Factors Influencing Fashion Adoption among the Youth in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

Fashion in Africa has undergone a tremendous transformation process due to an increase in international trade. As a result, African consumerism has surfaced. Through being part of the global community, the youth in Africa capitalizes on the wide variety of fashions available, and they view fashion as a medium for expressing their identity. More specifically, in South Africa, fashion is used as the ideal vehicle for the youth to re-map previously fixed racial identities. Although a number of studies have explored this subject in an array of contexts, limited research has focused on factors that drive fashion adoption among the youth in Johannesburg. In view of this identified research gap, the present study aims to investigate the impact of fashion consciousness, the need for uniqueness, interpersonal influence, individualism/collectivism, and masculinity/femininity on fashion adoption. A Field study was conducted in Johannesburg and research data were collected from 400 respondents aged between 18 to 29 years. Linear regression analysis was performed to explore the relationship between the quantitative outcome variable and the predictor variables of the study by use of the SPSS 22 and the AMOS 22 software program. The results reveal that two of the five variables positively influence fashion adoption, while individualism/collectivism has an inverse relationship with fashion adoption. The significance of gaining insight into such factors, draw from the rich political history of South Africa and how the youth’s conflicting identities may influence the modern concept of adopting global fashion trends.

Male fashion leadership: Hedonic and utilitarian clothing shopping motivations within the South African context

“…Previous studies found differences across gender in fashion involvement, fashion consciousness, and reference group influences in South Africa (Kolatsis, 2017;Venter et al, 2016;Tshabalala, 2014;Kotzé et al, 2012,). However, very limited research exists on differences within male fashion leadership groups, particularly between fashion innovators and fashion opinion leaders and the driving forces behind their shopping for fashion in the South African context.…”

“…Prinsloo (2015) highlights the growing trend in South African males' interest and involvement in shopping for clothing. Especially, younger males (under 45 years) in South Africa are more involved in fashion purchasing and tend to be more fashion conscious than their older counterparts (Venter et al, 2016;Tshabalala, 2014). Moreover, South African males are price and brand conscious when shopping for clothing (Van Belkum, 2016).…”

An Investigation into the predictors of brand preference towards cement brands available on the South African Market: A Consumer’s Perspective

“…According to Junarsin, Pangaribuan, Wahyuni, Hidayat, Putra, Maulida and Soedarmono (2022), brand preference is the equivalent of purchase intention and a consumer's attitude towards a brand plays an important role in determining brand preference. Preference for a brand has generally been considered to be a direct precursor of purchase intention (Venter, Chinomona & Chuchu, 2016). Interestingly, Bashir, Faheem, Hassan and Shaikh (2019) mentioned that brand equity reflects brand preference, and that brand preference and purchase intention are related in a similar manner.…”

Consumer Adoption of Fast-Fashion, Differences of Perceptions, and the Role of Motivations Across the Adoption Groups

“…Jordaan et al [20] measured consumer innovativeness by using the domain-specific innovativeness (DSI) scale developed by Goldsmith and Hofacker [21], instead of using Rogers' time-of-adoption method, since it is difficult to know the exact time of the introduction and the purchase of a new product in a specific market. Venter et al investigated the influence of fashion consciousness, the need for uniqueness, susceptibility to interpersonal influence, collectivism/individualism, and masculinity/femininity on fashion adoption [22]. Workman et al identified the differences between consumer groups in their need for uniqueness [13,23].…”