This paper investigates how promotions of knowledge and social embeddness shape consumers’ participation in sustainable consumption. An extended model of goal-directed behaviour is tested under airline consumers who have participated in voluntary carbon offset (VCO) program. Results show consumer’s knowledge positively influences their subjective norm but not their attitude towards participation of VCO. Increasing consumers’ sense of social embeddedness is also found to be crucial in forming subjective norm and their attitude. Finally, positive anticipated emotion influences consumers’ desire to participate in VCO, while negative anticipated emotion did not. The findings of this research reveal how interactive promotions influence individual’s internal processes for sustainable consumption, as well as highlight the need for different emotional elicitation strategies for different sustainability programs.

The fashion industry, being energy and labor-intensive, has faced obstacles such as waste of resources, environmental pollution, and poor working conditions through the supply chain process. Because of the huge success of fast fashion, the consumption of fashion products has increased by 60% in the past ten years. At the same time, the problem of clothing waste is rearing its ugly head accounting for more than 30% of the entire garbage of the world. Providing clothes in cheaper price causes a poorer working condition. In April 2013, a deaths of 1,149 people in garment factory of Bangladesh is caused by the poor working condition without safety standard. Considering its direct effect on lives, consumers are now asking fashion companies to take on more social responsibilities and sustainability is emerging as a critical issue in the fashion industry (Ko, Hwang, & Kim, 2012; Yoo, 2012a). However despite consumers’ high interest in sustainability, they hardly ever seemed to connect with actual consumers according to various studies. Therefore, for a better understanding of consumers to foster their sustainable purchase behavior, this study attempts to identify consumers’ perception and attitude toward sustainable fashion and provide a suitable promoting strategy for consumer types. The role of consumers in driving a sustainable industry ecosystem is growing in importance, but few studies on sustainable fashion consumers have been conducted. Besides, there are two unsolved limitations, in particular, which have been pointed out multiple times in previous studies: first, the inconsistency between the findings (D’Souza, Taghian, Lamb, & Peretiatko, 2007; McDonald & Oates, 2006; Moisander, 2007; Peattie, 2001; Rex & Baumann, 2007; Straughan, 1999), and second, the failure to explain “the attitude-behavior gap.” (Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002; Vermeir & Verbeke, 2006; Yoo, 2012b) In this context, this study employs Q methodology and purchase perception matrix to identify consumers. Q methodology is more effective and robust technique than self-report methods for the measurement of attitudes and subjective opinion (Stanton & Guion, 2010; Cross, 2005). And the purchase perception matrix, proposed by Peattie (1999), is known as a useful model to classify individual sustainable purchase (Peattie, 1999; Peattie, 2001; McDonald & Oates, 2006; Tan, 2011). The matrix combines two dimensions (High vs. Low confidence and compromise) to analyze four potential purchases such as win-win purchase, feeling good purchase, why not? purchase, why bother? purchase. Peattie’s matrix implies the concept of purchases but also has resonance with the concept of consumers. For example, using marketing strategy to enhance confidence and reduce compromise of each consumer makes their sustainable purchases more easy (McDonald & Oates, 2006). This study tests four types of benefit cueing using advertisement stimuli on sustainable fashion in order to suggest an effective promoting strategy to consumers. Moon et al. (2013) investigate three benefits of sustainable fashion, which are altruistic benefit (out-directed and selfless), social image benefit (out-directed and self-interested) and self-oriented benefit (inner-directed and self-interested). Hartmann et al. (2005) test two types of marketing strategy which are emotional strategy (a feeling of happiness by altruistic behavior or expression of self-identity as a green consumer) and functional strategy (excellent performance in eco-friendly function). Following the previous studies, this study investigates 2 (benefit orientation: external-oriented, internal-oriented) by 2 (benefit type: rational, emotional) benefit cueing stimuli into different types of consumer to verify four hypotheses such as first, external-oriented benefit is more effective than inner-directed benefit (Kim and Kim, 2002; Park, Oh, and Hwang, 2013). Second, based on the purchase perception matrix, high confidence and compromise consumer is more affected than low confidence and compromise consumer by external-oriented benefit. Third, high confidence and compromise consumer is more affected by external-oriented plus rational benefit (Pahbar and Wahid, 2011). And fourth, low confidence and compromise consumer is more affected by external-oriented plus emotional benefit (Vermeir and Verbeke, 2006). In study 1, Q methodology is conducted to identify the types of sustainable fashion consumer with 26 participants. As the result, four types of consumer are identified; the doubtful egoist, the single-minded bystander, the wavering intellect, and the narcissistic activist. The doubtful egoist is especially interested in personal gains and distrusts so-called sustainable fashion. The single-minded bystander has his own subjective opinion on sustainable fashion and is not easily persuaded by sustainable marketing messages. The wavering intellect is obviously interested in sustainability but also shows the highest attitude-behavior gap. The narcissistic activist sets great store by his social image and for that reason consumes sustainable fashion products. In study 2, which aims to verify the four types of consumer and test different types of benefit cueing of sustainable fashion by surveying 328 participants. Each consumer type is shown to be distinctive in terms of sustainable fashion