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Introduction
Generation Y (Gen-Y) consumers are obsessed with fashion (Williams and Page, 2011) and due to their impact on spending across different product types, including the fashion industry (Tee et al., 2013), they have significant roles in the marketplace. Because of their preoccupation in fashion, Gen-Y consumers pay out nearly 70 per cent of their money on fashion and apparel goods (Bakewell and Mitchell, 2003). Gen-Y consumers comprise an important generation cohort for fashion-related purchases (Colucci and Scarpi, 2013). When investigating the fashion apparel industry, researchers always take this significant market segment into account (O’Cass and Choy, 2008; Joo Park et al., 2006).
As a financially powerful generation (Grant and Stephen, 2005), Gen-Y consumers are capable of influencing the spending habits of their parents (Lee Taylor and Cosenza, 2002) and they constitute an attractive segment for marketers to reach out to as the purchasing power and population of this generational cohort is increasing. Compared with baby boomers, Gen-Y consumers exhibit disparities in their behaviour and this urges marketers to comprehend their attitudes in order to be innovative and come up with new ways to attract this lucrative consumer segment (Grant and Stephen, 2005).
Nowadays, clothing trends shift rapidly such that the average time for a specific fashion trend to be in style is only between six weeks and three months (North et al., 2003). In addition, apparel retailers face challenges in trying to segment individuals from the Gen-Y consumers accurately (Sullivan and Heitmeyer, 2008). Since the nature of the apparel market comprises changing consumer tastes and styles, it is noteworthy to understand the basic psychology of apparel consumption (Goldsmith et al., 2012) by investigating the underpinning factors that shape this generational cohort’s attitude and purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, there is limited research on the Gen-Y consumers in Malaysia. For instance, Nga and Ken Yien (2013) considered the Big Five personality traits in the financial decision making of Malaysian Gen-Y undergraduates, but little is known about this cohort’s attitude and buying behaviour in the fashion apparel industry.
Therefore, this study aims to fulfil this gap by proposing an integrated framework applying the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), optimal distinctiveness theory, and social identity theory to examine the factors that affect Gen-Y consumers’ attitude...