mre tut2 group 1 hm pom project

This study examines consumer perspectives regarding the topic of sustainability as it is implemented in the fashion business, specifically H&M as well as whatfactors are the most signifi

ON FACTORS AFFECTING INTENTION TO BUY SUSTAINABLE FASHION

— THE CASE OF:

Part 3: MethodolOgy ch HH HH HH HH te 9

Part 4: Research fndings and interDr€taL1OfIS ác cọ Hành 11

1 Survey findings analysis and interpretations 17 2 Interview findings analysts and interpretations 18

Part 5: Recommendations and conicÌUSIOTIS ch H HH rà 22 Part 6: Research lưmifatons and future đireCtIOTNS à nen e 22

R€Í€r€nCe€S ch HH HH HH HH HH HH 00101010 000 Hi 23

Executive summary

Being one of the most polluting industries in the world, the fashion industry has an immense potential for change Consumers are fundamental to how businesses operate and are inextricably linked to their actions This study examines consumer perspectives regarding the topic of sustainability as it is implemented in the fashion business, specifically H&M as well as whatfactors are the most significant in their decision to purchase these sustainable products This qualitative and quantitative study adds to the knowledge database by utilizing descriptive and exploratory research methodologies based on survey methods and statistical analysis A quantitative research methodology was used to indicate and analyze the factors which are influencing intention to buy H&Ms' sustainable products Besides, a qualitative study approach was used, followed by a set of interviews conducted with consumers, which revealed that the vast majority of people use a number of practices while making purchasing decisions for sustainable fashion goods, and the further opinions about each aspect were obtained Environmental concerns, personal values, societal influence, price, products, and consumer habits were found as factors that consumers shared as reasons why they are motivated or not to make more conscientious decisions Therefore, companies should educate consumers in general and focus on the segment of consumers who are not incorporating sustainability in the fashion sector in their purchasing decisions, as they represent the future potential

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, especially with fast fashion which has dominated and reshaped the fashion industry since the 1990s (Chen and Burns, 2006) This is a business model that promotes the rapid production of cheap clothes in response to the latest fashion trends However, as the environmental change is being dramatically concerned, along with the consumer's awareness of eco-fashion is increasing, more and more fast fashion brands have to redirect themselves to adapting with the situations (Mostafa, 2009) The aim of this adaptation is not only to avoid the loss in profit but also to enhance their image as an ethical and responsible brand in consumer’s mind As a result, “Sustainability” was born as an urgent solution for the future of this particular field (Battaglia et al, 2014) This refers to a philosophical ideal that takes sustainability values as centre, such as minimizing environmental destruction and giving good working conditions (Bourland 2011; Pookulangara & Shephard 2013) Many leading global companies have recognised the importance of these issues and have revamped their production processes in recent years in hopes of embracing the ethical standards, which directly impact on consumer behaviour (Shen et

al., 2012)

In Vietnam, “sustainable fashion” used to be unfamiliar to many people and there were almost no studies on this topic in the past Buying behavior was mostly based on good materials given a price range But today, especially during the pandemic, this concept has gradually rekindled in the Vietnam market and gained significant attention from civilized fashion consumers (Hoang P., 2021) This promotes a group of consumers willing to support eco fashion, meanwhile, there 1s also other research showing that not all people who cate about the environment will buy sustamable products (Saha et al.,2019) Therefore, it 1s an essential need of researching the Vietnamese market carefully before developing strategies for launching sustainable fashion

Among those trend-following companies, H&M, a giant in the fast fashion industry, has been a pioneer in offering sustainability as a priority, turned its supply chain to be more sustainable in the aspects of economics, environment, and social with an aggressive goal: using 100% recycled or other sustainably sourced materials by 2030 The Swedish brand applies sufficient methods to consolidate its green claims such as launching the Conscious collection or publishing sustainability reports every year, The fashion brand 1s also trying to conquer customers in the Vietnam market with the launching of sustainable collections or advertising campaigns However, sustainability is hard to define as achievable or more difficult to say that it 1s desirable Maybe it can be desirable to the brand but whether or not it’s the same case with consumers (Sadiku, 2017) H&M can imvest capital towards sustainable development, but if consumers don’t find it resonable, they won't pay attention and thus, leads to the difficulty in returning shareholder value Based on the reality, this research is conducted with the aim to find out the answer for the question: What are the factors that influence Vietnamese people's intention to buy sustainable H&M products? The study then can be a reliable source for H&M to enhance its sustainable practices and increase its market share Moreover, it simultaneously provides a comprehensive knowledge for Vietnamese consumers about the trending sustainable consumption and raises more awareness about the importance of their purchasing decisions as it is the root of environmental problems (Wahid et al., 2011)

