• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.1285-1301
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• 2024

With growing concerns about sustainability in the fashion industry, fashion brands are increasingly promoting their sustainability initiatives. However, do sustainable attributes always drive consumers' purchase intentions toward sustainable apparel? Grounded in psychological egoism and congruity theory, this study aims to understand the effect of conventional and sustainable apparel attributes on purchase intentions for sustainable apparel, considering the roles of brand type (fast fashion vs. sustainable fashion) and green self-identity. Data were collected from an online survey of 244 U.S. consumers aged 18 and older. The results revealed that conventional attributes of quality, fit, style, and comfort had a significantly stronger effect on purchase intentions than sustainable attributes. Both conventional and sustainable attributes enhanced purchase intention for fast fashion brands, while only conventional attributes were significant for sustainable fashion brands. Green self-identity did not have a significant moderating effect, indicating that apparel buying is a behavior less influenced by green self-identity. The findings highlight the importance of conventional attributes while suggesting that attributes perceived as lacking in the brand are crucial for driving purchase intentions. This study offers valuable insights into consumer behavior in sustainable fashion consumption and helps develop effective strategies for fast fashion and sustainable fashion brands.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.29-59
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• 2016

These days, the business environment such as Information Technology (IT) is rapidly changing, and organizations are consistently trying to change themselves for the survival and success under the changing environment. In this situation, change management is very important because it draws the change behaviors of organization members for the success of organizational change. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the organization members' psychological factors on the performance of the acquisition of new IT, which is one of the most important organizational change. Based on previous studies in the area of organizational change, organization members' resistance to change, self-congruity theory, change activities and organizational performance, the research model is developed for validating the effect of organization members' self-congruity on the performance of the acquisition of new IT. Statistical analyses show that self-congruity has a significant effect on the change activities. In particular, private self-congruity has more impact on the change activities than public self-congruity. In addition, self-leadership, rewards and recognitions, and the diffusion of change activities have significant effects on job satisfaction. Self-leadership has a significant effect on organizational commitment.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.83-105
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• 2010

Smartphone services seem to be appealing to people worldwide and show rapid growth in mobile service market. Based on the theoretical framework like attachment theory and self-congruity theory, we developed the research model and proposed six hypotheses. An analysis of 113 smartphone service users found that continued use intention in smartphone services is affected by uses' attachment to the service. We also found that the attachment is significantly increased by self-congruity, customization, and perceived usefulness. Our aim was to gain insight into ways of creating an environment that facilitating continued use intention of smartphone services. This study has important implications for academic researchers and practitioners who seek to understand why smartphone service users continuously use their smart phone services. Other practical implications of these findings and future research implications are also discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.12-25
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• 2016

Based on the self-congruity theory, this study investigated how congruity between multi-brand store image and consumers' self-image affect store attributes and consumer responses. A total of 331 questionnaires were used to analyze data. The results of research were: 1) 'Sophistication' as the congruity factor between store image and consumers' self-image affected 'utility', 'atmosphere', and 'design' among store attribute factors. Also, 'sincerity' influenced 'utility' as the store attribute factor. 2) 'Atmosphere' as the store attribute factor positively influenced consumers' emotional responses, and 'utility' and 'design' factors positively influenced consumers' cognitive responses. 3) Consumers' emotional responses had a positive impact on consumers' cognitive responses; in addition, consumers' emotional and cognitive responses had positive impacts on consumers' behavioral responses. 4) A-Land indicated higher scores on 'sophistication', 'atmosphere', and 'design' factors than ABC Mart. ABC Mart had shown higher scores on 'ruggedness' and 'utility' factors than A-Land. This study provides practical implications to develop effective marketing strategies to manage multi-brand stores.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.7
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• pp.603-611
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• 2021

This study aims to analyze the mediating influences of resonance-based self-attitude and brand credibility in a relationship between celebrity endorser credibility and celebrity endorser congruity toward brand purchase intention in the current dynamic business environment. It employs a quantitative research method and reports on a survey, using a questionnaire, including the population of consumers of various instant coffee brands in several cities in Indonesia. The number of respondents in this study was 432 people. The analysis was performed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling and SmartPLS software. The analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, evaluation of the measurement model, evaluation of the structural model, and hypothesis testing. The results partially support the model developed. The findings suggest that the instant coffee product advertising in Indonesia needs to create brand messages focusing on the formation of resonance-based self-attitude from consumers to increase the influence of celebrity endorser credibility and celebrity endorser congruity, as well as the brand credibility towards the brand purchase intention. This study contributes to the marketing literature and the theory of planned behavior by providing empirical evidence on the relationship between celebrity endorser credibility, celebrity endorser congruity, resonance-based self-attitude, brand credibility, and brand purchase intention.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.117-139
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• 2013

