumers’fashion-oriented impulse buying. In the structural model , consumers’fashion-oriented impulse buying behavior can be predicted by the attitudinalcomponent (e.g. fashion involvement) and emotional factors (e.g. satisfied, excited)for young consumers. For this sample, fashion involvement affectedfashion-oriented impulse buying more, which supports the strong association of product involvement with the tendency for product-specific impulse buying (Joneset al., 2003; Seo et al., 2001) when shopping.

From a hedonic perspective, positive emotion increased fashion-oriented impulsebuying, whereas hedonic consumption did not relate directly to fashion-orientedimpulse buying. This finding suggests that for college students, fashion-orientedimpulse buying aligns more with emotional unplanned clothing purchases(Cha, 2001). Also, this finding supports the satisfaction of hedonic needs oremotional gratification through impulse buying (Hausman, 2000; Piron, 1991) andsuggests hedonic consumption has an indirect effect on fashion-oriented impulse

buying.Retailers should pay attention to consumer’s positive emotional state and theirin-store hedonic experience since this can trigger impulse buying of fashion goods.Also, retailers continually need to encourage consumers’ impulse purchases andpositive emotion through store design, product displays, package design, and sales.Efforts to increase market share in fashion retailing are shifting from the sole concernwith merchandise breadth, depth, and quality to include an emphasis on creating apleasant, entertaining experience for the consumer who is interested in more than justthe product. Unless a store has a distinct product offering or pricing strategy, retailerscan distinguish their store by building on the relationship between the store’satmosphere and the consumer’s emotional state. Shoppers who patronize a storebecause they like the environment may unexpectedly spend more money as a result of

the positive-mood-inducing atmosphere. Even if consumers are in a negative emotionalstate upon entering, they may become emotionally uplifted and spend more thanintended. Customers may feel better through suitable layout, cleanliness, colors, andeffective salesperson training at the point of purchase.

Retailers need to focus as much on entertainment, interest and excitement as they doon getting the right merchandise mix and pricing. By stressing the relative rationalityand non-economic rewards of impulse buying in advertising efforts, retailers can makeimpulse purchases more risk free through convenient return policies, or they can

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enhance impulse purchase enablers such as extending credit and store hours. Furtherresearch is needed on this aspect.

This study has limitations. First, the data were collected from students at oneuniversity in the USA which limits generalizations. Another limitation was using

only three variables (fashion involvement, hedonic consumption tendency, andpositive emotion) related to fashion-oriented impulse buying. Furthermore, thestudy is limited by the generic use of fashion products rather than types or brands.Further research should attempt to improve on the results of this study. First, morerepresentative samples are needed that include broader geographic locations andcross-national comparisons. Second, fashion-oriented impulse buying needs to beextended to include other consumer characteristics and situational variables such aspersonality, status consumption tendencies, shopping enjoyment, loyalty, timeavailable, and money available. Third, this study could be extended to branding ordifferent fashion product categories (e.g. apparel, home furnishings, cosmetics,accessories). Another extension would be to investigate on-line shopping and

emphasize impulse buying of specific brands and what these brands mean to theimpulse buying consumer. Finally, there is a need to empirically test theconceptualization of impulse buying related to fashion products. This could beaccomplished using the measures in different settings with different fashionproducts, and by discriminating impulse buying between fashion product categoriesand brands within the each category.

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About the authorsEun Joo Park is Professor, Division of Fashion and Textiles, Dong-A University, Korea. Herresearch interests include impulse buying behavior, brand extension, in-store shopping behaviorof fashion products, and cross-cultural comparison research on shopping behavior.


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Eun Young Kim is Assistant Professor, School of Merchandising and HospitalityManagement, University of North Texas. Her research interests include shopping motivationsfor Generation Y consumers, online apparel shopping, consumer behavior in internationalretailing, and global tourism shopping for fashion marketing management.

Judith Cardona Forney is Professor and Dean, School of Merchandising and HospitalityManagement, University of North Texas. Her research has investigated numerous intrinsicand extrinsic factors that influence purchase decisions by consumers of fashion products.Cultural variations in consumer behavior is an underlying theme that includes cross-nationalstudies in Canada, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, andTaiwan, as well as, US ethnic consumers, and in particular Hispanic women. Judith CardonaForney is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

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48R_3-Fashion Structural Model Impulse

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