The paper aims to answer each of these questions as the structure is given as follows First we show a relevant literature of sustamable fashion The rest of the manuscript is organized to include methodology and findings Finally, the study ends with directions for the brand and future research

PART 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH FRAMEWORK

1 Literature review

11 The concept of sustainability within the business context The term “sustainability” has emerged recently as an addition to existing popular vernaculars (Banon Gomis et al, 2011) However, in fact, its concept and practices have been around for a long time In her book Sustainability -.A history published in 2015, Ingram presented a statistic showing that from 1980 till now, the number of times that the word "sustainability/ sustainable” appears in book titles has increased substantially

$000 4500

4000

500 3000 2500 2000

1&00 1000

$00 0 + + + + + +-

FP PF PF Pr PP SK gi + sẽ #@ #@® s ® & & * & =

Figure 1, Books with the word “sustainable” or “sustainability” in the title,

1900-2012

Figure 1: Books containing the word “sustainable” or “sustainability” in the title between 1900 and 2012

Cngram, 2015) The phrase “sustainable development”, as a corollary of the concept of “sustainability”, was mtroduced widespread afterward According to The World Energy Foundation, “sustainable development” was defined by the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations in 1987 as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” Generally, the concept of sustainability is understood as a long-term goal for humanity, and it reflects how people's actions at present will determine their fate in the future

In the business context, Cuccia (2015) emphasises that every business needs to take into account three factors, namely economic growth, social equity and environmental responsibility for sustainable development Also, according to Bansal (2002), the practices of sustainability have increasingly reinforced the interconnecting relationship between these three essential principles Meanwhile, Carter and Rogers (2008) introduce the “triple bottom line” approach, which also refers to the need of balancing these three factors in the pursuit of business sustainability Cruz and Marques, on the other hand, define sustainability

as “a social objective with a keen focus on achieving the triple bottom line performance of profit, planet, and people” (cited by Rezaee, 2018)

Social

Economy

Society Environment Economic Environment

Sustainability

Figure 2: Three ways of sustainability representation (the “three bottom line” concept) (Pereira, 2021)

1.2 Sustainability as a trend in Vietnamese fashion industry

The environmental pressures and challenges regarding human future existence require the fashion industry to restructure their organizational activities attached with long-term prosperity, which consequently leads to the trend of “sustainable fashion” (Fletcher and Grose, 2011) In Vietnam, there has been a certain range of articles related to sustainability For instance, articles by Vietcetera (2021) and Elleman Vietnam (2021) have provided audiences with an overview of the sustainable fashion concept, as well as its challenges and opportunities in the future Additionally, L'officiel Vietnam also published an article with the purpose of introducing consumers to some potential sustainable brands Nevertheless, it can be inferred from these articles that the information provided was just on the tip of the iceberg, and there 1s still a need for in-depth reseatch about this topic

13 H&M sustainable practices and consumer intention to purchase sustainable fashion

Among popular fast-fashion brands such as Zara, Topshop or Forever 21, H&M emerged as a fast-fashion brand pioneering the transformation towards sustainability (Shen, 2014) In recent years, H&M has started to carry out campaigns to reduce its negative impacts on the environment by offering development strategies coupled with sustainability goals According to Forbes magazine (2018), H&M's goal before 2020 is to use only sustainable cotton; by 2030, the company commits to only use recycled or sustainable materials, and the following goal in 2040, is to become climate positive To accomplish these goals, H&M has launched a number of green campaigns, such as the “Conscious Action” program (McCornell, 2021) With this program, H&M promises to bring consumers a product that is friendly to people, the planet and pocket money (H&M Careers, no date)

Regarding Chen and Chang (2012), understanding buyer’s intention plays an indispensable role in developing strategies for businesses (cited by Wei, Jung, 2017) Additionally, according to the authors, the solid part in major purchases is a direct consequence of companies’ value creation and performance Meanwhile, mastering the idea of individual consumption will create the conditions for companies to enhance their performance (Liu et al., 2012) Cervellon et al (2011) has shown that, nowadays, consumers’ awareness of sustainable fashion has increased significantly However, there is a contradiction in the consumer behavior of sustainable fashion products Saha et al (2019) point out that there are a number of customers who ate sensitive to the environment but do not actively support the sustamable fashion industry Cook and Yurchisin (2017), otherwise, point out another group of people who have a rather positive attitude towards fast fashion These consumers have been used to the fast-fashion style, and they do not expect a product to be too durable, and they like it McNeill and Moore (2015) also support this view with the argument that one of the problems concerning changing into sustainable fashion 1s the “fast fashion-loving customers”, who are "hungty for goods and coupled with exciting shopping leisure shopping experience”