perception, sustainable fashion behavior, fashion lifestyle, cost and benefit perception of sustainable fashion, and the degree of confidence and compromise. The four types of consumer are categorized into two types based on the purchase perception matrix. The wavering intellect is located on higher degree of confidence and compromise position but the others are on an opposite side by showing lower degree of confidence and compromise. Four types of benefit cueing are suggested to two types of consumer (the degree of confidence and compromise: high, low) with regard to the consumer types’ willingness to pay for sustainable fashion. The result shows that external-oriented benefit is more effective than internal-oriented benefit (Mex=2.84, SDex=.079, Min=2.46, SDin=.093; F=9.435, p<.005, H1 is supported). Those who show high degree of confidence and compromise are affected by external-oriented benefit than low degree of confidence and compromise consumers (Mh=3.19, Ml=2.49, F=12.130, p<.005; H2 is supported) and most of all, external-rational benefit (Mex-e=3.18, Sdex-e=.85, Mex-r=3.95, Sdex-r=1.18; t=2.351, p<.05, H3 is supported). Those who show low degree of confidence and compromise are affected by external-emotional benefit but this difference did not fall within the range of statistical significance (Mex-r=2.38, Sdex-r=1.24, Mex-e=2.61, Sdex-e=1.05; t=1.176, p>.05, H4 is rejected). This study theoretically contributes to a new and holistic perspective of sustainable fashion consumer and provides better understanding by Q methodology and purchase perception matrix. This study investigates the complex attributes of benefit such as different types and orientations and it takes a step-by-step look at how different benefit cueing leads actual behavior change of consumer. Especially, this study adopted a new variable such as consumer type and it enhances the feasibility of predicting sustainable fashion acceptance of each type of consumer. From a practical point of view, this study will be useful for offering guidelines to identify a specific target to generate a specific result for sustainable fashion company. For instance, concentrating on altruistic benefit promoting strategy with fluent information about eco-friendly attributes and socially responsible activities can strengthen high degree of confidence and compromise consumers who are relatively easy to change purchase behavior and regarded as target consumers. But those strategy does not much affect to low degree of confidence and compromise consumer who are potential consumers and as well as mass consumers in terms of their actual numbers in market. It is needed a long-term approach and in such context, this study offers guidance for expanding sustainable fashion from a niche market to a mass market.

Today all nations in the world focus on remaining competitive advantage by adding high values to their fashion businesses. The most typical example of such added value is fashion collection. In case of London Fashion Week, which is among the world’s top 4 most famous fashion collections where more than 5,000 journalists and buyers from 25 nations can be expected every season, it has great contribution to the economic wealth of London. It induces consumption of 20 million GBP and economic production effects of one hundred million GBP. According to Joo (2009), one of the main purposes of fashion collections can be defined as the invigoration of international marketing and the creation of consumption demand. Fashion collections lead to increased direct sales and consumption demand by developing new products based on leading fashion trends that are presented in the collection. The so-called Big four collections in Paris, Milan, New York and London have their own Country of Origin (COO) image, which represents each country, cities, brands, products and services. For example, Paris collection has been established as luxury image with hand-made and Haute Couture. Not only fashion collection but also fashion brands have applied specific country characteristics to their fashion brand’s image. This serves as a critical factor of competitiveness that communicates an integrated image of brands to the customers. Also, within the purchase decision-making process, consumers consider COO as an important element. Therefore, organizer of fashion collections as well as brands that engage in such should consider COO as a key factor. Most of the previous studies about fashion collections focused on content analyses. For example, Joo (2009) compared characteristics and current situations between four major overseas cities’ collections and Seoul collection. Additionally, there are studies about fashion style, trend, design and textile. Characteristics of color change in 1990s fashion collection (Kim & Kim, 2007) and an analysis of design of hats and fashion images in collections (Jeong & Jeong, 2008) have been conducted as well. Previous studies related to COO mainly focused on the product (Bilkey & Nes, 1982) and how the image of the producing country affects product evaluation. Thus, the purposes of this study are 1) to examine of fashion collection’s COO and fashion brand image effects on brand evaluation and purchase intention, 2) to analyze differentiation factors of COO image, brand evaluation, purchasing intention on Seoul, New York and Paris collection. We surveyed Korean, American and French who have experience in their own country’s fashion collection and used SPSS 21 for data analysis. Fashion collection’s COO and brand image has a great effect on brand evaluation and purchase intention. Moreover, it seems to increase the purchase intention by affecting brand evaluation. Therefore, the results of the study are as follows. First, we can confirm that the better the fashion collection’s COO and fashion brand image, the higher brand evaluation and purchase intention is. Second, when assessing fashion collection’s COO image and fashion brand image, brand evaluation and purchase intention differ according to Korea, US and French national stereotypes. This study goes beyond the general product-centric COO studies and introduces the fashion collection’s COO that can be valuable research in terms of contribution not only to academia, but also to the industrial field.

