Is Your Purchase Intention Influenced by Irrational Factors? An Investigation of Fashion Industry

This research paper mainly aims to identify and analyse irrational factors that impact consumers’ purchase intention, especially in the fashion industry. The data for this study were collected from 205 consumers of various nationalities via an online self-administered questionnaire. The acquired data were put through a thorough process to establish their relevance and to ensure that the data were ready for further analysis by applying the SPSS & AMOS software. Three irrational factors were extracted from the extant literature, namely, media, social impact, and emotions. These factors are reported to have a positive infl uence on the consumer’s purchase intention. First, a descriptive analysis was undertaken followed by an inferential analysis. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the fi tness of the proposed model and also to test the hypotheses. Two out of the total three hypotheses are supported. In this case, media infl uence and social infl uence emerged with a signifi cant positive impact on the consumer’s purchase intention. Even though emotions infl uence resulted in a positive impact, it was not statistically signifi cant and does not relate to the consumer’s purchase intention in the fashion industry. The fi ndings of this study have signifi cant contribution to the body of knowledge and practice. Marketing research, in general, and consumer research, in particular, will benefi t from the contribution of this research. Similarly, policy makers in the fashion industry may adopt the fi ndings of the present study to devise more eff ective marketing strategies. Indeed, this research highlights that the consumer’s purchase intention is not entirely in response to a particular phenomenon but a multitude of so-called “irrational” factors like media, society, and emotions.