Is Sustainable Positioning the New Path to Achieve eWOM and Brand Loyalty? An Investigation on the Gen Z Market of U.S. Apparel Brands
Abstract
The fashion industry is under growing pressure to establish sustainable practices as consumer awareness of environmental and social concerns is increasing day by day. Moreover, apparel brands emphasize sustainable branding to appeal to environmental and socially concerned consumers (Chang & Jai, 2015). However, Gen Zers are raised during the "fake news" era, they are able to spot deceit fast and do not believe the hype. Because of this, Gen Zers may be resistant to sustainable branding. Studies found that high information transparency (Bhaduri & Ha-Brookshire, 2015) and support from reliable sources (Sahin et al., 2020) in sustainable branding might overcome this problem. With this view, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of sustainable positioning with credible sources (i.e., No Credible Source / EPA / Social Influencers / Celebrity) and transparency (Low Transparency vs. High Transparency) on customer brand attachment, trust, identification, electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), and brand loyalty.
How to Cite:
Mim, K., Jai, T. (. & Lee, S., (2022) “Is Sustainable Positioning the New Path to Achieve eWOM and Brand Loyalty? An Investigation on the Gen Z Market of U.S. Apparel Brands”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15954
Downloads:
Download PDF
View PDF