Investigating the role of regulatory focus in apparel attribute prioritization

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to utilize consumers' regulatory focus as a segmentation variable to understand how and why consumers shift their tendency to prioritize certain apparel attributes. Design/methodology/approach: Six hypotheses are developed and then tested via two experiments. Self-administered online questionnaire is used to collect data from a total of 1,178 participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk. The collected data is analyzed using series of Chi-square tests and ANOVAs. Findings: Results show that promotion-focused (prevention-focused)) consumers are not only more likely to prioritize apparel attributes that ensure the attainment of satisfaction (avoidance of dissatisfaction) but also attach higher monetary value to apparel products bearing such attributes. Originality/value: Previous studies of apparel attribute prioritization utilized static segmentation variables such as age or gender despite the dynamic nature of attribute prioritization tendency. This study extends the literature by demonstrating the significance of consumers' regulatory focus – a dynamic segmentation variable that has not been studied in the current context.