The purpose of this study was first, to clarify the clothing benefits that Uzbek female college students seek through clothing products; and second, to determine whether there is a difference in clothing involvement and clothing purchasing behavior according to the type of clothing benefits. Data were collected from 290 female university students from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and analyzed using factor analysis, K-means group classification analysis, ANOVA, Duncan test, χ2-test, and frequency analysis. Respondents were classified into four types according to their clothing benefits: individuality/economy-pursuit, comfort-pursuit, fashion/brand-pursuit, and indifference. Significant differences were identified in terms of clothing involvement, information sources, clothing evaluation criteria, clothing store attributes, clothing wearing conditions (including monthly clothing expenses), number of purchases per year, clothing purchase location, clothing preference style, and clothing dissatisfaction. The fashion/brand-pursuit and personality/economy-pursuit types were influenced more by fashion and symbolism of clothing involvement, information sources, clothing evaluation criteria, and clothing store attributes. The individuality/economy-pursuit type purchased more frequently, spent more monthly clothing expenses, and used the internet. Clothing store attributes were considered more important by female students than the other attributes. In these results, clothing benefits were identified as consumer characteristics of female Uzbek college students and market segmentation was determined. In addition, it is meaningful in providing basic data for efficient marketing activities and minimizing trials and errors in establishing local-friendly strategies for target customers in different cultures.

For the past decade, the convenience of sharing information online has improved drastically with the development of smart devices and social media. Such changes have contributed to regarding online word-of-mouth (WOM) as one of the most important consumer information sources. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine online WOM effects (acceptance/redelivery intention) with the two-way interaction effects of fashion involvement and the market maven. The empirical study consisted of an offline survey that collected data from 341 respondents and analyzed the data by factor analysis, independent t-test, and two-way ANOVA with SPSS 20.0, producing the following results. First, the market maven effect was found to differ significantly based on the level of fashion involvement, and is also higher when fashion involvement is high. Second, fashion involvement primarily affected online WOM acceptance, while the market maven significantly affected redelivery intention. Moreover, fashion involvement and market maven had relevant two-way interaction with both of the online WOM effects. Third, market maven had measurable effects on WOM redelivery types (objective/subjective) and directions (positive/negative/ neutral), whereas fashion involvement did not have any primary effects on them. However, fashion involvement and market maven had two-way interaction effects on the positive and negative direction of WOM redelivery. Based on these findings, the study suggests the importance of investigating and understanding the complicated online WOM behaviors of consumers, specifically from both managerial and theoretical perspectives.