Research on purchase intention had showed remarkable progress in contributing to the theory of consumer behavior. Despite the popularity of academic discussions on various issues influencing purchase intention, the mediating role of brand recall and brand attitude on purchase intention, in particular advergames, has not yet been well explored, especially in developing economies such as Malaysia. Furthermore, the influence of self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement acceptance as antecedents to brand recall and brand attitude are expected to add value to the brand recall, brand attitude and purchase intention relationships. This paper aims to investigate the impact of the mediating role of brand recall and brand attitude on purchase intention in advergames among Malaysian gamers. The antecedents towards brand recall and brand attitude are also examined to measure their influence on purchase intention. A total of 350 Malaysian gamers were interviewed through online survey in this study. The results showed that brand recall and brand attitude mediate the relationship between self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement acceptance with purchase intention. Also, entertainment and brand placement acceptance were found to have a significant relationship with brand recall. As expected, brand recall and brand attitude showed a positive relationship with consumer purchase intention in advergames. It was found that self-brand congruity has a significant influence on brand attitude and purchase intention. When users see the brand which matches with them, they tend to act positively toward the brand exposed in the game. This is consistent with Escalas and Bettman (2005) who suggested that the greater the congruity, the more positive the consumer's attitude toward the brand in question. This leads to game usage and purchase (Davis and Lang, 2013). In the advergaming context, the entertainment value in advergames is very important to determine the level of enjoyment and pleasure experienced by gamers during game-playing. Therefore, the more entertaining the ads, the more it will be remembered and the greater the positive behavior of the consumer towards the advergames - this ultimately stimulates their intention to purchase the brand. This study shows the effect of brand placement on brand recall and brand attitude and also purchase intention. Brand placements might not work in games due to the interactivity involved in game-playing as people could be distracted from noticing the brand placements (Yang et al., 2006). However, the significant influence of brand placements found in this study may provide major promise for advertisers. Game players may or may not explicitly remember the brands they see in the games, but these placements may influence their brand recall and brand attitude and could therefore influence later decisions (Yang et al., 2006). In this study, it was found that self-brand congruity was not significantly related with brand recall. The reason for this could be attributed to the fact that this study examined gamers who are highly involved in the interactive medium of games which force them to focus on game play rather than advertisements; the level of recognition to remember the brand exposed in the game is low and contributes to the "mismatch" between the gamers and the said brand. The present study contributes to the existing literature of the antecedents of brand recall and brand attitude in advergames. This study contributes to the role of brand recall and brand attitude as mediators in purchase behavior theory. Academically, the relationship between brand recall and brand attitude is well known in advergaming research, but their impact as important mediators on purchase intention add new understanding in the interactive communication literature. Their mediating role may provide new insights on how they facilitate the effects of self-brand congruity, entertainment and brand placement on purchase intention. Besides that, the studies on the influence of self-brand congruity on brand recall and brand attitude and also consumer intention to purchase had not well-investigated in advergames. This study contributes to fill those gaps in advergames literature. For practitioners, this study could suggest the use of illustrative or demonstrative placements of new products to help customers remember new brands, and the use of associative placements for existing products to increase consumers' purchase intention (Ho et al., 2011). To advertisers, this study may provide useful information to improve their current advertising strategies in games, for instance, by considering game players' congruity, entertainment value and brand placement factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.556-571
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• 2020

This study predicts consumer preference for social clothing at work, excluding uniforms using the self-product congruence theory that also establishes a model to predict the preference for recommended products that match the consumer's own image. A total of 490 Korean male office workers participated in this study. Participants' self-image and the product images of 20 apparel items were measured using nine adjective semantic scales (namely elegant, stable, sincere, refined, intense, luxury, bold, conspicuous, and polite). A model was then constructed to predict the consumer preferences using a neural network with Python and TensorFlow. The resulting Predict Preference Model using Product Image (PPMPI) was trained using product image and the preference of each product. Current research confirms that product preference can be predicted by the self-image instead of by entering the product image. The prediction accuracy rate of the PPMPI was over 80%. We used 490 items of test data consisting of self-images to predict the consumer preferences for using the PPMPI. The test of the PPMPI showed that the prediction rate differed depending on product attributes. The prediction rate of work apparel with normative images was over 70% and higher than for other forms of apparel.