All aspects of individual consumer as well as situational affecting on decisions are influenced by the social and cultural structure in which the consumer is embedded. Recently, there has been a growing worldwide phenomenon whereby tourists visit an attraction or destination as a result of that place being portrayed or represented in the popular cultural forms of the media that are not directly related with tourism promotion or marketing. A number of studies have suggested that such portrayals and features of mass media can act as powerful forces that stimulate tourism demand (Beeton, 2001). Representations and images of tourist destinations constructed by popular cultural forms of media such as films, television and literature play a significant role in influencing people’s holiday decision-making process (Iwashita, 2006). Where trade in images, expectations, dreams, and fantasies are made in tourism (Selwyn, 1996), those media representations and images of tourist destinations play a significant role in influencing people’s decision-making process. The tourism industry also is increasing appliance of images that are drawn from popular culture associated with places to promote tourist destinations and to distinguish themselves from each other. While these researches contribute to the understanding of the influence of pop culture on tourism phenomena, only few studies have investigated on the actual linkage between the pop culture and tourism perceptions/behaviors. The reason why pop culture involvement can be related to the actual intention to visit is due to the fandom created relating to the pop culture. The notion of fandom has been put forward in order to understand the link in between the pop culture and the mass audience in diverse realms (Couldry, 2007). Fandom in recent years have been understood to dismiss the negative view of pathological and the stem for alienating qualities of modern society, and accepted as a phenomena widely spread in post-industrial societies (Jenson, 1992). It is then when transitional moment takes place, in the head and heart of the fan or tourist, that the fascination begins which provides the motivation to visit the locations (Reijnders, 2011). With such cultural industries in modern society constantly produce countless contents that can be utilized as objects of fandom, resulting in actual visit to a place associated with a specific destination serving as an effective strategy for building popular cultural capital in modern society. It was therefore decided to investigate this phenomenon in more depth through empirical research to investigate how and to what extent popular cultural forms of the media (those not directly associated with tourism and destination marketing) have an effect on international tourism, and future, to identify what roles they play in influencing tourists from emerging market in terms of their travel destination image and their perception about places to visit within the chosen destination. The phenomenon in this study focuses on the Korean wave, so called Hallyu, as it is one of the pop culture phenomenon that has gained much recognition across not only within Asian countries but also recently in Western countries via pop songs, soap operas, movies, and other forms of mass media entertainment. In this study, diffusion model suggested by Rogers (1995) was used. The diffusion of Rogers’s innovation framework is proving flexible enough to conceptualize many kinds of social change, including change through processes of public dialogue and civic participation, change within organizations, as well as change through public agenda setting and media effects. Many studies have incorporated diffusion theory to explain such cultural phenomenon to gain more enrich result, however, no other studies have looked into the degree of diffusion stage in a macro level according to the regions. However, to obtain the overall view of the diffusion of such pop culture, it is needed to see the diffusion process proceeding globally as even the same fandom may differ in characteristics based on not only the diffusion stage but also its distinctive characteristics of social system. As a result, according to the diffusion stage of Hallyu, it is expected to differ in formation and perception on destination image. Previous studies identify destination image into cognition and affect which are two conceptually different, yet highly correlated components (Lee, 2008). The cognitive component leading to some internally accepted attributes, a more or less derived from factual information. On the other hand, the affective component relates to a diffusive feeling, which can become important when a decision to travel is actually considered (Russel, 1980). Such image constructed by tourists contains an individual or group perception of a particular place (Fakeye and Crompton 1991). It is expected that the image construction will vary according to the stage of the diffusion. This study incorporates diffusion theory to develop a better understanding of the diffusion process and the current situation of the Korean Wave globally to see whether such diffusion process varies according to region. Then, the effect of such difference in diffusion stages on the intention to visit the destination country was investigated. Thus, preliminary research was conducted first to see the