The adoption process is an information seeking and
information-processing activity (Rogers, 1983,p. 21).
Fashion information which consumers receive from various
sources directly affects their decision to adopt or reject a
style (Sproles, 1979, p. 173). Research has shown that
consumers vary in their use of fashion information sources
during the adoption process based upon their level of
fashion leadership and demographic characteristics such as
age and sex. However, little is known about the influence
of cultural values on the fashion adoption process. As
apparel manufacturing and retailing companies increase
global marketing efforts, further understanding of cross-cultural
differences in consumer behavior during the fashion
adoption process is needed. The present study explored the
influence of cultural values on fashion information seeking
during the adoption process.
The purpose of the present study was to compare Korean
and U.S. college women's fashion information seeking.
Comparisons were made on two levels: (1) between fashion
leaders and followers within each culture and (2) between
Korean fashion leaders and U.S. leaders. The type of
information sources (categorized as marketer dominated,
consumer dominated and neutral sources) used at the selected
stages of the adoption process model as depicted in Sproles
model (1979, p. 197) (awareness of object, interest and
evaluation) was investigated. Frequency of use and variety
of fashion information sources used by consumers were also
examined.
The subjects of the present study were a purposive
sample of 95 Korean and 82 U.S. college women, recruited
from clothing and merchandising courses at Chungnam National
University and Seoul National University in Korea and at
Oregon State University during 1993 Spring term. Data were
collected through the use of a self-administered
questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of four parts:
(1) fashion innovativeness and fashion opinion leadership
scales, (2) questions asking fashion information sources
used at the selected stages of the adoption process, (3) a
scale to measure frequency and variety of fashion
information sources used, and (4) questions asking
demographic characteristics of the subjects.
The questionnaire was first developed in English and
translated into Korean. To confirm the equivalency of the
two versions, the Korean questionnaire was back-translated into English. The questionnaire was also pre-tested for
clarity with subjects from the same population as the
sample. The data were analyzed by Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA) and chi-square analysis.
Fashion leaders were those who were self-identified as
fashion opinion leaders or fashion innovators. 31.6% of the
Korean sample (n=30) and 47.6% of the U.S. sample (n=39)
were classified as fashion leaders.
Korean fashion leaders were found to use marketer
dominated sources at the awareness of object stage more than
did U.S. leaders. No differences were found in the type of
information sources at the interest and evaluation stages
between Korean fashion leaders and U.S. leaders. Through
all the stages of the adoption process, the Korean leaders
used foreign fashion magazines and non-fashion magazines
(advertisements and fashion columns) as fashion information
sources more than did U.S. fashion leaders.
U.S. fashion leaders showed a greater frequency of use
of consumer dominated sources than Korean leaders. No
difference was found in variety of fashion information
sources used by Korean fashion leaders and U.S. leaders.
For both Korean and U.S. consumers, fashion leaders had a
greater frequency of use and a greater variety of fashion
information sources used than followers.
Similar to what had been found with U.S. consumers,
Korean fashion leaders may prove to be an effective target
for fashion marketing efforts. / Graduation date: 1994
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35728 |
| Date | 12 August 1993 |
| Creators | Kwon, Kyoung-nan |
| Contributors | Burns, Leslie D. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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