Studying Chinese generation Y consumers' involvement in fashion clothing and perceived brand status
| Published date | 22 August 2008 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/10610420810896095 |
| Pages | 341-352 |
| Date | 22 August 2008 |
| Author | Aron O'Cass,Eric Choy |
| Subject Matter | Marketing |
Studying Chinese generation Y consumers’
involvement in fashion clothing and perceived
brand status
Aron O’Cass
Newcastle Graduate School of Business, Newcastle, Australia, and
Eric Choy
Sight-in Consulting Group Limited, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this article is to examine Chinese generation Y consumers’ fashion clothing involvement effects on specific brand related
consumer responses including brand status, brand attitude and willingness to pay a premium for a specific brand.
Design/methodology/approach – A self-completion questionnaire survey was administered in China to university students aged between 18 and 25.
Findings – A consumer’s level of involvement was found to have positive effect on brand related responses such as perception of brand status and
brand attitude. Further brand status and brand attitude were found to have positive impacts on consumer’s willingness to pay a premium for a specific
brand.
Research limitations/implications – First, based on the student sample used for study it may not be possible to generalize the effects found to non-
students. Second, the findings from this study focusing on fashion clothing brands are perhaps limited in their generalisability to other product
categories.
Practical implications – An important finding that is beneficial to marketing practitioners in China, especially for those in the fashion industry, is the
findings that maintaining the status of a brand would be more effective with highly involved consumers leading to an overall more positive attitude.
Marketing initiatives with status building objectives are therefore essential for enabling brands to command higher prices.
Originality/value – This paper expands understanding of consumer behaviour related to Chinese generation Y consumer behaviour, fashion clothing
involvement and status branding.
Keywords Consumer behaviour, Fashion, Brand identity, China
Paper type Research paper
An executive summary for managers and executive
readers can be found at the end of this article.
Introduction
For the past decade China has been the focus of considerable
business activity and receiving growing attention from
academics and researchers. With growing globalisation
trends and the progressive opening of China as a market,
multinational corporations have entered China with
increasing regularity, bringing their brands and products to
increasingly brand conscious Chinese consumers. This is
particularly so for the young adult consumers, generally
referred to as the Generation Y, as this Gen Y cohort in China
has been found to possess a higher propensity to spend
(Arora, 2005; Maher et al., 2004; McEwen, 2005; Liu, 2002;
Stanat, 2006) and focus increasingly on fashion and brands
(Kalish, 2005; Kwan et al., 2003; Liu, 2002; McEwen et al.,
2006). Therefore, understanding the behaviour of this cohort
of Chinese consumers is important for businesses targeting
the younger adult consumer segment in this burgeoning
market.
Within consumer behaviour, involvement is an important
concept and has been used extensively to help explain various
aspects of consumer behaviour (Hynes and Lo, 2006; Mittal
and Lee, 1989; Poiesz and de Bont, 1995), particularly in
product categories such as fashion clothing (Auty and Elliot,
1998; Michaelidou and Dibb, 2006; O’Cass, 2000, 2004). It
hasalsobeenarguedthatincreasinginvolvementby
successfully engaging customers will impact the effectiveness
of marketing activiti es (O’Cass, 2000). Involvem ent in
specific product types, especially clothing by certain
consumer groups has been a prominent consideration in the
literature. Taking the prominence of involvement and placing
it in the context of the rapidly developing Chinese consumer
market offers significant theory and practical advancements.
In this context young Chinese consumers’ are considered one
of the most important market segments for fashion products
(Kwan et al., 2003; Li & Fung, 2005; McEwen et al., 2006)
and exploring their involvement is important. However, to-
date studies on consumer involvement and the young Chinese
consumer are lacking. As such, the purpose of this paper is to
examine the effect of consumer involvement of Chinese Gen
Y using fashion clothing brands as focal object to understand
various brand related consumer behaviours including brand
status, brand attitude and willingness to pay a premium for a
specific brand.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1061-0421.htm
Journal of Product & Brand Management
17/5 (2008) 341–352
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1061-0421]
[DOI 10.1108/10610420810896095]
341
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