Academic Papers : The relative importance of social responsibility as a predictor of purchase intentions for clothing

The purpose of this research was to examine the relative importance of socially responsible attitudes, along with catalogue shopping involvement and product‐related attributes, as predictors of consumers' intentions to purchase apparel. Data were collected through a mail questionnaire to randomly selected customers of an alternative trade catalogue; the 320 respondents represented a 67 per cent response rate. Data were analysed by a maximum‐likelihood estimation procedure using LISREL VII. The proposed model exhibited good fit to the data as evidenced by chi‐square, GFI, AGFI, and RMS measures. Social responsibility, desire for individuality in dress and shopping involvement were all positive predictors of intention to purchase apparel. Desire for individuality exerted the greatest influence, followed by attitudes toward social responsibility.