2 Research framework and hypotheses:

This research elaborated a related conceptual framework to examine whether the proposed factors have an impact on consumer purchase intention toward sustainable fashion The framework of this research is illustrated as follow:

INTENTIONS

vee

SUSTAINABLE FASHION PHODUCTS

Figure 3: The Research Framework (Source: Self-elaborated) 21 Environmental concems

Envitonmental concerns play an important role everytime consumers make their purchasing decisions (Diamantopoulos et al., 2003) In addition, customers who are concerned about the envitonment are more likely to buy green products (Aman et al 2012) Hutchins et al (1997) also support this view with the statement that customers who have a greater environmental concern level tend to consume sustainable products Therefore, our first hypothesis 1s proposed that:

Hi: There is a significant and positive association between environmental concerns and intention to buy sustainable fashion

2.2 Price: With regard to Ansar (2013) and Ali (2012), there is an assertion that when brands offer sustainable products at reasonable prices, consumers are positively motivated to buy sustainable products (cited by Alam et al, 2019) In addition, there is a confirmation that environmentally conscious consumers still accept high prices to be able to buy eco-labelled products (Bigsby and Ozanne, 2002) Meanwhile, other studies prove that shoppers always tend to seek for green products with low prices and accordingly high-priced products will reduce the intention to buy sustainable products These all suggest that there is an effect of price on H&M's sustainable fashion products For that reason, another hypothesis is developed:

H2: There is a significant association between price and intention to buy sustainable fashion 23 Habits:

During the last decade, there has been a change in consumer behaviour resulting from the fact that more households and individuals are routinely engaged in sustainable practices (Verplanken and Roy, 2014) On the other hand, as mentioned in the literature review part about consumer intention of buying sustainable fashion products, there ate a group of people who have got used to the habit of consuming fast fashion, and they don’t expect a product with much durability (Cook and Yurchisin, 2017) While the habit of consuming sustainable products is expected to have a positive impact on consumer’s intention to buy sustainable fashion, fast fashion product consuming habits can have an adverse effect on the intention to buy sustainable ones This raises a question on how the habit can truly affect consumer’s intention regarding sustainable fashion consumption Therefore, the hypothesis is expected to be as follow:

H3: There is a significant association between habits and intention to buy sustainable fashion

24, Personal values: Relating to the uniqueness theory, people engage in activities or consumption patterns providing them a feeling of being different (Joonas et al., 2021) Other consumers value the happiness of thinking about their contribution in terms of environmental protection by buying clothes that specifically distinguish them from those that are not environmentally friendly (Kim, Jung and Lee, 2015) Along with that, some people with high environmental values construct their lifestyle based on environmental attachment, resulting in their beliefs that they should seek harmony between nature and humans by fulfilling their material needs (Thompson and Barton, 1993) Such that suggests the idea that personal values have great influence on consumet’s intention to support sustainable fashion, corresponding to the fourth hypothesis of the research: H4: There is a significant and positive association between personal values and intention to buy sustainable fashion

25, Social influence: Consumers tend to make purchasing decisions not only to satisfy their non-social needs, but also to establish and nurture relationships within their social circle and to assert their position in the society (cited by Salazar et al, 2013) Additionally, two researchers Chen-Yu and Seock, 2002 also state that when one wants to buy a cettain type of clothing in their teenage years, the peer’s conformity 1s an important factor (cited by Sharaf, 2015) At the same time, considering social influence through digital platforms, many scholars have shown that social media marketing has a significant impact on intention to engage in pro-environmental consumer behaviors (cited by Sun and Wang, 2019) Taking these as the basement, this study provides a hypothesis that:

H5: There is a significant and positive association between social influence and intention to buy sustainable fashion

LOOK GREAT, FEEL GOOD, BE CONSCIOUS

How can we create a more sustainable fashion tuture?

