Is money the biggest driver? Uncovering motives for engaging in online collaborative consumption retail models for apparel

Diverse values of fashion rental service and contamination concern of consumers

“…On the contrary, our result shows green value as one of the highest values perceived toward FRS 2 , yet it has no significant effect on attitudes 3 . Although CC is closely associated with green value ( Hamari et al, 2016 ), recent research shows that CFC users do not mention an environmental motive for their consumption ( Park & Joyner Armstrong, 2019b ). Fashion renting may remind people of the idea of an infinite closet, rather than green consumption.…”

“…Quality perception contributes to positive attitudes ( Smith & Paladino, 2010 ). b. economic : “the utility derived from the product due to the reduction of its perceived short- and longer-term costs” ( Sweeney & Soutar, 2001 ); “value for money” ( Zeithaml, 1988 ) Cost-effective to use the same fashion items Economic benefits are a major driver of CC ( Barnes and Mattsson, 2016 , Park and Joyner Armstrong, 2017 , Camacho-Otero et al, 2019 ) and CFC ( Park & Joyner Armstrong, 2019b ). c. social : “the perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s association with one or more specific social groups” ( Sheth et al, 1991 ) Favorable self-presentation and social approval by using FRS Consumers obtain social acceptance by participating in collaborative fashion consumption such as second-hand purchase ( McNeil & Venter, 2019 ) d. emotional : “the perceived utility acquired from an alternative’s capacity to arouse feelings or affective states” ( Sheth et al, 1991 ) Enjoyment and positive emotional experiences from the service Emotional value is highly related to consumers’ clothing consumption in various contexts: fast fashion (e.g., Barnes et al, 2013 ); luxury consumption (e.g., Li et al, 2012 ); slow fashion (e.g., Jung & Jin, 2016 ).…”

“…Research shows that the acceptance of CFC is negatively influenced by hygiene concerns ( Xu et al, 2014 , Lang et al, 2019 ) lowering evaluations ( Hazée et al, 2019 ). Despite retailers’ effort to ward off negative perceptions by providing careful product handling ( Park & Joyner Armstrong, 2019b ), contamination concerns indeed discourage sharing clothing ( Becker-Leifhold & Iran, 2018 ). Acknowledging the relevance of negative contamination to the CFC context, we investigate how individuals’ contamination concerns in an FRS context will affect the hypothesized relationships as a moderator.…”

“…Leveraging on advanced technology and logistics, today’s fashion rental business has built a digital platform to provide the right product temporarily and has re-shaped clothing as a service ( McDowell, 2019 ). Fashion rental service (FRS) has received increasing attention in industry as well as academic press ( Becker-Leifhold, 2018 , Lee and Chow, 2020 , Loussaïef et al, 2019 , Park and Joyner Armstrong, 2017 , Park and Joyner Armstrong, 2019a , Park and Joyner Armstrong, 2019b ), along with the growth of collaborative consumption (CC). FRS is attractive for consumers who want to access various items without taking responsibility for ownership ( Bardhi & Eckhardt, 2017 ).…”

“…Many kinds of CC involve physical contact with objects that have been previously touched by other users (e.g., clothing, car), leading to subjectivity to contamination concerns ( Becker-Leifhold & Iran, 2018 ). Although FRS ensures careful product handling through services such as professional cleaning ( Park & Joyner Armstrong, 2019b ), the association between the idea of renting and negative contamination is difficult to break in consumers’ minds ( Becker-Leifhold & Iran, 2018 ). In academia, scholars recognized contamination concern as one of the barriers to the adoption of CC ( Edbring, Lehner, & Mont, 2016 ), particularly fashion consumption ( Armstrong, Niinimäki, Kujala, Karell, & Lang, 2015 ).…”