Korean Wave phenomenon globally. In order to analyze the diffusion stage thoroughly, three regions of Asia, America, and Europe were selected. According to the diffusion degree of the Korean wave, seven representative countries were elected regarded to the regions. Along with literatures, in-depth interviews were conducted. The semi-structured form with an interview guide method was presented with reflexive interviewing techniques in order to ensure comprehensiveness (Athos & Gabarro, 1978). Then, a survey was conducted to examine the effect of pop culture involvement on formation and perception of destination image in China and Russia. Choice of countries is not only resulting from recognition as the potential future powerhouse in industry, but because it is the two countries take place as one of the highest increase in the number of tourists visiting Korea recently (KCTI, 2013). In addition, most importantly, China represents to be in the highest stage of diffusion of Korean pop culture, and Russia as one of the lowest. Additionally, the moderating effect of travel intention and travel behavior was preceded. From this, it aims to provide deeper understanding implications for targeting tourists. The hypotheses were tested with a data set developed from field survey using only online survey. Of the 265 samples collected, 8 were returned incomplete. An additional 18 samples were deleted for further analysis, as the answers were unusable. In total 239 samples – 120 and 119 samples from China and Russia respectively – were subjected for final analysis. The result in Study 1 revealed some commonalities and differences among regions. Overall, uniqueness was what made people first be interested. It was mostly pursued by young women yet those who are sometimes extremist. Thus, being open-minded to other cultures was found to be important when accepting other cultures. Moreover, it revealed that it impacts on national image to be more positive as it replaces the negative image related to war and North Korea. However, despite some commonalities, distinctive differences were disclosed among regions, especially between Asian countries and Western countries. In terms of Asia, it was found that cultural similarities have influenced the early acceptance of Korean pop culture. It has been spread since 1997, through television mostly with sensuous contents that were unique in other countries. The contents were mostly appealing to women as the characters shown in soap opera were different to others. This is very different to Europe of America where the diffusion starting in the mid 2000 through the Internet. Uniqueness captured consumers, yet in a different way from Asian countries. The easy going and entertaining aspect was the appealing factor, with word of mouth and human power was what influenced in introduction of Korean pop culture. In addition, those who were into Japanese culture were easily approached to Korean pop culture. The diffusion stage was considered to be less than 10%, with very young women interested with comparison with Asia where it was about 70%. Moreover, it was found that Asian consumers are interested in Korean brand products, such as cosmetics and clothing, and Western consumers are more interested in culture and food. Then, on the survey proceeded where China and Russia was chosen based on the preliminary qualitative research as a two different stage of diffusion according regions/countries, t-test provided evidence to support the claim that depending the diffusion stage of pop culture, the effect on formation and perception of destination image differs. A significant differences were obtained in pop culture involvement, destination image (cognitive and affective), and on visit intention. Based on the t-test statistics for Korean pop culture involvement (t = 8.491, p < .000), the cognitive image (t = -3.341, p < .001), the affective image (t = 2.050, p < .05), and visit intention (t = 2.072, p < .05) were significant. Thus, when highly involved in Korean pop culture, rather than cognitive image, consumers are more likely to be involved with affective image which relates to the actual visit intention. The results corroborated several hypothesized relationships, popular culture involvement in accordance to nation affect the destination image and perception. When more highly involved, more positively it relates to affective image and the visitation intention. The findings reported in this study have managerial implications. One is that as the relation differs according to the diffusion stage, spreading pop culture may not yield visible output instantly, yet as it relates to the actual visitation intention, international pop culture activities should be supported. Second, as shown from the diffusion process globally, distinctive characteristics of each culture should be considered more when spreading such sub-culture. Lastly, therefore, it can be suggested, that according to the countries, different approach should be made in order to induce tourist from other countries. However, this study focuses more on the macro level of the phenomenon. Therefore, future research is needed to provide more evidence on the micro level and more in-depth research. In addition, this study precedes empirical study only in China and Russia. Therefore, more diverse countries should be explored and compared.