PART 3: METHODOLOGY

A well-thought-out research design ensures that your techniques are aligned with your research objectives, that you collect high-quality data, and that you utilize the appropriate type of analysis to answer your questions, all while relying on credible sources It 1s critical to consider the correct types of research designs because they can assist the project to be accomplished in less time and at a lower cost In this research paper, descriptive research design and exploratory research design are mtended to be implemented to ensure the success of this study This research utilizes a mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches to perform the most efficient results

1 Descriptive research design

The main objective of this study is to indicate and analyze the factors which are influencing intention to buy H&Ms' sustainable products, the descriptive research design was chosen to be employed in this study This section briefly discusses methodological issues such as data collection & sampling process (section 1.1), the statistical analysis techniques used (section 1.2)

11 Data collection & sampling process In this reseatch design, the data collection methodology ts an online survey for primary data quantitative reseatch due to cost and time saving A survey designed on Google form is sent to the Facebook group of members with a passion for fashion and sustainable products The target group would be H&M customers ot non-customers who cate about sustainability After that, 117 responses from survey participants are randomly selected to obtain the most objective and accurate results The survey is designed with questions that aim to find out the level of influence that has the most impact on customers encounter in each factor The questionnaires could be nominal measure or ordinal measure questions and Likert scale, moreover, they are also pre-planned to be easy for understanding, suitable for the survey respondents mentioned above Data gathering and cleaning are begun after the amount of data obtained reaches the appropriate level To obtain the best accuracy, the findings are eliminated from people under the age of 18 and those who only have one answer

12 The statistical analysis techniques used Results from the survey would be downloaded into xlsx Excel file format The data are then uploaded for processing and analysis using the IBM SPSS Statistics® Version 26 software Because of some difficulty in uploading into the SPSS software using the file-open-data function, putting the data column by column into the Data and Variable view is done manually Then, the variable declaration and form of measure selection (Ordinal, Nominal, Scale) for each element was carried out, for example for Gender, the value is declared as "1=Female", "2 =Male" or for Likert scale questions "1 =" Totally disagree", "2 =Dusagree", "3 =Neutral", "4 =Agree" and "5 =Totally agree" The process of calculating the mean for each factor has been performed to serve the analysis techniques used in the next

1.2.1 Reliability Analysis

Reliability analysis for each factor is performed using Cronbach's Alpha Cronbach's alpha ts a measure of internal consistency, or how closely a group of things is related to one another It 1s regarded as a scale dependability indicator (Bruin, J 2006) Because it 1s noted that in most social science study scenarios, a dependability coefficient of 0.6 or above is deemed "appropriate" (Bruin, J 2006) Therefore, for items in each element with a value of Corrected Item - Total Correlation <0.3, that variable will be excluded for the above factor to be teliable However, if the excluded variable plays an important role and the value 1s not too small, it 1s considered to be kept (Spss.ttt, 2016)

1.2.2 Correlation Analysis and Linear Regression

Correlation coefficient analysis 1s performed by Pearson on SPSS to measure the strength of a relationship between two variables (Edwards, A L, 1976) The Analyze —Correlate —Bivatiate method was utilized to perform the correlation on SPSS The researchers utilize a two-tail test that allows for either a positive or negative association, which ranged between -1 and 1, respectively, where a strong positive association 1s indicated by a 1; a strong negative relationship is shown by a -1 and a zero result shows that there is no association at all As a general principle, p (Sig.) < 0.05 indicates a significant correlation, while p (Sig.) > 0.05 implies an insignificant relationship (Stephanie Glen, n.d) After correlation, linear regression is the next stage This method is utilized anticipate the value of a variable based on the value of another variable at 95% level of confidence interval (Statistics.laerd, n.d)

2 Exploratory research design

2.1, Data collection & sampling process: This research adapts the in-depth interview process to examine more comprehensively the research question and support the sutvey findings Thirteen individuals will be interviewed via Zoom/ Google meetings to dig deeper into their perspectives towards sustainable fashion and each factor which affects them found above The interviews will be arranged at a time and venue that is convenient to participants Besides, the interviews will be structured, lasting for approximately 15 minutes Participants will be recruited from a Facebook group of members with a passion for fashion Eligible participants are expected to be those who are aware of sustainable fashion and H&M They will be asked open-ended questions to describe their awareness of sustainability in the fashion industry in general, and of H&M in particular, along with the tr behaviors towards sustainable fashion consumption and their opinions on different aspects of the sustainable products purchasing process Written consent form is obtained from participants prior to the study With the permission of participants, the interview will be recorded and researchers will take notes on their responses for later analysis

2.2 The statistical analysis techniques used: The software used for text mining and consequent data analysis is Nvivo After the data ate collected, each interview response ts translated and converted into digital transcripts, then exported as a PDF and imported into NVivo for coding and analysis The researcher then read each transcript on their own to familiarize themselves with the data (Rouna, 2005) The data are initially coded in NVivo independently by two of the researchers, resulting in 16 preliminary codes and in reducing the data (since items with similar topics are grouped together and existing data are subsequently re-coded) Ina second step, “word frequency query” is tun to assess the word count, then the data patterns are examined through two metrics, “word cloud” and “tree map”

