Antecedents to Organic Clothes Buying Intentions of Pakistani Consumers: An Extension of Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

Sustainability is an important issue that needs to be addressed to protect the environment and its resources. Considering sustainability in the fashion industry is worthwhile as the fashion industry causes a severe threat to the environment. This research aims to investigate the factors that influence consumers’ buying intention of organic clothes in Pakistan. The current study extends the “theory of planned behavior framework”, and includes antecedents such as fashion involvement, consumer awareness, product attributes perception, product availability, and price consciousness to understand the buying intention of organic clothes. Moreover, this study intends to investigate the moderating effects of environmental concerns and previous purchase experience on the relationships between the antecedents and the factors such as “attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control”. A total of 514 responses were collected from the Pakistani consumers. The findings confirm that antecedents affect the buying intentions of the consumers. Furthermore, the findings suggest that antecedents indirectly affect buying intention via attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. Likewise, the results confirm that there are moderating effects of environmental concerns and previous purchase experience on antecedents and factors such as attitude and perceived behavioral control. Based on study’s findings, the implications for theory and practice are offered.