• The Korean Fashion and Textile Research Journal
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.611-623
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• 2021

In the era of COVID-19 and advanced ICT technology, retail technologies such as those that use virtual reality(VR) have been drawing significant attention in the fashion industry. This study investigated the impact of shopping motivation and telepresence on consumer attitude, trust, and behavioral intentions in VR fitting room application environments. An online survey was conducted on female consumers in their 20s and 30s after exploring a VR fitting room application. Overall, 225 responses were used for the analysis. The study demonstrated that usefulness had a significant effect on attitude toward product (ATP) and trust toward app (TTA), while enjoyment had a significant effect on ATP, but did not significantly affect TTA. Telepresence did not significantly affect TTA, but had a significant influence on ATP and behavioral intention. TTA had a significant influence on ATP, and both ATP and TTA had significant effects on behavioral intention. Moreover, the effects of usefulness, enjoyment, and telepresence on ATP, TTA, and behavioral intention were significant, as the self-congruity between consumers and avatars increased. The application of the motivation theory and technology acceptance model offers theoretical perspectives for understanding VR fitting room application users' attitudinal and behavioral responses in mobile shopping environments. In addition, this study provides practical implications to mobile retailers that utilize advanced technologies.

• Asia Marketing Journal
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.117-149
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• 2007

It can be explained by congruity theory as a process that consumers engage in a matching process to identify personal community that is congruent with their self-images to find the identification between the self and the personal community. Personal community cues that evoke certain images are viewed as activating similar beliefs about the self (e.g., high status). Individuals prompt a comparison process to determine whether the personal community and self-image are congruent and imagine prototypical users of the personal community and select ones that maximize similarity to their actual or desired self-concept. Identity is devided into personal identity and social identity. Consumers are likely to be influenced by both personal identity and social identity. In this article the influencing factors of the commitment to on-line personal community are explored by the sources of both personal identification and social identification. The results are as follows. The maintenance expression and enhancement expression of personal self influence the level of personal identification positively and the maintenance expression and enhancement expression of social self influence the level of social identification positively. The level of both social and personal identification positively influence the commitment to on-line personal community which gives positive responses to the source enterprise that allows the cyberspace and the other benefits to be used.

• Journal of Distribution Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.29-62
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• 2012

As distribution environment is changing rapidly and competition is more intensive in the channel of distribution, the importance of retailer image and retailer equity is increasing as a different competitive advantages. Also, consumers are not functionally oriented and that their behavior is significantly affected by the symbols such as retailer image which identify retailer in the market place. That is, consumers do not choose products or retailers for their material utilities but consume the symbolic meaning of those products or retailers as expressed in their self images. The concept of self-image congruence has been utilized by marketers and researchers as an aid in better understanding how consumers identify themselves with the brands they buy and the retailer they patronize. Although self-image congruity theory has been tested across many product categories, the theory has not been tested extensively in the retailing. Therefore, this study attempts to investigate the impact of self image congruence between retailer image and self image of consumer on retailer equity such as retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty. The purpose of this study is to find out whether retailer-self image congruence can be a new antecedent of retailer equity. In addition, this study tries to examine how four-dimensional retailer equity constructs (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) affect customers' repatronage intention. For this study, data were gathered by survey and analyzed by structural equation modeling. The sample size in the present study was 254. The reliability of the all seven dimensions was estimated with Cronbach's alpha, composite reliability values and average variance extracted values. We determined whether the measurement model supports the convergent validity and discriminant validity by Exploratory factor analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. For each pair of constructs, the square root of the average variance extracted values exceeded their correlations, thus supporting the discriminant validity of the constructs. Hypotheses were tested using the AMOS 18.0. As expected, the image congruence hypotheses were supported. The greater the degree of congruence between retailer image and self-image, the more favorable were consumers' retailer evaluations. The all two retailer-self image congruence (actual self-image congruence and ideal self-image congruence) affected customer based retailer equity. This result means that retailer-self image congruence is important cue for customers to estimate retailer equity. In other words, consumers are often more likely to prefer products and retail stores that have images similar to their own self-image. Especially, it appeared that effect for the ideal self-image congruence was consistently larger than the actual self-image congruence on the retailer equity. The results mean that consumers prefer or search for stores that have images compatible with consumer's perception of ideal-self. In addition, this study revealed that customers' estimations toward customer based retailer equity affected the repatronage intention. The results showed that all four dimensions (retailer awareness, retailer association, perceived retailer quality, and retailer loyalty) had positive effect on the repatronage intention. That is, management and investment to improve image congruence between retailer and consumers' self make customers' positive evaluation of retailer equity, and then the positive customer based retailer equity can enhance the repatonage intention. And to conclude, retailer's image management is an important part of successful retailer performance management, and the retailer-self image congruence is an important antecedent of retailer equity. Therefore, it is more important to develop and improve retailer's image similar to consumers' image. Given the pressure to provide increased image congruence, it is not surprising that retailers have made significant investments in enhancing the fit between retailer image and self image of consumer. The enhancing such self-image congruence may allow marketers to target customers who may be influenced by image appeals in advertising.