PART 4: FINDINGS AND INTERPRETATIONS

1 Survey findings analysis and interpretations

11 Socio-Demographic of the Sample About the survey, a total of 117 respondents took part in this with a sex dis tribution of 79.7% female and 19.5% male The demographic characteristic of age reveals that 81.3% of the respondents were in the age group of 18-23 While the age group of 24-35 accounted for 10.2% with 13 respondents and people who were above 35 only made up 0.8% of the respondents

12, Reliability of Scale

The table below demonstrates that the information gathered from the respondents is accurate and dependable Cronbach's Alpha was run twice to produce this confidence table; the first tume, due to the factors “Habit” and “Price” there was an item with a value of Corrected Item - Total Correlation 0.3, which was found not to play a significant role, and that it was eliminated so the next run of Cronbach's Alpha value is teliable, namely greater than 60% and some values are greater than 70%, namely Environment, Personal value and Social influence with Cronbach's Alpha values of 0.777, 0.726 and 0.792, respectively

S.No Variables Cronbach's Alpha

3 Reasonable Price 0.675 4 Personal value 0.726

Figure 4: Reliability of Scale

1.3 Correlation and linear regression analysis

Factor 1: Consumer’s Environmental Concem Analysis The objective of studying this factor is to measure whether or not the consumet’s environmental concerns affect their buying intention of sustainable fashion products and to observe the correlations and regression model between two variables

The mean values of the question group were calculated first to get an overview of the consumer concern related to enviroment (Table 2) Overall, Vietnamese people were aware of the current environmental situation plus the damage the fashion industry has caused They also strongly advocated for consumption of sustainable clothes This mindset was vigorously supported by high mean scores, approximately 4 over 5, in the question 1, 2 and 6 However, when asked whether or not they pay more attention to sustaimable fashion items or read the clothes tag’s description before purchasing, consumers were slightly vague and unclear This was proved by the neutral mean values in question 3, 4, 5 with scores of 3.17, 3.14, 3.05 respectively

1 You see yourself as an environmentally conscious person 3.82 2 You understand that the fashion industry is one of the industries with the 4.05

most negative impact on the environment

3 You tend to buy sustainable fashion products because you are concerned 3.17

about the environment 4 When shopping for fashion products, you pay more attention to product 3.14

lines with environmental protection labels than conventional products

5 Before buying sustainable fashion products, you tend to read the 3.05 information to see if the product is really eco-friendly

6 You support sustainable fashion because you believe it helps reduce your 4.05

negative impact on the environment

Figure 5: Questions about environmental factor and mean score

Correlations

reponses, a Pearson Cortelation analysis were ` EVN Pearson Correlation — 1 568 produced to test the relationship between the ` Sig (2-tailed) 000 independent variable and Buying Intention ` : N 117 117 - variable as the result is shown follow: INTENTION Pearson Correlation 568 1

A correlation (1) at 0.568 and p < 0005 Sig (2-tailed) 000

telationship between two variables This ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed) means there is a certain high level of - Figure 6: Correlations between environmental concerns and

Furthermore, when taking a detailed regression test, the R-square in “Model Summary " table shows that the dependent variable (Buying Intention) was affected by 32.2% by independent variable - Environmental concerns It proved that the awareness of people about the environment were responsible for the purchasing intention of sustainable products This telationship is significant and positive with a formula of linear functions:

Intention = 1.498 + 0.678*Environmental Concerns

Model Summary Adjusted R Std Error of Model R R Square Square the Estimate

| Model B Std Error Beta t Sig Lower Bound | Upper Bound 1 (Constant) 1.498 332 4.518 000 841 2.155 EVN 678 092 568 7.396 000 496 B59

Figure 7: Environmental concerns’ regression coefficient The tesults have led to some findings for the first factor Firstly, environmentally conscious consumers are likely to be more interested in consuming sustainable fashion This supports the same idea in the study of Kim & Damhorst about environmental concern and apparel consumption in 1998 Secondly, eco-labelling got a little significant attention from consumers and didn’t have a strong influence on purchase decisions, meanwhile, a small group of shoppers still had a right attitude and did look out for sustainable fashion items This finding corroborates the study of D’Souza in 2006 that consumer awareness or knowledge about sustainability or environment affected the intention to buy eco-friendly fashion products