Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically compare the impact of firm reputation on consumers' evaluation of e-tailers' market response outcomes (satisfaction, trust, and loyalty) in two cultures, the USA (individualism, low uncertainty avoidance, low context, and high-trust society) and South Korea (collectivism, high uncertainty, high context, and low-trust society). Design/methodology/approach – Two sets of data were collected, one in the USA and the other in Korea, using a mall intercept method. Males and females over 18 who had online purchase experience were chosen as respondents. Findings – The results with 385 usable questionnaires (182 from the USA and 203 from Korea) revealed that firm reputation contributes to customer loyalty by increasing customer satisfaction, and this effect is stronger in Korea than in the USA. However, contrary to the expectations, no cultural differences were found in reputation-trust and trust-loyalty links. That is, firm reputation leads to customer loyalty through trust in both cultures and the impacts are the same across cultures. Research limitations/implications – Further validation of the findings with other cultural settings merits attention. Practical implications – The firm reputation-satisfaction-loyalty link is stronger in Korea than in the USA. While it may be premature to conclude the link is stronger in all Asian markets, international managers should carefully consider this finding when establishing operations in Asian markets. Originality/value – This study is one of the first systematic cross-cultural examinations of how firm reputation functions in an e-tailing context increase market response outcomes.

Purpose – Despite proven strategic significance and wide acceptance of private label products (PB), our understanding of PB in international markets is limited. The purposes of this study are to propose a model that integrates four consumer characteristic variables (price consciousness, value consciousness, perceived price variation, and consumer innovativeness) toward PB attitude and purchase intention, and to test the model in two product categories, grocery and home appliances, in a South Korean discount store context. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 168 usable data (87 for food and 81 for home appliances were collected using mall intercept method from female shoppers at one Korean discount store in Seoul, Korea. Findings – The findings revealed that, depending on the product category, contribution of the factors varies. Among four consumer characteristics, only three in each category exhibited direct and indirect association with PB purchase intention. Perceived quality variability in a food category and price consciousness in a home appliance category did not show any relationship with PB purchase intention nor with PB attitude. In both product categories, only two variables, value consciousness and consumer innovativeness, predicted PB attitude. Overall, consumer innovativeness was the strongest factor predicting Korean shoppers’ PB attitude. Originality/value – Important theoretical contributions of this study are finding the relative importance of the variables on PB attitude and purchase intention, and differing roles of consumer variables by product characteristics. Further significance of this study lies in understanding the differing impact of consumer perceptual variables in predicting PB attitude and purchase intention simultaneously. Managerial implications of these results were discussed.

As an alternative to the prevalent fast fashion model, slow fashion has emerged as a way of enhancing sustainability in the fashion industry, yet how slow fashion can enhance profitability is still largely unknown. Based on a customer value creation framework, this study empirically tested a structural model that specified the slow fashion attributes that contribute to creating perceived customer value, which subsequently increases a consumer’s intention to buy and pay a price premium for slow fashion products. An analysis of 221 U.S. consumer data revealed that delivering exclusive product value is significantly critical in creating customer value for slow fashion, and customer value, in turn, positively affects consumers’ purchase intentions. Further analysis also revealed that different slow fashion attributes distinctively affect customer value. This provides potential strategies on which slow fashion businesses can focus to secure an economically sustainable business model, thereby continuously improving environmental and social sustainability with the slow fashion ideal.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to understand consumers’ purchase intention toward green apparel products using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Specifically, this study aimed to compare US and Chinese consumers to understand how green apparel behaviors differ by a country’s green market status and cultural differences.Design/methodology/approach: By employing two antecedents, man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge into the TPB framework, a theoretical model was proposed and tested to explain how and to what extent each variable affected the purchase intention of US and Chinese consumers. To compare the two countries consumers’ purchase intention, moderating effects were proposed. To test this model, a total of 437 valid data sets were collected at universities in the USA and China.Findings: Findings indicated that the subjective norm was found to have the highest direct influence on purchase intention in both countries. Regarding internal perceived behavioral control (PBC) and external PBC, internal PBC was important for purchase intention in the US consumers while external PBC significantly influenced purchase intention among Chinese consumers. For the USA, two indirect antecedents to purchase intention (man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) positively influenced variables in the TPB. In contrast, for China, the path between man-nature orientation and attitude toward green apparel products was not supported, but all other paths were supported. Only environmental knowledge (indirect antecedent) positively influenced internal PBC. Country moderating effects were not tested because of lack of supported evidence of invariance tests.Originality/value: This study is an empirical research that focuses on purchase intention of green apparel products rather than on the production of green textiles, a topic that has received considerable attention in previous studies. This research is based on TPB with specified indirect antecedents to purchase intention. By testing the proposed model, the study explains the paths from two indirect antecedents (i.e. man-nature orientation and environmental knowledge) to the intent to purchase green apparel products. Therefore, academically, this study contributes to understanding the interrelationships among the factors that lead to purchase intention of green apparel products.